Do More, Spend Less with IBM System p and WebSphere XD

The concept behind virtualization captures a simple elegancenamely, a way to increase the return for your business's investment in IT through simplification, consolidation, and flexibility. Yet, when it comes to selecting a trusted partner and a strategy for implementation, it can get downright confusing amid the competing claims of vendors.

That's why businesses should take the time to look carefully under the hood, so to speak, of the offerings. And when businesses cut through the clutter and hype and analyze the competing offerings, they quickly spot the added value of choosing an IBM solution. For instance, take the IBM System p server and the advantages created by its tight integration of UNIX and Linux operating systems with the 64-bit IBM POWER5 and POWER5+ platform and IBM Virtualization solutions. System p delivers the flexibility, performance, availability, and risk avoidance that businesses want in their computing environments.

Whether it's a single processor in a blade server or a one-hundred server farm, System p scales easily and enables Java-based applications to be implemented almost instantly in a virtualized environment using IBM WebSphere Extended Deployment (XD). Intel-based competitors may claim to match System p's capabilities, but when their systems are put to the test they come up short.

"Without requiring intervention by a technician, System pwith WebSphere XD runningcan adapt to a shifting workload in an LPAR configuration by readjusting the provisioning automatically"

Automated Functions Reduce Downtime and Man Power
One of the beauties of System p is that with WebSphere XD it can respond dynamically to a changing computing environment without requiring rebooting or risking a crash. So, for instance, without requiring intervention by a technician, System pwith WebSphere XD runningcan adapt to a shifting workload in an LPAR configuration by readjusting the provisioning automatically.

How does this increase utilization, simplify an IT environment, and reduce costs? Consider that most data centers reserve multiple servers for disaster recovery and back-up. At times of peak workloads, few things grate on IT managers more than the idle servers dedicated solely to disaster recovery and back-up. In a virtualized environment, System p and WebSphere XD can automatically add production partitions on the disaster recovery and back-up servers to handle the extra workload and to reduce the risks of a service outage. Once the peak has passed and the workload subsides, the disaster recovery and back-up processors can be cycled down.

This produces savings in the data center in a number of ways, not the least of which is the fact that the chances of an outage and its associated costs have been reduced. It also saves on power and space in addition to postponing the day when additional servers are needed to handle growing workloads.

IBM System p models deliver through an extensive family of 1- to 64-core servers that support AIX 5L and Linux on POWER applicationsall on the same system and at the same time. System p can easily be configured to meet the demands of any business settingfrom branch office applications, infrastructure, and web serving, to databases, application development, server consolidation, and business intelligence. Moreover, with virtualization, System p can run 60 to 80 logical partitions on a single machine. Unlike some competitors, this kind of processing is available on production models, not just models with customized configurations.

The performance of the 64-bit IBM POWER5 and POWER5+ platform, enabled by unique simultaneous multi-threading and the AIX 5L operating system, continues to set new industry performance records, breaking its own records from each system generation to the next. IBM's investment in AIX 5L system and unique advanced virtualization technologies, like Micro-Partitioning, Virtual I/O, and Partition Load Manager, empower AIX 5L and Linux users alike to increase utilization of a single system to save costs on hardware, software, energy, maintenance, and space.

With mainframe-inspired reliability built into every system along with embedded autonomic security features in the AIX 5L platform and the POWER5 and POWER5+ platform, System p gives businesses a clearer roadmap of their future IT capabilities and investments.

Improved Performance and Computational Capacity
WebSphere XD adds a layer of certitude that a business can maximize its return on IT investment in virtualization, along with the peace of mind that comes from knowing WebSphere XD is reliable and has extensive capabilities in dynamic Java-based application environments. IBM introduced WebSphere XD in 2004 in recognition of the potential for extending the virtues of virtualization to the application layer.

WebSphere XD works at the business application layer in an array of heterogeneous servers, or within a single server, and allows the user to view infrastructure resources as a single, consistent entity. What WebSphere XD does is eliminate bottlenecks at the application level and manage the workload at the application layer so that applications are running at the proper time and in the desired priority.

As mentioned earlier, WebSphere XD manages fluctuating workloads dynamically, opening new applications as required on an array of servers or within a virtual machine. However, it also enhances system effectiveness through extending virtualization to information. By employing distributed transactional caching and asymmetric clustering through application partitioning, WebSphere XD relieves the demands placed on the backend data stores, improves response times, and reduces the need for constant fine-tuning of applications. All this increases the performance and computational capacity of IT systems without demanding additional administrative oversight.

Together, System p and WebSphere XD create opportunities for businesses to accomplish the seemingly impossiblenamely, to improve IT system performance while reducing costs. In System p, IBM has wedded its 40 years of experience in virtualization and a similarly long history of leading innovation in UNIX with its leadership in Linux and Open Source communities through Power Architecture processors to deliver an exceptional value proposition to businesses. It all comes down to doing more while spending less. And who wouldn't like to accomplish that?