When you look at your data center what do you see? Maybe racks full of servers and storage systems. Maybe some of the connections between them. But do you see BTUs and kilowatts? You should. Power and cooling demands are becoming more important as energy prices rise and utilities restrict the amount of power some customers can use. IBM System z offers extraordinary energy efficiency capabilities to help you address these issues.
According to one analyst, the IBM System z platform can be configured to require 1/12th the electricity as a distributed server farm with equivalent processor capability.1
If you look at just one possible energy scenario, the numbers are spectacular. According to a Robert Frances Group study a company analyzed consolidation of hundreds of UNIX servers to one System z mainframe. The calculations showed monthly power costs of $30,165 for the UNIX servers versus $905 for System z. That company calculated they would save over $350,000 in power costs annually.2
How does System z do this? It's about IBM mainframe technology and consolidation.
IBM System z servers can run at utilization rates as high as 100% for long periods of time. This means that power that is consumed is used for transaction processing, rather than just keeping the servers' lights on. So by taking advantage of System z virtualization capabilities, hundreds or even thousands of smaller servers can be replaced by a single System z mainframe. That single System z mainframe doesn't require external networking to communicate between virtual servers. All of the servers are in a single box with huge, internal I/O pathways. This may help performance of complex, interconnected applications and also save power by eliminating datacenter network infrastructure.
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WinterGreen Research, Inc., report shows that mainframe can provide 10X cost advantage over distributed servers for large data center.
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The Impact of Power and Cooling on Data Center Infrastructure, IDC
This IDC analysis provides background for what's going on in the data center regarding Power and Cooling.
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IT Managers Make a Power Play, Wall Street Journal
27 March 2007
". . . information-technology managers are now discovering what big data-center operators have found in recent years: Electricity is a significant portion of their tech spending -- and growing quickly."
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Energy Efficient Motivators, IBM
May 2007
"Reduce your data center power and cooling costs, demonstrate your commitment to the environment, and possibly qualify for an incentive for your efforts."
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Go green with the IBM System z9 BC mainframe, IBM
August 2007
"As one of the biggest consumers of utility power, data centres are a major contributor to greenhouse emissions. This makes them an easy target for legislative initiatives regarding buildings and energy efficiency."
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Mainframe Computing and Power in the Data Center, Robert Francis Group
20 February 2007
". . .mainframe computers directly attack the issues of power and cooling, and do so in a significant way. First, for comparable levels of computation, mainframe systems take up dramatically less space. This directly aids in eliminating the need to spend tremendous amounts of money (and time) building new data centers to come up with the needed space. Second, mainframe computers are proving to be dramatically more efficient in cooling and power consumption, in most areas that can be measured."
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Powerful Incentives: Using IBM System z to Realize Significant Operational Cost Savings, Robert Francis Group
February 2007
"Mainframe systems are clearly superior in handling the growing power and cooling issues in the data center. Taken together with the cascading efficiencies and cost savings that are a direct result of these attributes, mainframe systems stand out in the unique ability to realize true business value from data centers."
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Customer name: NEXXAR Group
Industry: Financial Markets
How IBM System z helps: Nexxar reduces IT operating costs by 30% leveraging IFLs and DB2 on z/OS.
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Customer name: Hannaford Bros. Co.
Industry: Retail
How IBM System z helps: IBM System z, as the enterprise hub, helped Hannaford address its supply chain needs of scalability, reliability and flexibility
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1 IBM System z: Platform Star for Linux and Open Source Software, Ptak, Noel & Associates.
2 Mainframe computing in the data center, Robert Frances Group.
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IBM Mainframes just got even more cost competitive. Let us
