IBM to unearth T-Rex mainframe

update IBM will announce its next-generation mainframe Tuesday, sources said. The system, called the z990 and code-named T-Rex, will spearhead Big Blue's effort to ensure the lineage isn't doomed to extinction.

The machine will come with 32 processors initially, with a 48-processor version by the end of 2003 and a 64-processor version in 2004, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. By comparison, IBM's current top-end z900 mainframe, introduced in 2000, has 16 processors.

In addition, the company is expected to announce that the mainframe can be subdivided into several independent partitions. Initially, the system will support as many as 15 partitions of the z/OS operating system, with 30 coming in October and 60 in mid-2004.

IBM plans to announce the z990 at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, where the mainframe will share the stage with announcements from IBM's Global Services division. IBM declined to comment for this story, but the company briefed several analysts during a presentation last week.

Mainframes, powerful but pricey business computing systems that are under fierce competition from Unix and more recently Windows servers, set the standard for resistance to crashes and the ability to juggle many computing tasks simultaneously. But because mainframes aren't mainstream, advocates have had to work hard to keep them abreast of current computing trends such as Internet technology.

Competitors for years have derided mainframes, with a lineage extending back several decades, as obsolete dinosaurs. But with aggressive code names such as T-Rex for the z990 and Raptor for the lower-priced z800 released in 2002, IBM seems to be trying to steer the imagery to its own advantage.

Mainframes are "enjoying a bit of a renaissance at IBM," Haff said. The systems, while powerful, "still require pretty specialized skill sets (and) are still pretty expensive per unit performance," he said.

While average consumers don't buy mainframes--with prices that can stretch well into the millions of dollars--they ultimately bear the cost of such systems when buying products from companies such as tire manufacturer and z900 user Bridgestone.

IBM dominates the market for mainframes, and many would-be competitors such as Amdahl and Hitachi have left the market to Big Blue. Unisys continues to put up a fight and plans to introduce a new mainframe line on May 19 geared for the comparatively modern Web services tasks, the company said.

IBM continues to push hard to bring one very modern part of the computing world, Linux, to the mainframe. Versions of Linux from Red Hat and SuSE run on the mainframe, though Red Hat's support will improve with the coming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, due this fall.

Linux lets IBM more easily offer modern software on its mainframes. However, Linux software still must be rebuilt for the mainframe's processors before it will run.

The new z990, available in June, is expected to run Linux tasks as much as 55 percent faster than the z900. That's significant, given that 17 percent of the company's mainframe revenue in 2002 stemmed from mainframes.

Software: The key to growth?
Indeed, software improvements are one of the major changes coming with the new mainframe, RedMonk analyst James Governor said.

IBM is including more data management software with the z990, a move that puts pressure on mainframe software sellers, Governor said. "IBM is aggressively trying to kick out Computer Associates, Compuware and BMC, by providing good enough functionality at about half the price," Governor said.

The move addresses one of the barriers to growth of mainframe use, the high software cost, he added. "It's been third-party tools that have prevented the growth of the platform in many cases," Governor said.

And IBM is trying to make mainframe management less arcane, with tools that work the same for several IBM server lines, Governor said.

The z990 can run modern software. It's certified to run version 1.3 of Java 2 Enterprise Edition, Governor said, and includes support for Web services standards that are part of J2EE 1.4, such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration).

The new mainframe will have quadruple the input-output (I/O) ability of its predecessor, important for maintaining a stronghold for tasks such as extracting information from databases. "You see mainframes shining at tasks where...there is a huge amount of I/O," Haff said.

The plan to support as many as 64 processors in the z990 has a caveat, however: A single operating system can't always take advantage of all the processors. When the 48-processor version arrives, the maximum partition size for a single copy of the operating system will be 32 processors, and when the 64-processor model arrives, the maximum partition size will be 48 processors, Haff said.

This has some background on the "naming" of the new processors (Be aware it is from 2002 ):

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IBM unleashes new "Raptor" mainframe

By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer
February 17, 2002, 9:00 PM PT

IBM on Monday will debut its newest model in the old-guard mainframe line, a less-expensive system code-named Raptor that can run only newer software.

