by John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
August 25, 2010

While everybody was all too caught up with the massive IT hype that is cloud computing, IT solutions giant IBM announced recently an upgrade to its mainframe offering, aptly called zEnterprise.

zEnterprise, visiting IBM executives claim, will hopefully address current challenges in the market, especially that data centers are coming down with immense pressure from various fronts to perform better and more efficiently.

Richard Pape, business executive of the System z for IBM growth markets, said zEnterprise will “redefine the playing field in order to enable clients to manage data centers differently.”

Pape shared that today, 78% of CIOs want to improve their use and management of data, but only 30 cents per dollar are actually spent towards innovating their current infrastructure. “At least seven out of ten global companies need to modify their data centers to meet increasing needs for power, cooling, as well as physical space,” he added.

One approach to address such pressing concerns for data center innovation is putting all the workload onto a single platform, “but it doesn’t happen,” Pape lamented. “Users [usually] select the right platform for the application. The problem arises when management of the systems happen in siloes,” he added.

zEnterprise, according to Pape, can be that central platform where management of siloed systems can take place. The zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager is the key to using mainframe quality of service attributes, including security and reliability, to benefit workloads running on select Power and System x BladeCenter systems, IBM said.

From a performance standpoint, zEnterprise is the most powerful mainframe system from IBM ever. Its core server, zEnterprise 196, contains 96 microprocessors clocking 5.2Ghz speeds, capable of executing more than 50 billion instructions per second.

Cloud vs Mainframe
It begs the question, however, why IBM would still push for companies to use their mainframe servers, despite the growing popularity of the cloud as the logical next step for computing. “A large number of companies are looking at the cloud right now, especially to address the problem of server sprawl,” Pape surmised.

Cost, however, is one of the compelling reasons why enterprises should look at mainframes for their various needs. “This is a box to manage other systems,” explained Ooi Sze Kai, business unit executive, System z software, IBM software group-ASEAN. “The mainframe is good for OLTP environments, because its CMOS chip is designed to handle tough workloads.”

Several competitors of IBM in the server business have actually formed a group to urge the global regulatory body to open up its mainframe technology. “They see the mainframe as a strategic platform for the cloud, because it is reliable, secure, and scalable,” related Rafael Andaya, System z platform manager, systems and technology group, IBM.

“Traditional traits are what clients require, so we continue to evolve [the mainframe] to make it relevant,” Pape added.

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