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Mainframes - Computing at the Next Level
The z Series is latest mainframe architecture offering of its System z platform enabling unprecedented levels of workload virtualization and consolidation and extends the mainframe's security, resiliency, and performance capabilities. The System z10 mainframe delivers improvements in energy efficiency, security, availability, storage management, performance and scalability. The z10 performance is equivalent to1500 x86 servers with an 85 percent smaller footprint and up to 85 percent lower energy costs than its predecessor. Economically, the z10 can consolidate x86 software licenses at up to a 30-to-1 ratio running the z/VM operating system to support Linux, XML, Java and WebSphere with plans under way to pilot the Open Solaris operating system. Approximately 25 percent of the System z server capacity is now being delivered for Linux workloads. The zIIP (z Integrated Information Processor) specialty processors are designed to offload central processor intensive tasks such as compression, encryption and virtual tape among others from the general mainframe central processors. It is estimated that 8,000 to 9,000 mainframes are installed worldwide.
Mainframes and non-mainframe systems have very different profiles. Mainframes have much larger tape environments than Unix, Linux and Windows Systems as the mainframe's continuous data migration functionality of HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) software sweeps moderately active to inactive data to a lower cost level of the tiered storage hierarchy 24 hours per day. Non-mainframe systems have not had a similar level of HSM functionality and moderate to inactive data tends to accumulate on disk storage driving hardware and energy costs up. Integrated VTLs, which integrate a disk array with a tape library, and host based virtual tape are available on mainframes but less common on non-mainframe systems.
The z10 Series provides up to 30,000 MIPS on 64 processors and up to 1.52 terabytes of memory in less than 6 square feet. The small mainframe footprint is surprising given the huge footprints of earlier mainframes. Concurrent I/O performance and throughput levels benefit from up to 336 FICON Express4 (4Gbps) channels and up to 1,024 ESCON channels, far more than any other processor. The highest-end z10 processors use five quad-core die packages or 20 cores at 4.4 GHz, 60 MB of Level 2 cache and 48 megabytes of shared Level 3 cache on a single processor. For storage, the zIIP engines enable ultra-fast encryption, compression and tape virtualization to occur on the processor and independent of the storage subsystem. Not surprisingly, there is a high concentration of mission-critical applications running on mainframes given its nearly six 9s (99.9999%) availability index.
Bottom line: The mainframe leads the IT industry in its ability to consolidate and run mixed workloads, share, store, manage and protect data, while operating at nearly 100 percent availability. With the latest z10 announcement, the mainframe is repositioning itself as the most cost-effective and functional enterprise server. Mainframe systems enable higher levels of availability, utilization, and consolidation and can deliver a more cost-effective computing and storage solution for medium to large enterprises than do non-mainframe alternatives. Technological improvements have enabled the mainframe to extend its services to a variety of other computer systems.
Source: Horison Information Strategies: Storage Navigator
© 2008 Horison
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