jeudi 25 juillet 2013

New IBM zEnterprise BC12 Entry-Level Mainframe Launches

IBM announced a new cost-efficient mainframe system, the zEnterprise BC12, designed for analytics, cloud and mobile computing.

IBM has announced a new entry-level mainframe system that suits businesses of all sizes, the zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12). The new mainframe builds on IBM's decades of experience in enterprise computing and is designed for the latest in analytics, cloud, and mobile computing. Moreover, starting at $75,000, IBM is making one of the most secure and technologically advanced enterprise servers attractive to organizations of all sizes.
"Analytics, cloud and mobile computing are changing the way businesses in all industries engage with their customers," said Patrick Toole, general manager of IBM System z, in a statement. "IBM's zEnterprise technologies address these challenges by providing clients with a powerful and highly secure platform to manage new and emerging workloads, helping speed time to market, reduce costs and stimulate business growth by making stronger connections with customers."
In addition to the new mainframe hardware, IBM also announced new industry solutions and enhanced software and operating systems across its zEnterprise portfolio to help clients better serve their customers. These solutions are designed to enable banks to deliver new mobile banking services, insurance companies to prevent payment of fraudulent claims, and government agencies to interact and serve citizens using new applications in the cloud, IBM said.

The new software for analytics includes updates to Cognos, SPSS, and DB2. New cloud and mobile offerings include updates for better integration and security in Tivoli, CICS and DB2. Big Blue officials said compared with its predecessor, the z114, the new zBC12 features a faster processor at 4.2GHz and two times the available memory -- and it allows clients to grow into their system with a pay-as-you-grow approach. When integrated with IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator, the zBC12 can perform business analytics workloads with response times up to nine times faster, 10 times better price performance and 14 percent lower total cost of acquisition than the closest competitor, IBM claimed citing a customer study. For cloud computing, the zBC12 can consolidate up to 40 virtual servers per core or up to 520 in a single footprint for as low as $1 per day per virtual server. A single zBC12 can save clients up to 55 percent over x86 distributed environments, IBM said. Meanwhile, new hardware functions provide CPU and storage savings by compressing data on the server. For example, there is a new high speed, low latency I/O connection for enabling up to an 80 percent reduction in network latency. Also, with z/OS 2.1, IBM delivers performance and scale, as well as simplified management with z/OSMF. There is also a new 2-to-1 ratio for IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) and zSeries Application Assist Processor (zAAP) special purpose engines for improved workload economics. And with z/VM 6.3, clients can now consolidate up to 520 virtual servers in a single footprint with the increase in real memory and the new HiperDispatch function.

For the Linux crowd, IBM announced it is delivering a new Linux-only based version of the zBC12, the Enterprise Linux Server (ELS), to help clients that are rapidly growing their businesses, especially in growth markets. The ELS includes hardware, a z/VM Hypervisor and three years of maintenance. The system can run a portfolio of more than 3,000 Linux applications, and clients can extend it with two new solutions, ELS for Analytics and Cloud-Ready for Linux on System z, as an on-ramp for analytics and cloud computing. "ABK chose to consolidate our business systems onto the zBC12—all of our servers from Intel to Sun—in order to bring our development and production to a new level," said Armin Gerhardt, CEO of ABK Systeme GmbH, in a statement. "Our client work requires us to run several systems simultaneously and securely in order to keep projects moving forward while ensuring all the newest regulations are being observed. What convinced us was the ability the zBC12 had to react quickly, to implement new requirements rapidly and, above all, use tools that are common." For its part, IBM continues to build on its full range of analytics, cloud, mobile and security capabilities in zEnterprise with new software. For analytics the new IBM zEnterprise Analytics System 9710 now includes zBC12 and DB2 10 for z/OS VUE providing a foundation to deliver a cost-effective analytics deployment.

For cloud, IBM enhanced its Omegamon for z/OS family to detect performance problems in the cloud and minimize impact to the business and increase analytics visibility. And IBM continues to help clients bridge the gap between mobile devices and enterprise data and services with native JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) support and conversion between JSON and data structures with the new CICS Transaction Server Feature Pack for Mobile Extensions V1.0 and DB2 11 for z/OS (ESP). Moreover, IBM said its new z/VM (v6.3) operating system builds on top of Live Guest Relocation and now supports up to 1 terabyte of real memory, enabling support for more virtual servers. It leverages HiperDispatch technology for improved system performance and enables OpenStack for advanced enterprise-wide service management. Meanwhile, the new z/OS 2.1 operating system supports the latest zEnterprise hardware features—zEDC and SMC-R. It also includes many performance and scalability enhancements for data serving workloads. And a new capability, "Crypto as a Service" enables Linux on System z applications to use z/OS services to encrypt data, providing more secure encryption. Additionally, enhancements to z/OS Management Facility improve startup times and provides services for automating workflow, further reducing costs. IBM Global Financing can help credit-qualified clients acquire the new zBC12 for as low as $1,965 per month. IBM finance offerings can help clients lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) and accelerate ROI to keep pace with innovation and grow their businesses, IBM said. 

By: Darryl K. Taft

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