IBM Power Systems advantages

Power Systems Software: Completing the Power Advantage
Move to the Power Architecture and get ‘performance plus’ by deploying Power Systems Software technologies to fully exploit Power Systems servers. Realise the benefits of leadership virtualisation with AIX, i and Linux operating systems on a single server – as well as availability, energy, security and management advantages with a Power solution.

Virtualization: Power = Efficiency - Cost
As businesses look for ways to maximise their IT infrastructure investment returns, they turn to IBM PowerVM virtualisation to consolidate multiple workloads onto fewer systems – increasing server utilisation and reducing cost. PowerVM provides a secure and scalable virtualisation environment for AIX, i and Linux applications built upon the advanced RAS features and leading performance of the Power Systems platform.

PowerVM offers Micro-Partitioning with the ability to run up to ten partitions per processor core and dynamically move processor, memory and input/output (I/O) resources between partitions to support changing workload requirements. PowerVM Live Partition Mobility enables active partitions to be moved between servers, virtually eliminating planned downtime.

AIX: Power = Innovation + Performance
AIX exploits decades of IBM technology innovation and is designed to provide the highest level of performance and reliability of any UNIX operating system.

AIX 6.1 is binary compatible with previous versions of AIX, including AIX 5L. This means that applications that ran on earlier versions will continue to run on AIX 6.1 – guaranteed.¹ AIX 6.1 is an open standards-based UNIX operating system designed to comply with the Open Group’s Single UNIX Specification Version 3.

IBM i: Power = Integration + Solutions
IBM i is an integrated operating environment with a more than 20-year reputation for exceptional security and business resilience. IBM i integrates a trusted combination of relational database, security, Web services, networking and storage management capabilities.

IBM i 6.1 includes expanded options for virtualisation, upgraded storage and availability management, breakthrough Java™ performance, new support for POWER6 and BladeCenter and a broad range of middleware and tools to help drive Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) transformation.

Linux: Power = Choice + Reliability
Both Red Hat and Novell SUSE Linux run natively on Power Systems, offering a scalable alternative for your open source applications.

PowerVM Lx86 cross-platform virtualisation technology also enables x86 Linux workloads to run without recompilation and take advantage of the scalability of Power Systems. This means Power Systems clients can immediately benefit from the latest Linux applications, not wait until they are natively compiled for Linux on Power.

Availability: Power = Uptime – Downtime
Power Systems solutions benefit from decades of IBM experience in designing and deploying high availability hardware and software. PowerHA disk clustering solutions are available to help keep your systems – and your business – running around-the-clock.

Extensive experience in Predictive Failure Analysis and dynamic system adaptation ensures you the peace of mind that comes from IBM RAS features built into every Power server.

Security: Power = Compliance – Threats
IBM offers tools to protect data from threats and unauthorised access on Power servers running AIX, i and Linux workloads. Data encryption capabilities to protect file systems, data and backup are an integral part of the AIX and i operating systems, both of which also support role-based access control. Whether you want to manage the security of your Power servers, or include other elements in your infrastructure – IBM solutions provide intuitive administration that helps you to define, enforce and audit your business security policy.

Energy: Power = Performance + Conservation
Power Systems energy management solutions monitor and control energy usage to help you manage energy efficiency in your data centre. Each Power server has EnergyScale technology built into the POWER6 processor. Through consolidation and virtualisation with PowerVM, businesses have realised dramatic energy savings. And, with IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager, you can identify trends in your energy usage and thermal profile, turn off processor cores or limit the energy draw across one or a group of Power servers and track environmental data from applications used to monitor air conditioning units, Uninterruptible Power Supplies and Intelligent Power Distribution Units.

Management: Power = Simplicity + Control
With IBM Systems Director for platform management and Tivoli for enterprise service management solutions, Power Systems offer a unified systems management solution that can improve service delivery. Businesses not only get a complete picture of their systems and how well they are operating, but also the tools to deploy, optimise and maintain these systems at maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Now business can meet requirements for optimised workload performance, energy management and cost control.