IBM eServer z900, Reinvented Mainframe, Shipped to Global Customers on Schedule

ARMONK, NY - 14 Dec 2000: . . . IBM announced that its new IBM eServer z900, the reinvented mainframe, began shipping to customers around the world today, on schedule.

Many customers, including financial institutions and management consulting firms, initially plan to run benchmarking and application tests on the z900, including running Linux on some of the mainframe's partitions. Thousands of Linux applications will run on the z900, making adding new e-business workloads to the platform easier and faster. The system's advanced networking capabilities along with its ability to dynamically shift resources automatically to the applications that need them and enhanced data compression functions make the z900 attractive to businesses.

The IBM eServer z900, announced in October 2000, is the first mainframe built from scratch with e-business as its primary function. The reinvented mainframe can be self-managing, offers customers the ability to add capacity in seconds and is designed for high speed connectivity to the network and storage systems. The system allows customers to push performance and connectivity to the outer limits without any concessions to reliability and security.

"It's gratifying to see customers respond so strongly to the z900," said Dan Colby, general manager, Enterprise Servers, IBM. "They are eager to get the new mainframes into their shops and incorporate the system's e-business features into their environments. It's also gratifying to be able to deliver the z900 on schedule as promised and with greater performance then anticipated."

The ability to run thousands of virtual servers within one physical box makes the z900 the ideal platform for e-business-intensive operations like application service providers, Internet service providers and technology hosting companies. These types of companies must be equipped to manage and keep separate and secure their own customers' individual workloads and requirements. In the past, this has required a large number of servers and a huge investment in real estate. Now, however, these customers can save by using one z900 to do the same job, replacing a football field full of Sun or HP servers.

Customers will be able to take full advantage of the z900 with IBM's new 64-bit operating system, z/OS, and new software pricing model. Software fees can be based on need rather than total system capacity, providing customers the flexibility to pay for what they use in an e-business world that is characterized by highly volatile swings in demand. Customers making the transition from the IBM S/390 G5 or G6 may save up to thousands of dollars per month in software fees, depending on the configuration. The 64-bit z/OS operating system will be available March 31, 2001.

About IBM Enterprise Servers
IBM is the world's number one server company. IBM enterprise servers, including the IBM eServer z900 and S/390, support the world's most successful businesses and organizations by providing industry-leading levels of scalability, availability and security for large-scale e-business and enterprise computing needs. The enterprise server platform is a leader in running multiple, diverse, mission-critical workloads and applications, including e-business, financial and administrative, business intelligence and enterprise resource planning.

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IBM news releases and fact sheets are available at http://www.ibm.com. For more information about IBM enterprise servers, go to http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/.

The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term "server" following it. The IBM e-business logo, zSeries, z/OS and S/390 are trademarks or registered trademarks of the IBM Corporation.

Linux is registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.