Next to the announcement of the z114 there were still some other announcements too. I'll try and cover some of them in the next few days that stand between now and my holiday. First there's the announcement that z10 EC and z10 BC will be withdrawn from marketing : 'Hardware withdrawal: IBM System z10 EC, IBM System z10 BC, and a selected IBM zEnterprise 196 feature - Replacements availabe (ZG11-0116)'.
We've seen the same with the z9 last year and we've also seen that (to my knowledge) for the first time 'withdrawn from marketing' really meant what it said. We haven't done any upgrades after June 30, 2010. This used to be somewhat different in the past.
Now, it happens in two phases. As of June 30, 2012 any upgrades towards a z10 EC or a z10 BC will no longer be possible. Nor will you be able to do any model conversions or hardware MES features. Roughly speaking this means that any upgrade which involves hardware changes will no longer be possible.
"Field install features and conversions that are delivered solely through a modification to the machine's Licensed Internal Code (LIC) will continue to be available until June 30, 2013" meaning that everything which is in the machine will be able to be activated during the next year. E.g. you will be able to add a zIIP to a z10 EC E12 if there are still engines available in that book, you will no longer be able to add a book. After June 30. 2013 nothing will pass any more.
One point of attention : Capacity on Demand offerings will be usable until their expiration date. Something to check when you're planning to use a z10 after June 2013.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
IBM announces the new zEnterprise 114 or z114
General Introduction
Just went to see Prince last Sunday at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Those who only know Purple Rain will call him a dinosaur, but he's no one trick pony, he's still making really good music. He's not just a singer or guitar player either, he's a real multi-instrumentalist, some say he plays 26 different instruments. Oh, and some will argue he's expensive, and yes, I paid 100 EURO for one ticket. But I'd rather go to see one really good artist who's worth every cent than 5 would-be artists for nearly the same price. You know where I'm heading at : I'm just making a pretty lousy intro comparing the qualities of this artist with the qualities of the mainframe. And not doing justice to either of them.
Just to tell you, here it is : the new IBM zEnterprise 114 with the following announcement : 'IBM zEnterprise 114 - Freedom by design (ZG11-0207)'
You know by now how the naming is done. It's just as the z196 still the first generation and it has 14 engines at its disposal. I'll first give you the more traditional stuff and then show you the internals with some new hardware components. There's also a new software pricing mechanism and some other pricing news. In the meantime some of the new things are also announced for the z196's GA2 : 'IBM zEnterprise 196 enhancements deliver faster access to data (ZG11-0193). In particular, I'm thinking about the new zBX enhancements.
Here's a good overview of the new functionalities of the z114. Just click on the image to get a larger, mor readable version in a new window.
Click on image for larger version in new window
Technical specifications
The z114 gets machine type 2818. Just like its, can we say BC, predecessors it's also a one frame, air-cooled machine. It's a little bit smaller footprint and it comes, just like the z196, with overhead or top-exit I/O cabling. New is that it now also has top exit power cabling.
At first sight, it's perhaps a bit surprising to see two models appearing again : the M05 and the M10. But this is mainly due to the new CPC drawers which I'll be discussing a bit further. These drawers each have 7 PUs. The M05 has one drawer (7 PUs) and the M10 has two drawers (14 PUs). Each model has 2 SAPs leaving the M05 with 5 and the M10 with 10 configurable PUs. Hey, why 10 on the M10 and not 14 - 2 = 12 ? Well, the M10 has 2 dedicated spares. This is new for a BC machine. The M05 acts as all its predecessor using non-designated PUs as spares. Both models can have up to 5 traditional CPs ranging from A01 to Z05 giving us 130 capacity settings.
Click on image for larger version in new window
You know what PCI stands for in the graph.
Other engines can be defined as specialty engines. Here's an overview of the possibilities.
Click on image for larger version in new window
The memory ranges from 8 GB up to 120 GB for the M05 and 248 GB of usable memory for the M10. Just like on the z196 the new RAIM memory is introduced. The small 4GB increments we saw in the lower ranges for the z10 BC are no longer available on the z114.
Upgrades are possible from any z9 BC or z10 BC. You can also (disruptively) upgrade from an M05 to an M10. Only the M10 allows an upgrade to the larger z196 and then again only to an air-cooled model.
The processor now reaches 3.8GHz and the out-of-order core execution has also become available on the BC machines now.
Under the covers
Here you see an 'under the covers' illustration of a z114 Model M10.
Let me concentrate on the two most distinctive technical elements of this z114 : the new CPC drawer and the very new PCIe I/O drawers.