The new z800 is in a sense mainframe "lite." With a stripped-down operating system called z/OS.e, it can run only newer programs such as Internet software, Siebel Systems' customer tracking software, or SAP's accounting and inventory software.

The new system, the second with IBM's new 64-bit mainframe CPU, is profoundly important to IBM's server line. With its lower price and forward-looking software capability, it's the tip of the spear in IBM's continuing efforts to woo new buyers that for much of the 1990s the industry had given up for dead.

IBM loves mainframes because sales of the systems typically bring years of revenue from maintenance and software license agreements--just the type of recurring revenue that helped carry the company through the current economic downturn comparatively unscathed.

Running Linux and other newer software has helped recharge IBM's mainframe business, the company and analysts say. Because of the new software, 2001 was "the first time in 13 years that mainframe revenues grew at all," Bill Zeitler, head of IBM's four server groups, said in an earlier interview.

IBM hopes to expand the mainframe customer base with the new machine.

"Last year we had over 75 brand-new, non-mainframe customers who came to the platform via Linux. We do anticipate a fairly large number of customers who have not had the experience before," said Rich Lechner, vice president of marketing for IBM's eServer group.

The new system, with a starting price of $375,000--including three years of maintenance from IBM--may not sound cheap, but the cost is substantially lower than that of full-featured models that cost at least twice that.

The system isn't for all mainframe customers. "z/OS.e exclusively runs new workloads," Lechner said. "It won't run legacy transactional systems" with software written in CICS, COBOL or Fortran.

However, if customers want, they can pay for upgrades that will elevate the z800 to a lower-end z900, which can run all those older packages. The z800 won't go all the way, however, because it tops out at four CPUs, while the z900 can accommodate 16 CPUs.

An upgrade path that leads this high is a novelty for IBM. "Unlike other entrees in the past into the middle market, which were not quite the same as the flagship mainframe of its time, the z800 truly is a baby z900," Lechner said.

Gartner analysts Mike Chuba and John Phelps say that if Raptor is to devour competitive high-end Unix systems, IBM's Linux initiatives must provide the impetus.

see commentary

The code name is a ding at Sun, which has invoked the "dinosaur" label to deride the mainframe line, whose legacy spans more than three decades. Though Unisys still sells mainframes, IBM has the lion's share of the market, and most other mainframe makers have left the business.

"After Sun started running nasty dinosaur ads, we changed all the code names for our mainframe servers to be meat-eating dinosaurs," Zeitler said in a speech at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo.

Sun, however, is steadily edging closer to mainframe capabilities with its higher-end Unix servers. IBM is adding similar improvements to its own Unix servers, arguing that its greater mainframe experience will counteract Sun's Unix server lead.

IBM has been heavily pushing the ability to run the Linux operating system on its mainframe line. It chose to first discuss the z800 as a Linux-only model.

But Linux was more of an afterthought in the z800 design, Lechner said.

"Raptor was born before we had the notion of having a Linux-only model," he said. "Then, with the success we saw in the marketplace last year in Linux, that's why we introduced the Linux-only model."

The z800s will go on sale worldwide March 29, he said.

And going back to 2000 we have:

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IBM unveils new name, strategy for servers

By Joe Wilcox
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 3, 2000, 12:00 PM PT

video | update IBM rebranded its entire line of servers today, as the company retrenches to fight customer confusion and catch up with rival Sun Microsystems.

IBM's server strategy

The Armonk, N.Y., computer maker also unveiled the first product under its new "eServer" brand: the z900. The long-anticipated server, a IBMz900

replacement for the S/390 mainframe, is IBM's gambit to catch Sun, which has been stealing IBM e-commerce and Internet sales with its high-end Unix servers.

The eServer line "replaces all the server products we have previously had in the market," boasted Bill Zeitler, senior vice president of IBM's server group. In less dramatic terms, it's a new product label for the major server product lines.

But analysts warn IBM has more to lose than gain in the rebranding and must execute flawlessly just to maintain existing market share.

"This rebranding is a real gamble by IBM," Gartner analyst Tom Bittman said. "What they're doing is throwing away existing brand awareness and starting over."

