The mainframe lives on!
IBM launches speedier version of powerful mainframe
By Caroline Humer
NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) on Friday launched a faster version of its mainframe computers, whose sales have helped it buck a downward trend in technology spending.
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The upgrade to the mainframe, called the e-server z900, nearly doubles the speed of secure transactions for large corporations, such as top retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news)
This is the first upgrade that IBM, which is by far the dominant maker of mainframes, has made to its newest machines, introduced one year ago.
Mainframes, large computers that handle billions of pieces of data, have made a comeback at IBM. On Tuesday, the company said while personal computer sales fell 29 percent in the third quarter, mainframe sales grew significantly.
Mainframe revenues grew during the last four quarters as corporations consolidated smaller computers, IBM said.
The mainframe ugrade boosts the speed at which the computer handles some transactions and lets them use computing power more efficiently. Mainframes have been a key product for IBM for years, although they seemed to fade in the 1990s.
IBM said hardware additions now enable the mainframe to make 3,850 secure transactions a second, compared with a previous 2,000 transactions.
IBM began making mainframes, which can cost from $750,000 to several million dollars, in the 1960s. While it was criticized for its reliance on the stodgy old mainframe in the early 1990s, when demand for personal computers was growing rapidly, it is mainframe revenues that now offset weak PC sales.
Last week, for instance, IBM said it signed a deal with Wal-Mart for 12 mainframe computers that would replace older IBM machines. It beat out competitor EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - news) on a contract for 20 large storage machines that will work with the mainframes.
Such contracts enable IBM to win other business, including the services and consulting work needed to install them. Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says the mainframe's impact on hardware, software, maintenance and storage accounts contributes more than 40 percent of IBM's operating profit.
The hardware decodes encrypted transactions, such as online purchases, more quickly than software, IBM vice president of technology and strategy Irving Wladawsky-Berger said.
The company also modified its mainframe operating system z/OS to enable customers running the alternative Linux software and IBM's z/VM software, which is software that partitions a mainframe into thousands of individual servers, to shift computing power among servers.
Previously, this feature, which moves computing power between these partitions automatically as demand peaks in one area or another, did not work with Linux. Linux is free, open-source software, which means that all code is public and can be adapted by companies and individuals.
The system will be available, with some features, starting Oct. 26, and will be upgraded in full by the end of this year. |
