z/Bottom Line: Mainframe 2007 Redux
by Eric L. Vaughan
December 19, 2008
** Read this article online at http://www.mainframezone.com/it-management/z-bottom-line-mainframe-2007-redux
In what has become a “z/Bottom Line” tradition at the end of each year, here’s just a small glimpse at the tsunami of events that marked 2007:
For Your Kids and the More Serious Gamers
My good friend IBM Distinguished Engineer Dr. Karl- Heinz Strassemeyer is legendary for his lively presentations on future technology at industry gatherings, including WAVV, SHARE, and others. It was nearly four years ago that he first talked about why a CPU remains far behind the most powerful computer we know, the human brain. Dr. S reasoned that the cause for this was the massive parallel capability of the brain. So what if processor design were to go in that direction? Enter the new Cell processor. Members of IBM Research joined Sony and Toshiba to lead the Cell development, which resulted in a breakthrough in providing very high-performance processing for many applications, including game consoles. Consisting of an IBM 64-bit Power Architecture core augmented with eight specialized co-processors and integrated by an on-chip bus, this approach resulted in unmatched performance by exploiting the concept of parallelism—a so-called “super computer on a chip.”
The Cell processor is at the heart of Sony’s Playstation 3 game console, but for the more serious gamers, IBM announced the “Gameframe.” Working with a Brazilian customer, Hoplon Infotainment, IBM has put multiple Cell microprocessors into a System z mainframe, creating a newgeneration server “capable of permitting hundreds of thousands of computer users to interact in a threedimensional, on-screen world.” The system is powered by Linux, and is rumored to be just the beginning of IBM’s work to exploit hybrid technologies to advance various computing needs. Just in time for the holidays.
It’s Always Greener on the Other Side
Big Blue is going Big Green. In keeping with the rest of the world’s focus on how to leverage anything at a minimum of resource consumption, IBM has launched Project Big Green. The effort, among other things, is in the process of consolidating more than 3,900 internal computer servers onto about 30 mainframes, targeting an 80 percent reduction in energy consumption over five years. In an extension of the Green Project, IBM also has announced a new program that allows mainframe customers to monitor their systems’ precise energy consumption in real-time. This “mainframe gas gauge” will result in the publication of typical energy consumption for the IBM System z9 mainframe. Full details can be found at http://www-03.ibm. com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22433.wss. Just imagine, an “Energy Star” sticker on computers now. Why not?
Why eCLipz the Sun?
“z/Bottom Line” has covered the code-named project eCLipz (enhanced Core Logic for i-Series, p-Series and z-Series) in the past (www.illustro.com/Files/zbottomline0206. pdf), discussing the work to consolidate architectures under IBM’s highly successful POWER architecture. And the “z6” announcement of new mainframes based on POWER6 (P6) technology is just around the corner. As fascinating as the eCLipz code name was with Sun Microsystems as a competitor, IBM has just foreshadowed this effort with the announcement at a November 2007 Gartner conference where IBM, Sun and Sine Nomine Associates showcased the OpenSolaris code base running on an IBM mainframe, illustrating “the Solaris Operating System (OS) and the mainframe’s powerful ability to virtualize the data center” (http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22718.wss). I suppose the concept is, “If you can beat them, join them, too.”
The Continued Resurgence of z/VSE
z/VSE continues to grow and prosper after 40-plus years. In October 2007, I attended an IBM/Guide Share Europe (GSE)-sponsored event at the Boeblingen, Germany, lab of mostly VSE customers from throughout Europe. The first of its kind, IBM was overwhelmed by the response from customers and had to turn away potential attendees once the conference venue reached its capacity of 180 people.
In 2007, IBM delivered Measured Workload License Charges (MWLC) for z/VSE users, and new encryption and operating system facilities, generating enough buzz to merit news coverage (http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=MW&date=20071019&id =7661310). As Dietmar Schrenk, GSE’s VSE Working Group chairman said, “Some have run their proven, core business applications on this cost-effective platform for decades.” And IBM continues to enhance and extend that investment.
Many changes, many initiatives. As I review past end-ofyear columns, I see one constant: Each year brings new and exciting changes, and the mainframe continues to be the standard by which all other computing platforms compare.
And that’s z/Bottom Line. Z
