Get an integrated infrastructure―or build your own system
If you’re looking for an integrated system for infrastructure consolidation or cloud implementation, enhanced IBM PureFlex System offerings can help simplify your IT experience. If you are looking to build your own system or upgrade an existing blade server installation, you can take advantage of these new compute, networking and management capabilities with an IBM Flex System – a build-to-order solution designed to help you go beyond blades.
Solution choices to meet your business demands
To meet today’s complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of server, storage, networking and software resources that is simple to deploy and can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need access to—and the ability to take advantage of—broad expertise and proven best practices in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance and more.
IBM PureFlex System
Pre-configured, pre-integrated
IBM PureFlex System, a part of the IBM PureSystems™ family of expert integrated systems, combines advanced IBM hardware and software along with patterns of expertise and integrates them into three optimized configurations that are simple to acquire and deploy so you can achieve faster time to value.
If you want a pre-configured, pre-integrated infrastructure with integrated management and cloud capabilities, factory tuned from IBM with x86 and Power hybrid solution, IBM PureFlex System is the answer.
IBM Flex System
Custom-build to your requirements
IBM Flex System, the elements that make up IBM PureFlex System, allows you to build your own system to meet your unique IT requirements with a set of no-compromise components including compute, storage, networking and systems management.
If you want to custom build and tune a configuration to meet your specific requirements utilizing the most advanced blade server in the market with maximum x86 EP compute and memory performance, IBM Flex System is the right fit.
Why choose IBM PureFlex System or IBM Flex System
Extraordinary compute power, storage capability and networking flexibility with the latest processors and a no-compromise design
Twice the application density in the same floor space 1
Energy costs reductions of up to 40% 3
Reduced software licensing costs with up to 70% fewer cores needed than previous generation systems 2
Simplified administration of your whole infrastructure from a single interface
Management integration of resource pools across compute, storage and networking reduces management costs up to 50% 4
Integrated, automated storage provisioning in 98% less time 5
66% faster set-up time 6
You need systems to support the unique needs of your business. IBM offers solutions to address a wide range of challenges
Potential benefits include:
- Simplified administration of a heterogeneous infrastructure from a single interface
- Extraordinary compute power, storage capability and networking flexibility with the latest processors and a no-compromise design
- Migrate a non-IBM blade or rack server infrastructure to simplify management and improve performance and flexibility
If you want to configure your own solution based on x86 systems: Learn more about IBM Flex System
If you want a pre-configured, pre-integrated solution with x86 or POWER processor-based systems: Learn more about IBM PureFlex System
- Up to a 50 percent reduction in IT operational costs
- A system that is ready for rapid cloud deployments in hours
- Management integration of resource pools across compute, storage and networking reduces management costs up to 50 percent2
- Up to 40 percent less energy to support applications
- 98 percent reduction in server provisioning time required
- Rapid application deployment and as low as nine month payback with factory integration of compute, storage and networking resources5
- Up to 50 percent reduction in management and admin expense 6
- Up to 78 percent software licensing savings due to performance, VM density, and automation7
- Tens of thousands of available applications with many optimized for rapid deployment on PureFlex
- Reliable, secure IT that is easier to manage and maintain at lower cost
- Up to 50 percent reduction in management and admin expense8
- Integrate UNIX, IBM i, Windows and Linux applications under single management tool
- Integrated, automated storage provisioning in 98 percent less time9
- Modular, pay as you grow design enables easy growth
Press releases
The community speaks
"Early testing of Accelrys Discovery Studio on the IBM PureFlex System demonstrates superior overall application performance. Plus, the consolidated IBM Flex System Manager capabilities will offer our customers advantages over traditional non-integrated hardware platforms to drive their research further."
- Matt Hahn, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Accelrys
"Amdocs' Convergent Charging solution on IBM's PureFlex systems shows results that exceeds our expectation. This platform opens new options for the integration of Convergent Charging solution in a heterogeneous platform."
- Avishai Sharlin, Division President, Portfolio Solution Management, Product BU Group, Amdocs
"ANSYS is pleased to be partnering with IBM on their new IBM PureFlex System launch. IBM PureFlex System running ANSYS solutions and IBM/Platform HPC promises to provide a compelling, innovative solution for our customers."
- Barbara Hutchings, Director of Strategic Partnerships, ANSYS
"CiRBA’s predictive analytics enable organizations to fully leverage the performance and efficiency benefits of IBM’s PureFlex Systems. We are very pleased to be working with IBM to enable organizations to optimize migration planning and gain control with IBM PureFlex Systems."
- Chuck Tatham, SVP, Operations & Business Development, CiRBA
"Given that CMG's industry-leading reservoir simulation applications run on both Power and Intel platforms, we are presently benchmarking the advantages that IBM’s new offering could bring to our customers, where the appetites for performance, complexity and simulation sizes are ever-increasing."
