IBM has announced a new mainframe system—known as the zEnterprise—that sets up the big iron as the central management point of enterprise data centers, with other systems directly feeding off the mainframe’s resources. IBM claims the zEnterprise is the fastest mainframe ever. The zEnterprise’s new systems architecture enables workloads on mainframe, Power7 and x86 systems to share resources and be managed as a single, virtualized system.
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Speedy IBM zEnterprise Mainframe Built to Take Charge in Data Centers
by Darryl K. Taft
Building the IBM zEnterprise
IBM employees James Geuke, (top) Poughkeepsie, and Larry Terpak (standing), Johnson City, N.Y., install covers on the new IBM zEnterprise System mainframe. The zEnterprise System, the result of three years and $1.5 billion in IBM research and development, marks the most significant design change in 20 years for the IBM mainframe, extending the mainframe’s reliability and security features to additional systems in the data center.
Testing the zEnterprise System
IBM engineer Joseph Corrado, Marlboro, N.Y., installs a new x86 blade server into a test unit of IBM’s new IBM zEnterprise System mainframe. The new mainframe is the first to manage workloads running on IBM x86 and Unix systems—enabling the data center to be centrally managed.
World’s Fastest Microprocessors
IBM technician Asia Dent, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., tests two multichip modules that will each power one of IBM’s new zEnterprise System mainframes. Each ceramic module forms the central processing unit of the new computer and packs 96 of the world’s fastest microprocessors (5.2 Ghz) together to give the new mainframe 60 percent faster performance than its predecessor, while using the same amount of electricity. Each module is capable of executing 50 billion instructions per second.
Finishing Touches
IBM employees Larry Terpak (foreground), Johnson City, N.Y., and Chris Wallner, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., size up covers ready to be installed on the new IBM zEnterprise System mainframe.
Shipping the zEnterprise System
IBM employees Einar Norman prepares IBM’s new zEnterprise System Mainframe for shipment in the company’s Poughkeepsie, N.Y., plant. IBM added a new, 56,000-square-foot, $30 million production floor to its Poughkeepsie plant in 2010 to manufacture the new computer.
First Production zEnterprise
With the ability to manage workloads across systems as one, IBM contends the zEnterprise System can lower acquisition costs by 40 percent and reduce cost of ownership by 55 percent. Here, IBM workers box up a zEnterprise system for a customer.
All in One Box
The new design of the zEnterprise System addresses the complexity and inefficiency of today’s multiarchitecture data centers by giving you the ability to integrate and unify IBM System z, Power and System x resources as one complete system. In this shot, IBM workers put the gloss on the company’s first production unit to go out the door.
zEnterprise in the Deep Freeze
IBM engineer Don Gunvalsen, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., loads the new IBM zEnterprise System mainframe into a test chamber in the company’s Poughkeepsie, N.Y., facility that subjects the computer to extreme variations in temperatures.
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IBM has announced a new mainframe system—known as the zEnterprise—that sets up the big iron as the central management point of enterprise data centers, with other systems directly feeding off the mainframe’s resources. IBM claims the zEnterprise is the fastest mainframe ever. The zEnterprise’s new systems architecture enables workloads on mainframe, Power7 and x86 systems to share resources and be managed as a single, virtualized system.