CPC Drawers
You know the CPC drawer was introduced with the z10 BC which had 12 configurable PUs. Now I think IBM made a few modifications in order to make the low end mainframes as affordable as possible. One of those was to split this one drawer into two smaller drawers each with 7 PUs.
In that case the M05 can become cheaper due to less (unused) processors.
Connectivity
When you take a closer look at the 'under the covers' picture, you can see that we now have two kinds of I/O drawers. There's the 'traditional' I/O drawer that was introduced with the z10 BC, but now we also have a new PCIe I/O drawer. The connectivity starts with the new I/O Subsystem Internal Bus connectivity : this changes from InfiniBand to PCIe interconnectivity. The result is an increased throughput from 6 GBps to 8 GBps.
Let's now have a look on how the new PCIe I/O drawer differs from the first one. It is designed for improved power and bandwidth compared to the I/O drawer. First of all, if you're not familair with the PCIe standard, you might want to take a look at Wikipedia. In the meantime, here's the specs of the original I/O drawer.
And this is the new PCIe I/O drawer.
While all traditional cards are still held in the original I/O drawer, the PCIe I/O drawer introduces two types of new cards : the FICON Express8S card and the OSA-Express4S card. You might see that there are much more slots, but then again, the FICON Express8S card has only 2 CHPIDs. There's a long wave and a short wave card available. The connectors seem to remain the same. What IS impressive about this FICON card is the improved performance especially with a Large sequential Read/write mix.
Next to that there's also a new OSA-Express4S GbE and 10 GbE fiber for the PCIe I/O drawer. The 10GbE card has one port, the GbE card has two ports. Performance is similar to the OSA-Express3 cards. There's no new generation yet for the 1000BaseT card.
Here's a good overview of the current connectivity features.
Click on image for larger version in new window
By the way, this drawer is also available on the z196.
What Else ?
Here are some other items I'd like to discuss briefly in order to have a complete view of these announcements
STP
As was the case with the z196, the z114 will not connect to any External Timer either.
InfiniBand
In short, there are new 12x InfiniBand and 1x InfiniBand features (HCA3-O fanouts). The 12x InfiniBand provides increased service times when using 12x IFB3 protocol. 12x IFB3 service times are designed to be 40% faster than 12x IFB. The 1x InfiniBand provides increased port count. The number of ports increases from 2 to 4 with 16 CHPIDs across these 4 ports. This gives us the following overview for connectivity for coupling and I/O including existing and new features.
Operating Systems
z/OS
Let me just summarize the most important functionalities that also become available on the z196.
zBX : zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension announcements
The zBX Model 002 also becomes available for the z114. If you want to review the functionalities of the zBX ànd of the Unified Resource Manager, I'd advise you to take a look at my post on the introduction of the z196. Up to now we had the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer, the Websphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50 for zEnterprise (XI50z) and the Power7 blades for the zBX.
We now see the introduction of the x86 blades. As is the case with the Power blades only specific types of x86 BladeCenters will be supported. The supported blade type is System x Machine Type 7873 (HX5). This is described in the following announcement : 'IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension support for select IBM BladeCenter HX5 blades (ZG11-0200)' There will be a zBX integrated Hypervisor for IBM System x Blades. This is not VMWare but KVM. It is planned to support both Linux on System x and Windows (even) on the same blade. This will be 64-bit Linux on System x versions and 64-bit Windows versions. But, keep in mind, the Windows support is still a Statement of Direction, normally to be implemented during the fourth quarter of 2011.
Software pricing : the good news
For z114 customers
Parallel to the AWLC pricing for the z196, there's an announcement of a new AEWLC (Advanced Entry Workload License Charges) pricing metric : 'Advanced Entry Workload License Charges offers price/performance for the IBM zEnterprise z114 (ZP11-0311)'. So, no 'technology dividend' (lowering the MSU-Mips ratio) either but a real price reduction for the actual MSUs. Small ànd growing customers will benefit from this new pricing metric. It also introduces a new MSU Tier starting at +315 MSU instead of the highest +260 MSU Tier we know from EWLC pricing.
A brief remark for the z/VSE customers : MWLC products will also be made available on AEWLC pricing.
Software pricing : the not so good news
For EWLC customers on z9 BC and z10 BC
This one was already announced last week but of course it fits in over here. In addition to the announcement of the new pricing metric there was also an announcement about EWLC pricing : 'Price Changes in monthly Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC) on selected IBM System z Software Products(ZA11-1029)'. You might have noticed that there were already quite some pricing announcements last year. There was the yearly price modification announcement usually starting July 1, there were some announcements about increasing prices for back level versions of CICS, DB2 ... and here's this new one now announcing an additional 5% price increase for EWLC pricing that will take effect January 1, 2012. Should we call that a gentle push from IBM towards the new z114 ?