- Ken Dedeluk, CEO, CMG
"This new IBM PureFlex System delivers a breakthrough infrastructure helping us to deliver our ENOVIA application more securely, quickly and efficiently. This enables clients to realize the promised economies of a consolidated PLM I/T environment more quickly and at a lower total cost of ownership."
- Andy Kalambi, CEO ENOVIA, Dassault Systèmes
"DPS ran our ERP, warehousing and E-commerce applications on IBM’s PureFlex System easily and with excellent performance. We believe our customers will benefit greatly, reducing complexity and increasing flexibility using the next generation platform, supporting IBM i and Intel workloads with integrated storage management."
- Marshall Dunbar, CTO, DPS
"IBM PureFlex System will provide customers with a high value appliance to move legacy systems to, and give new customers a ready-made and easy-to-manage simplified infrastructure to more easily and quickly deploy their Maximo Spatial and ESRI EAM system."
- Josh Lewis, Director, Global Partners, ESRI
"F5’s integration with IBM’s PureFlex Systems will provide customers an agile and optimized IT architecture to speed provisioning of services within enterprise data centers and out to the cloud."
- Karl Triebes, EVP of Product Development and CTO, F5
"Our experience in testing the new IBM PureFlex System was very positive, and brings closer the reality of running a complete banking software solution from one chassis. In addition, the IBM i OS enables optimum co-existence of Cobol and DBMS (DB2) data definitions, an ideal combination of performance and security for comprehensive core and ancillary banking software database solutions. These advantages allow us to deliver faster, better and produce easily deployed, integrated banking solutions."
- Erik Witchita, SVP, Product Development, Fiserv Bank Solutions
"Initial testing with Gaussian 09 indicates the IBM PureFlex System offers excellent performance. When coupled with IBM’s V7000 storage, IBM PureFlex System brings the capability to run very large Gaussian problems conveniently within reach of more end-users."
- Dr. Michael Frisch, President, Gaussian
"With IBM’s PureFlex System, HarrisData’s application suite can be deployed in an easy to manage infrastructure that integrates all the key processes a manufacturer needs. With IBM PureFlex System, HarrisData sets a new standard for enterprise software and supporting infrastructure."
- Michael Mallen, Executive Vice President, HarrisData
"IBM PureFlex Systems provide a multi-platform environment that is ideal for Infor's integrated industry suites, with optimized performance managed through a unified management structure."
- Jack Bullock, Vice President and General Manager, System i, Infor
"Information Builders is excited to continue our extensive relationship with IBM by offering WebFOCUS business intelligence and integration and integrity products natively on IBM Expert Integrated Systems. Customers will be able to centralize business intelligence on the server that houses all their applications and data sources for complete, efficient, and cost effective analytics."
- Gerald Cohen, CEO, Information Builders
"InterSystems Caché & TrakCare performed excellently on the IBM PureFlex System with IBM V7000 storage. It will scale to meet the needs of our smallest to our largest customers. The ability to consolidate customers' workloads on a single system will lower their TCO."
- Robert Nagle, Vice President, Software Development, InterSystems
"IBM’s PureFlex System with Juniper Networks’ QFabric and vGW Virtual Gateway help customers accelerate their cloud computing initiatives by redefining security and application scalability. Juniper’s innovative QFabric architecture and vGW are the ideal data center networking solutions for customers who want to easily enable the benefits that cloud computing can provide."
- R.K. Anand, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Business Unit, Juniper Networks
"The IBM PureFlex System allows us to manage all of our development, test and deployment of platforms through a single user interface. It is an excellent, simple way to manage the infrastructure needed to run our business."
- Don Nelson, VP Customer Support, LANSA
"IBM’s PureFlex System efficiently supported our largest test to date of concurrent users which will help MajescoMastek expand our market to include Tier 1 insurance companies. The speed and scalability of the IBM PureFlex System will help insurers quickly deploy new flexible products and revolutionize their billing collections & disbursements processes with our solutions."
- Stefan Van Overtveldt, Chief Engineer, MajescoMastek
"IBM's extensive testing has demonstrated that the IBM PureFlex System is a solid hardware platform for Windows Server and virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V, as well as for key Microsoft application workloads. We look forward to IBM PureFlex System and future products from both IBM and Microsoft that will continue to provide mutual customer benefit."
- Bill Laing, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Shared Server and Cloud
"Openet and its Service Optimization Software enables Communication Service Providers to make real-time network resource and modernization decisions. Openet Express Solutions, running on IBM PureFlex System, set a new standard for time-to-market and packaged solution capabilities. Together Express and PureFlex System provide clear advantages for faster solution delivery and ease of operations."
- Niall Norton, CEO, Openet
"Openwave is delighted to be an early adopter of IBM’s PureFlex Systems. Openwave Email Mx with Rich Mail on IBM’s expertly integrated systems offers the market a rich email experience that is very cost effective."
