July 23, 2010
via SD Times
July 23, 2010 — IBM is attempting to reinvent big iron with zEnterprise, a new systems design that allows workloads on its mainframes and blade servers to share resources and be managed as a single virtualized system.
What's more, IBM has unified development and testing across tier architecture, and has offloaded development work from the mainframe.
Big Blue announced the zEnterprise mainframe server yesterday in New York. The system's design combines the zEnterprise mainframe with new IBM software (IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension and the IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager) that enable it to manage workloads running across System z, and select POWER7 and System x systems.
IBM said that unified systems management will reduce the cost and complexity of managing IT infrastructure, which may operate in silos, requiring different staff and software tools to manage them.
IBM Rational Developer for System z uses the same ID for both mainframe and Java work, providing a common view for developers that improves communication, said Scott Searle, a marketing program director for IBM Rational. A new System z Unit Test feature allows developers to work outside of the mainframe environment.
Developers can run z/OS on their laptop or on an X86 server, Searle said. Other benefits include a modern GUI, and being able to work at any time, not just when there is a mainframe maintenance window, he noted. "[Developers] can do everything but the final runtime check."
July 23, 2010
CHICAGO, July 23, 2010 - Cost management and virtualization top the list of enterprise IT concerns, according to the SHARE survey that will be released at SHARE’s bi-annual conference, SHARE in Boston, August 1-5.
SHARE conducted the survey of more than 160 of IBM’s top customers to review the current state of enterprise IT in terms of where companies are putting the most resources and focus. Results of the study provide industry analysis to help SHARE better shape its programs and events for the greater member - and enterprise IT- community. The information also provides valuable insights to IBM and ISVs (independent software vendors) about issues that concern their customers the most. The survey was conducted during June and July 2010.
“Companies were asked to rank their top 5 concerns, and cost management, especially when it comes to cost reduction and avoidance, continues to be top of mind for these companies,” said Al Williams, the President of SHARE. “The survey reinforces why one of the themes for SHARE in Boston - How to Empower Your Bottom Line - is so important. It’s not enough to just cut costs - the successful enterprise IT professional knows there is a need to demonstrate IT’s value and how it can provide a competitive advantage every day.”
Virtualization ranked as the second biggest concern, with server virtualization the primary focus, followed by storage virtualization and then network virtualization. Cloud computing, another theme for SHARE in Boston, ranked seventh, with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) identified as the most prominent focus in the cloud, followed by Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
Following cost management, the SHARE survey ranked the rest of the top issues in this order:
. Virtualization
. Improving IT’s value and deriving competitive advantage from IT
. Enterprise security
. The aging and demographics of current IT staffs
. Business continuity planning
. Cloud computing
. Regulatory compliance
. Reinvigorating/repurposing the mainframe
. Data center energy management
More than 600 technical sessions at SHARE in Boston at the Hynes Convention Center, August 1-5, are focused on the 2010 conference themes - Enterprise Virtualization, Cloud Computing, and How to Empower Your Bottom Line. SHARE conferences provide enterprise IT professionals with the latest information and newest innovations in the marketplace. SHARE in Boston attendees at the Hynes Convention Center will meet enterprise IT experts, learn about the latest developments and solutions in the industry, and build relationships with peers experiencing similar challenges.
For more information on SHARE in Boston, visit Boston.SHARE.org.
About SHARE
SHARE is an independent, volunteer-run association providing IBM customers with user-focused education, professional networking and a forum to influence the information technology industry. Since 1955, SHARE has enabled IT professionals to achieve business results through a combination of credible, relevant programs and peer opportunities. SHARE currently counts more than 2,100 organizations among its active member ranks.
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July 22, 2010
CHICAGO, July 22, 2010 – SHARE announced today that Karl Freund, IBM’s Vice President of
System z Marketing and Strategy, will address IBM’s new zEnterprise System in his System z
keynote presentation at SHARE in Boston. The conference will be held at the Hynes Convention
Center in Boston August 1-5. Freund’s keynote address will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Monday,
August 2nd.
