Speedy IBM zEnterprise Mainframe Built to Take Charge in Data Centers

by Darryl K. Taft

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 mainframes reliability and security features to additional systems in the data center.

IBM engineer Joseph Corrado, Marlboro, N.Y., installs a new x86 blade server into a test unit of IBMs 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.

IBM technician Asia Dent, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., tests two multichip modules that will each power one of IBMs new zEnterprise System mainframes. Each ceramic module forms the central processing unit of the new computer and packs 96 of the worlds 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.

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.

IBM employees Einar Norman prepares IBMs new zEnterprise System Mainframe for shipment in the companys 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.

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.

The new design of the zEnterprise System addresses the complexity and inefficiency of todays 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 companys first production unit to go out the door.

IBM engineer Don Gunvalsen, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., loads the new IBM zEnterprise System mainframe into a test chamber in the companys Poughkeepsie, N.Y., facility that subjects the computer to extreme variations in temperatures.