[I guess you could also be running WSeB/eCS on these babies too!]

IBM Unveils First Power5 Servers
May 3, 2004 (12:33 p.m. EST)
By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News

IBM on Monday unveiled the first servers that run its new Power5 processor.

The eServer i5 -- a new line in the iSeries server family -- relies on 
the 64-bit Power5, the successor to the Power4 CPU, and delivers two to 
three times better performance than current models, according to Ian 
Jarman, IBM's product manager for the i5.

Available in two models -- the 520 and 570 -- the i5 targets small- and 
medium-sized businesses, and mid-sized enterprises, respectively, said 
Jarman, and will also be the first IBM servers to include the 
Virtualization Engine technology announced last week.

"Virtual Engine's logical partitioning technology allows customers to 
divide the i5's processors, automatically adjust performance on those 
partitions, and run our Unix, AIX, alongside the native operating 
system, i5/OS", said Jarman.

The Power5 processor is better able to slice and dice virtual partitions 
than the Power4; each of the former chips can run as many as 10 separate 
operating systems, compared to the one-OS-per-CPU capability of the Power4.

The i5 servers boast a refreshed version of AS/400, the operating system 
that runs IBM's minicomputers, now dubbed the iSeries, that bears the 
new name of i5/OS.

Other operating systems, including Linux on Power and Intel chips, and 
Windows on the Intel platform, can also be integrated into the i5 using 
IBM's virtualization technology.

"Customers will be able to integrate their [Intel-based, Windows OS] 
xSeries servers into the i5 chassis", said Jarman, "by plugging them 
into the i5 chassis. Think of it as a blade if you like. The xSeries 
servers will be able to share security, management tools, and storage in 
that chassis."

"More and more in the last couple of years, IBM has been positioning the 
iSeries as a consolidation server", said Charles King, the research 
director at Sageza Group, a Mountain View, Ca.-based research firm. 
"This OS flexibility is something that Intel-based servers just can't 
match."

The lower-priced i5 520, which replaces the current iSeries 800, can 
sport one or two processors, while the more expensive 570 maxes out as a 
four-way system.

Both boast prices lower than earlier iSeries servers -- which got their 
own price cuts last week -- in an effort to make the line more cost 
competitive, said Jarman. "We've cut prices by about 40 percent", he 
said, "by changing our pricing model for memory and drives to bring them 
in line with Unix-based servers."

"There's some pretty neat stuff in the i5, and although in a way this is 
a natural evolutionary step for IBM, one of the most interesting things 
about the i5 is that its price is getting down to compete with Wintel 
boxes", said King.

The 520's pricing starts at $9,995 for a base server with one processor 
and one drive, while the 570 begins at $85,200.

Although the lower price of the i5 isn't yet a critical issue to 
competitors -- King said that if Dell or HP see the iSeries as a threat, 
they'll respond in kind -- IBM has only to come close to the competition 
to win the day. "IBM wins if they can get the price down to 5 or 10 
percent of an Intel solution", he said, because the i5 gives companies 
the choice of thousands of OS/400 applications, as well as those running 
on Unix, Linux, or even Windows.

Also new to the iSeries with the introduction of the 520 is an Express 
offering, IBM's initiative to offer ready-to-roll systems hardware and 
software bundles to small businesses.

The 520 Express Edition includes 1GB of memory, a 70GB drive, tape drive 
and DVD, as well as such IBM software as its DB2 database and WebSphere 
Web application server. The one-way server bundle costs $11,500.

"We're after new customers in small business", said Jarman with the 520 
Express, a system he said was taking aim at the Intel-Windows servers 
that currently dominate that market.

The 570, meanwhile, offers new capacity-on-demand functions that allow 
enterprises to purchase additional processors, but not pay for them 
until they're needed.

With capacity-on-demand, a customer could purchase a two-way 570 that 
actually ships with four processors. The additional CPUs can be 
activated when demand goes up; during the holiday selling season, for 
instance.

A new feature, dubbed Reserve Capacity On Demand by IBM, also debuts in 
the i5 570. "It's like a reserve tank of gas in your car", said Jarman. 
"You buy the reserve capability up front -- in blocks of 30 processor 
days, for example, and when the system reaches 100capacity, it 
automatically shifts to that reserve without any operator intervention." 
Each 24 hours, the server does a status check and if the capacity is no 
longer needed, the reserve is automatically switched off.

Both the i5 520 and 570 are just the beginning of IBM's plans for the 
Power5, said Jarman. A 16-way iSeries server using the new processor 
will debut before the end of the year, he said, and the current pSeries 
family -- IBM's Unix-based servers that run the Power4+ processor -- 
will be retired during 2004 as p5 models make it to market.

"The i5 should open the eyes of those that thought this [iSeries] was an 
old-fashioned machine", concluded King.

The iSeries 520 and 570 will be available starting June 11.

-- 
Regards,
Mike

Failed the exam for
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MCSE - Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert
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[Please use zipped versions of above]




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