But Bittman concedes IBM has few choices if it hopes to move ahead. "Bottom line is IBM is in third place in Unix servers and third place in Intel servers, and they're not going to fix that by throwing more and more money at that problem."

Sun is the Unix server sales leader, followed by Hewlett-Packard, while Compaq Computer and Dell Computer lead in Intel server market share.

"We don't expect IBM to capture the No. 2 spot in Unix servers over the next three years," Bittman said. "If that's what they wanted to get out of this, they're not going to get it."

Several issues have limited IBM in selling servers, and the previous multiple brands perhaps top the list, say analysts.

"Traditionally, there's been a series of products within IBM that overlapped and confused their customers," said Technology Business Research analyst Bob Sutherland. "So potential customers could end up having a variety of different sales people hawk their servers for the same applications."

Part of the problem is segregation among product groups. Sales of AS/400 servers and Netfinity, IBM's line of Intel-based servers, are handled by different organizations. This creates confusion and opportunities for rivals such as Dell or Sun to sell servers alongside IBM's offerings.

Sutherland said sales and organizational changes that "refocus on the customer need" are vital for IBM. "This is a positive thing, because I've always felt customers should understand what they need rather than...seek out from sales people," he said.

Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president of e-business strategy, insists the company had already been sorting out the sales issues among the competing server groups.

"Earlier this year, we implemented an integration of our sales force with the creation of a server solution specialist who represents to our large customers all of our servers. So this is just the next step in the evolution," he said.

IBM for a time will continue to sell existing server lines--S/390, RS/6000, AS/400, Netfinity and NUMA-Q--as e-series replacements are introduced. While the "z" family is the first, others will follow, including the "i" and "p" series.

"I have to emphasize it's a big gamble," Bittman said. "If IBM doesn't invest enough, they don't get up to ground zero, which is building the same brand equity they already have."

Crucial to the success of IBM's rebranding effort will be successful marketing.

"It can't be a three-month, throw-money-at-the-problem program," Bittman said. "They have to sustain it for a year or more."

He also warned that IBM most resolve the ongoing sales issues. "If they act the same as yesterday and they just use the name, that's how it will be received," he said.

IBM's Lechner emphasized the rebranding's broader significance. "This is not just a new coat of paint or a rebranding," he said. "To be a member of the eServer family has real technical and business significance. There are characteristics that are exhibited across the family."

IBM will begin selling the first eServer, the z900, Dec. 18. The new server, previously known as the G7, has long been anticipated and represents a dramatic shift in IBM's marketing and technology focus.

With the z900, IBM also is introducing the new z/OS 64-bit operating system and a means of portioning "virtual servers" within one box.

"Now we have the notion of virtual servers, where the server capacity--whether it be CPU or I/O capacity--is moved to the workload as required," Lechner said.

"We characterize the z900 as a living, breathing server," he said. "The customer can define virtual servers within the z900 that will expand and contract based on business needs."

IBM is positioning the z family of servers for Internet and application service providers as well as for business-to-business e-commerce sites. One problem they commonly face is expanding capacity to meet demand.

"If (customers) receive a spike in Web site hits, that virtual server will grow and system resources will flow to that virtual server to meet demand," Lechner said. "When that demand ebbs, resources will go back to the other virtual servers."

With the new servers, IBM also is changing how it charges for software. Customers will pay based on usage rather than a flat fee for an entire server. Bittman praised the scheme, which could cut some customers' up-front costs.

Customers will be billed monthly based on a "snapshot of what is the largest virtual server," Lechner said. Usage spikes less than four hours long, such as increased Web traffic, incur no additional charges.

Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman says that although the company is the market share leader in the combined server market, it holds only third place in both Unix and Intel servers--the two primary growth categories.

see commentary

IBM spent about two years and $1 billion designing the z900, which will also play an important role in IBM's push into Linux, particularly among Internet service providers, Lechner said.

"With the z900 they can offer customers a virtual Linux server for $500," he said. "That's cheaper than anything you can do in the Intel or RISC space."

IBM also hopes to woo potential e-commerce customers with the z900's increased I/O capacity, which allows 2,000 transactions per second, or double that of the S/390. When servers are combined in what is called a cluster, that capacity boosts to 64,000 transactions a second, Lechner said.

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