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IBM Still Believes in the Power of the Mainframe
Online staff -- Electronic News, 7/26/2005
Many would say the mainframe is a dead technology. Not IBM.
The company today announced a $1.2 billion, three-year development effort encompassing 5,000 IBM engineers, software developers, technology professionals and security experts to bring a mainframe line back to life.
At an event in New York, Big Blue introduced the IBM System z9, what it says is one of the most reliable and secure computing system and provides nearly twice the total system capacity and available memory of its predecessor, the IBM eServer zSeries z990.
Like all mainframes, z9 can encrypt and secure data. But IBM’s move today represents a new breed of mainframes that make encryption and virtualization top priorities, across the entire system, not one central processor.
Specifically, z9 aims to act as the hub in a new era of collaborative computing by being able to process one billion transactions per day at its launch; allow businesses to safely transport encrypted data to partners, suppliers and remote or archive sites by the end of 2005; run five operating systems including Linux and the mainframe’s new flagship z/OS version 1.7, which can allow transport of data between multiple computing platforms and virtualization of hundreds of applications, including Java-based applications, and includes Application Transparent Transport Layer Security, which allows businesses to apply Internet-standard TLS or SSL encryption; process up to 6,000 secure online handshakes per second -- approximately three times as many as before; and resist known security threats.
“The System z9 delivers virtualization and collaborative capabilities on a level never before seen in the computer industry,” said Bill Zeitler, senior VP and group executive, IBM Systems and Technology, in a statement. “A single System z9 is designed to optimize hardware, networking and software so that businesses can manage and secure workloads equivalent to hundreds of distributed servers in a fraction of the space. This is the beginning of a new era -- in which businesses can gain control of information technology by managing it from the inside out.”
Further, IBM said that combined with the new version of IBM Virtualization Engine platform and IBM Director, z9 can allow the management of resources across other platforms. With that, IBM intends to introduce the interoperability of its premier storage virtualization offering, the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller, to connect with Linux on zSeries environments. This capability will allow zSeries customers the opportunity to use storage traditionally attached to open environments through configurations managed by IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller, including the ability to take advantage of the tiered storage environment that IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller creates, the company explained.
Other highlights of z9 include a built-in cryptography feature and an improved hashing algorithm (SHA-256) with support for the open Advanced Encryption Standard; and a Cisco/IBM complementary network security solution base on the Cisco Self Defending Network strategy complementing the Intrusion Detection Services (IDS) of z/OS.
"The new security and encryption offerings in the System z9 are designed to provide an enterprise-wide solution to help companies secure their customers’ data, both within company walls, as well as when it leaves their direct control,” said Erich Clementi, general manager, IBM Systems and Technology Group, in today’s statement.
He continued: “Centralized key management helps simplify our customers’ security solutions, and is designed to provide a long-term capability for protecting data. We are working closely with technology partners and a group of leading customers in the financial world to extend our security strategy to cover all aspects of our system environment, with a goal of providing the most comprehensive solutions in the industry.”
System z9 109 (z9-109) has five available models offering between one and 54 configurable processor units. The first four models with one to 38 processor units, are planned to be available in September, and the high-capacity model S54 is planned to be available November. The performance of the System z9 109 uni-processor is expected to be 1.35 times the z900 uni-processor. The z9-109 is expected to scale from a one to 54-way (versus 32-way on the z990) with up to 512Gbits of memory.