Other pricing considerations
Next to the software pricing initiatives, IBM really seems to do quite some efforts to lower the prices for the platform. First of all, they promise a reduction on the hardware maintenance. This actually has been the case for all last generations. Specialty engines will cost less and memory will even cost a lot less. Or, as the announcement says : "Significant reduction in maintenance, hardware, specialty engine, and memory pricing, making new workload deployment even more affordable"
Statements of Direction
The statements of direction (next to the one about Windows of course) are an interesting read. Also take a look at the recommendations for not running into trouble.
Apparantly, it's still a bit early to come with full documentation, but this is what is already available for the moment.
Redbook : IBM zEnterprise 114 Technical Guide (still a draft for the moment)
Web :
Documents
Some key dates for the z114 and z196 GA2
July 12, 2011
As usual, I could only touch upon the very highlights of this new system. There's much more to discover about it. So I'd say : stay tuned !
Just went to see Prince last Sunday at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Those who only know Purple Rain will call him a dinosaur, but he's no one trick pony, he's still making really good music. He's not just a singer or guitar player either, he's a real multi-instrumentalist, some say he plays 26 different instruments. Oh, and some will argue he's expensive, and yes, I paid 100 EURO for one ticket. But I'd rather go to see one really good artist who's worth every cent than 5 would-be artists for nearly the same price. You know where I'm heading at : I'm just making a pretty lousy intro comparing the qualities of this artist with the qualities of the mainframe. And not doing justice to either of them.
Just to tell you, here it is : the new IBM zEnterprise 114 with the following announcement : 'IBM zEnterprise 114 - Freedom by design (ZG11-0207)'
You know by now how the naming is done. It's just as the z196 still the first generation and it has 14 engines at its disposal. I'll first give you the more traditional stuff and then show you the internals with some new hardware components. There's also a new software pricing mechanism and some other pricing news. In the meantime some of the new things are also announced for the z196's GA2 : 'IBM zEnterprise 196 enhancements deliver faster access to data (ZG11-0193). In particular, I'm thinking about the new zBX enhancements.Here's a good overview of the new functionalities of the z114. Just click on the image to get a larger, mor readable version in a new window.
Click on image for larger version in new windowTechnical specifications
The z114 gets machine type 2818. Just like its, can we say BC, predecessors it's also a one frame, air-cooled machine. It's a little bit smaller footprint and it comes, just like the z196, with overhead or top-exit I/O cabling. New is that it now also has top exit power cabling.
At first sight, it's perhaps a bit surprising to see two models appearing again : the M05 and the M10. But this is mainly due to the new CPC drawers which I'll be discussing a bit further. These drawers each have 7 PUs. The M05 has one drawer (7 PUs) and the M10 has two drawers (14 PUs). Each model has 2 SAPs leaving the M05 with 5 and the M10 with 10 configurable PUs. Hey, why 10 on the M10 and not 14 - 2 = 12 ? Well, the M10 has 2 dedicated spares. This is new for a BC machine. The M05 acts as all its predecessor using non-designated PUs as spares. Both models can have up to 5 traditional CPs ranging from A01 to Z05 giving us 130 capacity settings.
Click on image for larger version in new windowYou know what PCI stands for in the graph.
Other engines can be defined as specialty engines. Here's an overview of the possibilities.
Click on image for larger version in new windowThe memory ranges from 8 GB up to 120 GB for the M05 and 248 GB of usable memory for the M10. Just like on the z196 the new RAIM memory is introduced. The small 4GB increments we saw in the lower ranges for the z10 BC are no longer available on the z114.
Upgrades are possible from any z9 BC or z10 BC. You can also (disruptively) upgrade from an M05 to an M10. Only the M10 allows an upgrade to the larger z196 and then again only to an air-cooled model.
The processor now reaches 3.8GHz and the out-of-order core execution has also become available on the BC machines now.
Under the covers
Here you see an 'under the covers' illustration of a z114 Model M10.
Let me concentrate on the two most distinctive technical elements of this z114 : the new CPC drawer and the very new PCIe I/O drawers.CPC Drawers
You know the CPC drawer was introduced with the z10 BC which had 12 configurable PUs. Now I think IBM made a few modifications in order to make the low end mainframes as affordable as possible. One of those was to split this one drawer into two smaller drawers each with 7 PUs.