“SHARE, the community of enterprise IT professionals who are experts in the mainframe and
more, is delighted that IBM chose SHARE in Boston to showcase for the first time the new
generation of Smarter Systems launching under the IBM zEnterprise System brand,” said Al
Williams, President of SHARE. “We expect that this offering will bring the management
capabilities we have enjoyed from our IBM mainframe systems for decades to more of the diverse
services we offer in our enterprise data centers.”
The IBM zEnterprise System will provide IBM’s clients with an innovative solution to today's
complex issues in the datacenter. IBM says it is the industry's first integrated System of Systems,
enabling clients to better manage and govern a mixed workload environment as an extension to
their System z mainframe.
At its core is the next System z, which is based on the industry's fastest microprocessor and has
unprecedented scalability and efficiency. Then this system is augmented with IBM’s new Unified
Resource Manager and a Bladecenter Extension that allows x86 and Power7 blades to host
workloads as an integral part of the System z.
“SHARE is the voice of more than 20,000 enterprise IT professionals representing more than
2,000 of IBM’s top enterprise computing customers,” Williams said. “Our members will benefit not
only from the IBM perspective of what this means for their businesses, but also from the feedback
they get from networking at SHARE in Boston with their peers at top corporations, universities
and colleges, and government organizations from around the world.”
SHARE conferences provide enterprise IT professionals with the latest information and newest
innovations in the marketplace. Attendees at the Hynes Convention Center will meet enterprise IT
experts, learn about the latest developments and solutions in the industry, and build relationships
with peers experiencing similar challenges. Many of the more than 600 technical sessions are
focused on the 2010 conference themes, Enterprise Virtualization & Cloud Computing and IT &
the Bottom Line.
For more information on SHARE in Boston, visit Boston.SHARE.org.
About SHARE
SHARE is an independent, volunteer-run association providing IBM customers with user-focused
education, professional networking and a forum to influence the information technology industry.
Since 1955, SHARE has enabled IT professionals to achieve business results through a
combination of credible, relevant programs and peer opportunities. SHARE currently counts more
than 2,100 organizations among its active member ranks.
# # #
July 22, 2010
via Forbes
The days when IBM's mainframe computers held a monopoly on enterprise computing may have ended with the influx of cheaper x86 and Unix servers. But Big Blue is still reinventing its big iron. And now it's teaching it how to play nicely with those more modern platforms.
On Thursday the tech giant announced a new line of mainframes it calls the zEnterprise. Unlike past models, the new system functions as a hybrid, with a mainframe housed on one side of a cabinet that is twice the size of a refrigerator and space for server blades on the other. Between those two halves sits software that manages virtualized machines on both platforms and allows them to work together.
"We're doing something that hasn't been done in the industry before: the first multi-architecture platform," says Rod Adkins, IBM's ( IBM - news - people ) head of hardware. "We've smashed together a mainframe cabinet and a blade cabinet and connected them through this secure link."
July 22, 2010
via Computer World
Computerworld - Every new IBM mainframe says something about the times we live in, and today's latest mainframe release is no different. The zEnterprise system, as it is now called, has become a cross-platform management system, a sovereign of other systems.
IBM has given its new mainframe, announced today, the ability to manage Power and x86 IBM blade systems from the mainframe consol. The system, which can have as many as 96 processors, will support up to 114 blades with eight cores.
IBM officials characterize the zEnterprise system as their most significant change to the mainframe platform in at least two decades, and it is being coupled with some the other products to take advantage of it.
In terms of hardware capability alone, the zEnterprise 196 -- that's IBM's name for just the server itself -- includes a 5.2-GHz quad processor and up to 3TB of memory. That's double the memory of the preceding system, the z10, which had a 4.4-GHz quad processor.
IBM's mainframe has always been a system with a larger focus that seemingly shifts from release to release.
With the arrival of the z9 in 2005, for instance, the emphasis was on security and encryption, a leading concern post 9/11. The z10 in 2008, which IBM called a "business supercomputer," moved from a single core to quad processor and was aimed at CPU-intensive applications and server consolidation. The goal there: reduce data center footprints and energy needs.
