IBM Reinvents Mainframe and Marketplace

IBM introduces servers for the next generation of e-business

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 3, 2000 -- IBM today announced IBM , a new generation of servers featuring mainframe-class reliability and scalability, broad support of open standards for the development of new applications, and capacity on demand for managing the unprecedented demands of e-business.

"Three years ago this week, IBM introduced e-business to the world," said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Server Group. "For those of us who have been involved from the beginning helping customers transform themselves into e-businesses, it's now clear that we're entering a new phase. This new world is going to place entirely new, unprecedented demands on the underlying infrastructure that supports e-business. It will evolve over years and stretch the IT resources of most companies. That's why we're introducing the IBM ."

The IBM is a product of Project Mach 1, a major cross-company initiative begun three years ago to harness the company's best technologies and practices to support the infrastructure for the next phase of e-business. From the consolidation of IBM server manufacturing and development, to the realignment of its sales force, to breakthroughs such as copper chips, Silicon-on-Insulator and Memory eXtension Technology, to partnerships with leading software vendors, to IBM's corporate-wide embrace of Linux -- every corner of IBM moved closer to today's launch of the IBM .

With Project Mach 1, IBM researchers set out to determine what kind of computing model could handle serious e-business. They concluded that it required a new infrastructure for e-business in which computing power migrated from traditional, centralized IT systems into distributed high-speed networks so that usage of servers, applications and other IT resources became pervasive. This new e-business infrastructure consists of high-speed networks, seamlessly integrated applications and powerful servers engineered for specific types of workloads.

Driven by open standards, the Internet is rapidly transforming business models, markets and industries. By 2003, IBM estimates there will be 2.6 billion network access devices, including cell phones and PDAs. The rapid adoption of e-business will cause a 1,000-fold increase in the amount of data flowing over the Internet, a tidal wave of data-intensive, highly-integrated transactions, and unpredictable spikes in network traffic that threaten to overwhelm the current IT infrastructure.

To handle the demands of the new e-business infrastructure, every IBM will come with a variety of offerings that provide the flexibility and speed to market large and small companies need to build, run and manage their e-business infrastructures affordably and effectively.

The new servers feature technology from IBM's high-end servers applied across the entire product line:

• IBM zSeries*: the most reliable, mission-critical data and transaction server on earth.
• IBM pSeries: the most powerful, technologically advanced UNIX server.
• IBM iSeries: the high performance, integrated business server for mid-market companies.
• IBM xSeries: the affordable Intel-based server with mainframe-inspired reliability technologies.

The entire IBM line shares the best attributes of mainframe-class computing:

• Capacity Advantage -- Two types of capacity upgrade on demand (CUoD) offerings let customers manage rapid growth while minimizing risk or disruption. Vertical CUoD allows customers to boost server horsepower by activating extra processors built into an IBM . Horizontal CUoD provides additional, pre-installed servers at a customer site to enable instant upgrades when needed.
• Logical partitioning (LPAR) -- Originally developed for IBM mainframes, LPAR capability is available immediately on the new zSeries and iSeries and on pSeries and xSeries in the future.
• Availability Advantage -- These services help customers assure high availability for their entire IT environment -- including servers, applications and their network -- through periods of explosive growth, unexpected business success or changing business needs.
• High availability clustering -- developed for IBM mainframes -- will be available across the IBM family.
• Reliability and fault tolerance features -- failover, redundant components, hot-pluggable components and other reliability features will be available across the IBM line.

With open standards the driving force behind e-business, customers can't afford to be locked in to servers that offer limited choices in applications. The IBM line offers the flexibility to deploy e-business applications across varied platforms.

• A comprehensive toolkit allows customers and software developers to create scalable e-business applications once and deploy them across the entire IBM family.
• Each IBM fully embraces open industry standards such as Java (TM), XML, HTTP, HTML and Linux (R).
• IBM is the broadest family of servers fully enabled for Linux to help customers ride the tsunami of coming Linux applications. Ten new worldwide Linux porting centers allow customers to prototype real-world IT environments and pre-test their Linux applications.
• Each IBM has the option of shipping with IBM WebSphere Application Server, enabling customers to build, deploy and manage e-business solutions based on business needs, not platform restrictions. In addition, WebSphere Everyplace Suite software, now available for the pSeries, allows software and application developers to extend e-business applications to wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs, and to other Internet-ready devices.
• Packaged, integrated solutions are available on an IBM , applications from leading developers such as Siebel, Ariba, Logility, SAP, ChiliSoft and Hyperion, software, services and financing.

Each IBM allows customers to monitor systems capacity and performance through Web-based reports. An online customer experience database lets customers consider new architectures and applications based on the experiences of IBM in deploying similar solutions for others. Customers can personalize a Web page to more quickly and easily access technical information through the IBM Technical Support Portal.

• Remote management, diagnostics and maintenance capabilities -- developed for IBM mainframes -- will be available across the IBM line.
• Tivoli e-infrastructure management software manages all components of a heterogeneous e-business infrastructure -- the entire IBM family, other servers, storage systems, pervasive devices, security and data -- from a single-management server and console.
• New server software pricing on zSeries servers will include features letting customers pay according to their average -- not their peak -- software usage.
• Flexible financing helps manage costs in an unpredictable environment. Depending on need, customers can pay by the user, by the month, even a single payment for an installation of IBM and non-IBM parts.
• The new members of the IBM family will begin shipping this quarter.

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The IBM e-business logo, xSeries, iSeries and zSeries are all trademarks of IBM Corporation. All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

*The IBM brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term "server" following it.