By Tom S. Noda
Computerworld Philippines
March 24, 2010

Drawing on decades of experience in enterprise systems design and silicon packaging, IBM engineers have expanded the capabilities of the x86 platform as well as its new eX5 servers to improve the economics of operating enterprise-sized x86-based systems.

Big blue claimed it has achieved an “engineering first” by developing the x86 platform – decoupling memory from its traditional, tightly bound place alongside the server’s processor, thereby eliminating the need to buy another server to support growing memory-intensive workloads.

The company also said the all-new class of x86 systems has broken constraints of a 30-year-old technology design, slashing costs by reducing server sprawl. The new technology offers six times the memory scalability available today, helping flatten the ever-rising cost of operating industry-standard data centers, IBM said.

IBM added its new eX5 servers are the result of a three-year engineering effort to improve the economics of operating enterprise-sized, x86-based systems. The eX5 portfolio marks IBM’s second family of 2010 systems.

Executives of IBM said all products are in line with the company’s smarter planet campaign. “This is really for the enterprise. You can save cost in terms of floor space, software licenses and achieve a one year ROI (return on investment),” said Erwin Chuaunsu, country manager, systems and technology group, IBM Philippines.

Yet Christine Llanto, manager of Systems x, IBM Philippines, claimed the products are designed for companies looking at achieving significant cost savings.

“The x86 is easy to acquire. You don’t need to buy processors and there’s no need to pay additional licenses. This is really for companies looking at refreshing,” Llanto said, adding the other benefits would be on processing power, security and easy deployment.

All products are scheduled to be launched soon in the Philippines by end of March or early April, Chuaunsu said.

The executives shared IBM gained more revenue share than any of the major x86 server vendors in each quarter of 2009.

Quoting a report by IDC, the executives said IBM now holds nearly 20% share or 3.5 point year-over-year gain. IBM also reportedly outperformed the blade market in fourth quarter of 2009, nailing a 64% revenue growth in blades and gaining 5.7 points. 

The eX5 systems is said to take advantage of integration with IBM middleware to create a virtualized environment that gives users a flexible, scalable system that can reduce the number of servers needed by half while cutting storage costs by 97% and licensing fees by 50%, IBM said.

David Guzman, CIO of Acxiom Corp, an interactive marketing services firm, said his company was able to double its virtualization capacity through IBM eX5, dropping their software licensing costs.

“The IBM eX5 systems are game changers,” Guzman said. “The price and performance equation is extraordinarily compelling, with five times the performance at a fraction of the cost. Moreover, there is a positive impact on all of the other key components of IT cost – space, power, labor, maintenance. The concrete results of this next generation machine are exciting, and the roadmap has ‘knock-your-socks-off’ vision.”

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