In today's environment, companies, large or small, are looking for ways to streamline their organizations, reduce costs and continue to provide optimal customer service. IT decision makers have recognized an industry trend toward server consolidation as a means of responding to the overall bottom line. Effective server consolidation solutions can provide many business benefits:

• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Improved service levels
• Faster time to market
• More manageable IT environment
  

Server consolidation is not just about reducing the number of servers, but rather it is about simplifying and optimizing the existing IT infrastructure with a goal of integrating existing architectures across applications and data.

The preference is for an architecture-independent approach to server consolidation that encompasses four areas: centralization to reduce the number of IT centers; physical consolidation of software or hardware; data consolidation, which requires storage; and application creation to consolidate multiple architectures into a single resource space.

Linux, of course, is a genuinely open system. Linux open-source code has been proven to be dependable, stable and better overall. The flexibility and freedom associated with open-source code means you are no longer limited to one operating system. This means you can get more value out of your existing systems and can realize cost savings not offered by proprietary operating system software.

The combination of Linux and the zSeries is unmatchable. Capitalizing on industryleading virtualization technology, IBM zSeries 800 provides an ideal platform for the consolidation of UNIX, Windows NT and Linux applications. It's an attractively priced package that combines both mainframe innovations and the infrastructure of a world-class Linux environment. And with the capacity for four 64-bit Linux processors, the zSeries 800 for Linux has the flexibility to grow with your business.

The IBM Virtual Image Facility for LINUX (VIF) lets you create a "server farm in a box." Hundreds of Linux images can be run side-by-side, each virtual server inheriting the legendary zSeries qualities of service. Unexpected demand? Add a new server in minutes, not hours or days. Run test and production servers side-by-side with complete confidence. And manage a single server, not hundreds.