Tips on Selecting an IBM System z Mainframe

By the end of 2010, IBM will deliver the zBX with support for IBM POWER7 blades running AIX. The mainframe vendor is also debuting the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer to accelerate the performance of complex analytic workloads. Mainframes are supposed to be passe. Yet despite a price tag that can head into the millions, they […]

Written By
Drew Robb
Drew Robb
Published: Oct 11, 2010
Updated: Jan 28, 2021
3 minute read
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By the end of 2010, IBM will deliver the zBX with support for IBM POWER7 blades running AIX. The mainframe vendor is also debuting the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer to accelerate the performance of complex analytic workloads.


Mainframes are supposed to be passe. Yet despite a price tag that can head into the millions, they still represent healthy chunk of the top end of the server marketplace. According to IDC, about they account for 32 percent of the high-end of the pie.

IBM, of course, owns almost all of the mainframe market under its flagship System z brand. Far from being a stagnant area of the market, IBM (NYSE: IBM) invests heavy R&D dollars into this line.

Earlier this year, it released the zEnterprise mainframe server along with a new systems design that allows workloads on mainframe, POWER7 and System x servers to share resources and be managed as a single, virtualized system.

“This new model is the most powerful and energy-efficient mainframe ever,” said Greg Lotko, vice president, IBM System z, “It is the most significant systems architecture in the last 20 years.”

Read the rest at Serverwatch.

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Drew Robb

Originally from Scotland, Drew Robb has been a full-time writer for more than 25 years. He lives in Florida and specializes in IT, engineering, and business. As well as eWeek and TechRepublic, he writes for a wide range of magazines including Gas Turbine World, SDxCentral, and HR Magazine. He is the author of Server Disk Management in a Windows Environment (Auerbach Publications).

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