- Mike Mullica, CEO, Openwave
"The IBM PureFlex System brings another level of choice and flexibility for IBM’s and Red Hat’s customers bringing together the POWER7 and x86 architectures into a platform architecture that enables broad scale deployment of IT solutions for small and medium enterprises all the way up to the largest enterprise and mission critical computing workloads."
- Jim Totton, VP & GM, Platform Business Unit, Red Hat
"I was very impressed with how the consolidation of the VIOS environment with the IBM PureFlex System enabled Rocket iCluster to be quickly and seamlessly installed, which allowed our customers to protect their IBM i systems, and so realize value right away."
- Mike Warkentin, iCluster Product Offering Manager
"The SAP application portfolio is open to capitalize on the reliability and scalability of a heterogeneous POWER & x86 infrastructure. IBM's PureFlex System will enable our clients to tune their server and storage infrastructures, matching the various SAP workloads onto an optimized system. It promises to be a new way of simplifying the deployment and management of enterprise applications."
- Sethu M, Deputy CTO, Head of Product Architecture and Technology Strategy, SAP
"SAS customers seek flexible hardware and software infrastructure with reduced complexity. IBM's PureFlex Systems are designed to address these critical factors. SAS participated in the "test drive" of this system during IBM's early support program. This new IBM platform provides a promising infrastructure required by our Analytics Customers to better manage and deploy their high performance computing environments."
- Paul Kent, SAS Vice President, Platform Research & Development, SAS
"IBM PureFlex System with Siemens MedSeries4 provides customers with greater flexibility and agility to meet to the ongoing challenges of federal regulations in a Meaningful Use (MU) environment and well positioned for the future. The IBM PureFlex System’s single control point for virtual resources including servers, storage and networking make IBM PureFlex Systems and Siemens MedSeries4 the logical choice in healthcare software delivery."
- Rex Maughan, Siemens MedSeries4 Chief Architect, Siemens Medical
"Using IBM PureFlex System, we were able to manage KVM-based clouds end-to-end and increase VM density 10x with a 2x performance boost compared to existing deployments. Coupled with complete automation for image construction and deployment, this offers customers an unbeatable level of agility to manage their IT infrastructures."
- Marc-Elian Bégin, Co-founder, SixSq
"With IBM PureFlex Systems, clients have the flexibility to optimize multiple SPSS workloads onto one integrated system that can host both POWER and x86 processor architectures."
- Rich Holada, Vice President, SPSS
"ROC Fraud Management and Revenue Assurance solutions can utilize the simplified infrastructure that IBM PureFlex System provides, enabling clients to more easily and quickly deploy a fraud management solution. IBM's PureFlex System can enable our clients to tune their server and storage infrastructures, matching various workloads onto a PureFlex System optimized system. It promises to be a new way of simplifying the deployment and management of Subex’s ROC Fraud Management and ROC Revenue Assurance solution."
- Anuradha, Senior Vice President Engineering, Subex
"SUSE's strengths in mission-critical computing, integrated solutions, and cloud computing closely align with IBM's PureFlex System. These synergies, combined with our joint focus on open virtualization, will provide enterprises of all sizes the ability to recognize the benefits of open source and virtualization."
- Michael Miller, VP, Global Alliances & Marketing, SUSE
"IBM PureFlex System takes the IT industry beyond delivering IT components to start delivering integrated expertise that maximizes optimization and automation. IBM Pure Systems provides greater agility, reduces risk and allows greater predictability for banks."
- John Schlesinger, Chief Enterprise Architect, Temenos
"IBM’s PureFlex System greatly enhances our capabilities to offer a single, easy to use, and easy to manage system across the enterprise. It brings significant savings and benefits to our customers."
- Kevin Beasley, CIO, Vormittag Associates
"VMware and IBM have worked for nearly two years to support the delivery of IBM PureFlex System. VMware cloud infrastructure combined with the pre-integrated IBM PureFlex System platform will simplify and automate the setup, deployment and management of infrastructure resources while enabling innovation for new end-user computing and mobile solutions – helping customers transform their businesses by transforming IT."
- Steve Herrod, CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D, VMware
Video gallery
IBM PureFlex System introduction
An introduction to the IBM PureFlex System
IBM PureSystems: Making IT work
Built in expertise. Integration by design. Simplified experience.
Must see highlights
Explore PureFlex solutions
- IBM PureFlex System brochure (890KB)
- Discover IBM Flex System Manager (00:08:00)
- Optimized application performance with integration by design (US)
- Open invitation: Learn more about the benefits of migrating to IBM Flex System or IBM PureFlex System
- Accelerate Cloud with IBM PureFlex System
- Reduce IT Costs and Consolidate with IBM PureFlex System
- Simplify your IT with IBM PureFlex System (US)
- Optimize IT on IBM PureSystems
- Transforming the Application Software Market with Pre-packaged IBM PureSystems (743KB)
- Alphinat SmartGuide on PureFlex (US)
- Radware on PureFlex System (779KB)
- SAP on PureFlex System (1.29MB)
- VMware on PureFlex System (743KB)