Migrate from Dell

It’s tempting to migrate to a low-cost solution from Dell. But be advised: lower initial costs don’t necessarily mean lower total cost of ownership.

With IBM System x and BladeCenter servers you get a choice of form factors and processors: Intel, AMD and IBM — all from a trusted partner. You also get proactive systems management tools, which can help you reduce complexity and manage risk. According to a 3Q06 Technology Business Research (TBR) study, customer satisfaction with our systems management tools is the highest in the industry. Dell trails in last place. ³

Manage growth your way

With IBM systems, you have the option to scale up or scale out. With Dell, your only choice to increase processing power is to scale out. ⁴ It’s easy to see how one seemingly low-cost investment can backfire, eventually requiring more servers, more licensing fees, more warranties and more maintenance. IBM offers multiple scale out options with BladeCenter and System x systems. IBM also offers scale out options, including the System x 3950 which scales from two to 32 sockets to meet a wide range of consolidation needs.

Reduce complexity, enhance staff productivity and mitigate risk

IBM continues to invest considerable resources to advance a range of proven technologies and offer innovations that allow customers to focus on their core business—not their infrastructure.

System x and BladeCenter manageability tools are among the best in the industry. They’re designed to save you time and money by helping you increase availability, track and deploy assets, optimise performance and enable remote management. Here are just some of your choices:

Go green and save

With IBM Cool Blue™ technology (US) we are helping customers manage power and cooling to improve their ability to do business. We offer power management and cooling innovations at the system, rack and data center level. They include PowerExecutive, Rear Door Heat eXchanger, Calibrated Vectored Cooling, power configuration and thermal diagnostics.

And of course, IBM’s ongoing commitment to virtualisation is part of our overall dedication to reducing clients’ total cost of ownership.

Go with a partner you can trust

As a single source vendor, IBM delivers high levels of service and support. IBM not only offers a broad portfolio of Intel-based options, we also offer AMD Opteron, i5/OS™, Linux™ and UNIX™-based offerings and mainframes.

IBM BladeCenter offers unmatched investment protection, You get a common set of blades, a common set of industry-standard switches and I/O fabrics and a common management infrastructure across all chassis. This gives you incredibly flexible mix-and-match deployment choices.

If any of your solutions aren’t running as they should, help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Before signing up for any other company’s solutions, you would be well-advised to ask which components are covered by service and support—and which are not.

Migration pathways

Migrating to IBM is an easy, well-travelled path. Unlike Dell, IBM offers scale-up options beyond 4-socket machines. ⁴

Who should migrate	Business needs	Migration pathways
Mid-sized to larger enterprises who are: Limited by Dell 2- and 4-socket servers	Industrial-strength server; high availability; scalable infrastructure; cost-effective virtualisation and consolidation capabilities; expansion on demand.	System x high-performance scalable servers
Businesses with: Dell PowerEdge – Intel 1U/2U Dell PowerEdge blades	Cost-effective scalability; support for multiple applications on multiple operating systems; support for 2- and 4-way Intel and 2-way UNIX all on same chassis.	IBM BladeCenter
Small to mid-market businesses who: Use System i and also own Dell servers Are considering new business applications	Integrated system that can reduce IT costs by consolidating infrastructure, reducing downtime and simplifying operations.	IBM System i IBM BladeCenter and System x integration with System i
Any Dell customer who: Needs cost-effective storage for a rapidly changing business	Simplify IT complexity; help protect current investments while accommodating growth; scalable storage that delivers on demand data access.	IBM System Storage (US)

¹ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/27/gcg_server/
Article source: Gabriel Consulting Group, x86 Server Vendor Preference Study 1Q ’06 & Overall Results.

² Technology Business Research, Inc., Corporate IT Buying Behaviour & Customer Satisfaction Study: x86-Based Servers (US), page 97, August 15, 2006.

³ Technology Business Research, Inc., Corporate IT Buying Behaviour & Customer Satisfaction Study: x86-Based Servers, page 99, August 15, 2006.

⁴ As of 10/04/2006, Dell only offers up to 4-way servers.