IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP)

What it does

The IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) is available on all IBM zEnterprise (zEnterprise™), System z10, and System z9 servers. It is designed to help free-up general computing capacity and lower overall total cost of computing for select data and transaction processing workloads for business intelligence (BI), ERP and CRM, and select network encryption workloads on the mainframe.

zIIP Eligible workloads include portions of the following:

• Beginning with DB2 for z/OS V8, DB2 for z/OS exploits the zIIP capability for portions of eligible data serving, pureXML, and utility workloads.
• z/OS Communications Server exploits the zIIP for portions of IPSec network encryption and decryption. z/OS Communications Server exploits the zIIP for select HiperSockets large message traffic.
• z/OS XML System Services is enabled to take advantage of the zIIP for eligible XML validating and non-validating workloads.
• z/OS Global Mirror enables DFSMS System Data Mover processing to be eligible for the zIIP.
• IBM Global Business Services can enable the Scalable Architecture for Financial Reporting (SAFR) enterprise business intelligence reporting solution for zIIP.
• Portions of z/OS CIM Server processing are eligible for zIIP (beginning with z/OS V1.11).
• OMEGAMON XE on z/OS for DASD scanning.
• OMEGAMON XE for DB2 Performance Expert (and DB2 Performance Monitor) for normalizing DB2 for z/OS raw instrumentation data.
• OMEGAMON V5.1 CICS SLA Report Builder
  Up to 73% of the OMEGAMON V5.1 CICS Service Level Agreement (SLA) report builder processing is eligible to be executed on zIIPs.
• RMF - Announced in the z/OS V2.1 preview, RMF V2R1 customers who have at least one zIIP processor online in the partition where RMF Monitor III (RMFGAT) is running, are expected to be able to run a portion of Monitor III work on zIIP engines
• zAAP on zIIP capability.
  
  The zIIP's execution environment accepts eligible work from z/OS, which manages and directs the work between the general purpose processor and the zIIP. IBM will not impose software charges on zIIP capacity.
  
  See the following page about Intended future support for zAAP processors

What it means

The zIIP, better enables data to be centralized on the mainframe. The ease and economy of this solution helps break down the walls between transactional datastores on the mainframe and applications that run on distributed computers. Workloads on zIIP can help connect, manage, extend, and protect the data and transactions that originate from the mainframe. With the zIIP capability, the System z9, System z10 and zEnterprise mainframe helps minimize the need to maintain duplicate copies of the data and provide better security between the applications and the data. Thus, zIIP can help your business by:

• Helping to improve resource optimization.
• May help lower cost of computing for eligible workloads.
• Help secure network data and help keep data stores resilient

Special offers

• Forrester Consulting: Banking On Analytics Financial services firms count on a consolidated, secure platform for real-time analytics

• Solitaire Interglobal study: See comparisons of virtualization alternatives–What’s best for your business?
• Avoid costly downtime: Consider the three-year cost of downtime for eight large SAP enterprise users running on System z versus two other platforms.
• IDC white paper: Learn how you can centralize more servers, workloads, applications and data on IBM System z.
• Read a Forrester Consulting commissioned study on the total economic impact of IBM System z.

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¹ Additional IBM software charges will apply when additional general purpose CP capacity is used. The amount of general-purpose processor savings will vary based on the amount of workload executed by the zIIP, among other factors.

^* All statements regarding IBM future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represents goals and objectives only.

NOTE: This information provides only general descriptions of the types and portions of workloads that are eligible for execution on Specialty Engines (e.g, zIIPs, zAAPs, and IFLs) ("SEs"). IBM authorizes customers to use IBM SE only to execute the processing of Eligible Workloads of specific Programs expressly authorized by IBM as specified in the “Authorized Use Table for IBM Machines” provided at www.ibm.com/systems/support/machine_warranties/machine_code/aut.html (“AUT”). No other workload processing is authorized for execution on an SE.

IBM offers SE at a lower price than General Processors/Central Processors because customers are authorized to use SEs only to process certain types and/or amounts of workoads as specified by IBM in the AUT.