In that case the M05 can become cheaper due to less (unused) processors.Connectivity
When you take a closer look at the 'under the covers' picture, you can see that we now have two kinds of I/O drawers. There's the 'traditional' I/O drawer that was introduced with the z10 BC, but now we also have a new PCIe I/O drawer. The connectivity starts with the new I/O Subsystem Internal Bus connectivity : this changes from InfiniBand to PCIe interconnectivity. The result is an increased throughput from 6 GBps to 8 GBps.
Let's now have a look on how the new PCIe I/O drawer differs from the first one. It is designed for improved power and bandwidth compared to the I/O drawer. First of all, if you're not familair with the PCIe standard, you might want to take a look at Wikipedia. In the meantime, here's the specs of the original I/O drawer.
And this is the new PCIe I/O drawer.
While all traditional cards are still held in the original I/O drawer, the PCIe I/O drawer introduces two types of new cards : the FICON Express8S card and the OSA-Express4S card. You might see that there are much more slots, but then again, the FICON Express8S card has only 2 CHPIDs. There's a long wave and a short wave card available. The connectors seem to remain the same. What IS impressive about this FICON card is the improved performance especially with a Large sequential Read/write mix.Next to that there's also a new OSA-Express4S GbE and 10 GbE fiber for the PCIe I/O drawer. The 10GbE card has one port, the GbE card has two ports. Performance is similar to the OSA-Express3 cards. There's no new generation yet for the 1000BaseT card.
Here's a good overview of the current connectivity features.
Click on image for larger version in new windowBy the way, this drawer is also available on the z196.
What Else ?
Here are some other items I'd like to discuss briefly in order to have a complete view of these announcements
STP
As was the case with the z196, the z114 will not connect to any External Timer either.
InfiniBand
In short, there are new 12x InfiniBand and 1x InfiniBand features (HCA3-O fanouts). The 12x InfiniBand provides increased service times when using 12x IFB3 protocol. 12x IFB3 service times are designed to be 40% faster than 12x IFB. The 1x InfiniBand provides increased port count. The number of ports increases from 2 to 4 with 16 CHPIDs across these 4 ports. This gives us the following overview for connectivity for coupling and I/O including existing and new features.
Operating Systems
z/OS
- V1.11, 1.12, 1.13 or higher
- V1.8, 1.9, 1.10 in Lifecycle Extension
- zBX Ensemble support: z/OS V1.10 or higher
- Red Hat RHEL 5
- Novell SUSE SLES 11
- V5.4 and higher
- zBX Ensemble support: V6.1
- V4.2 and higher
- zBX Ensemble support V4.3 or higher
Let me just summarize the most important functionalities that also become available on the z196.
- The new 32 slot PCIe based I/O drawer
- The new 8GB PCIe interconnects
- New form factor I/O adapters i.e FICON Express8S and OSA-Expres4S
- Improved PSIFB Coupling Link
- zBX-002 with ISAOPT, POWER7, DataPower XI50z and IBM System x Blades
- Improved time coordination for zBX components
- Cryptographic enhancements
zBX : zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension announcements
The zBX Model 002 also becomes available for the z114. If you want to review the functionalities of the zBX ànd of the Unified Resource Manager, I'd advise you to take a look at my post on the introduction of the z196. Up to now we had the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer, the Websphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50 for zEnterprise (XI50z) and the Power7 blades for the zBX.
We now see the introduction of the x86 blades. As is the case with the Power blades only specific types of x86 BladeCenters will be supported. The supported blade type is System x Machine Type 7873 (HX5). This is described in the following announcement : 'IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension support for select IBM BladeCenter HX5 blades (ZG11-0200)' There will be a zBX integrated Hypervisor for IBM System x Blades. This is not VMWare but KVM. It is planned to support both Linux on System x and Windows (even) on the same blade. This will be 64-bit Linux on System x versions and 64-bit Windows versions. But, keep in mind, the Windows support is still a Statement of Direction, normally to be implemented during the fourth quarter of 2011.
Software pricing : the good news
For z114 customers
Parallel to the AWLC pricing for the z196, there's an announcement of a new AEWLC (Advanced Entry Workload License Charges) pricing metric : 'Advanced Entry Workload License Charges offers price/performance for the IBM zEnterprise z114 (ZP11-0311)'. So, no 'technology dividend' (lowering the MSU-Mips ratio) either but a real price reduction for the actual MSUs. Small ànd growing customers will benefit from this new pricing metric. It also introduces a new MSU Tier starting at +315 MSU instead of the highest +260 MSU Tier we know from EWLC pricing.
A brief remark for the z/VSE customers : MWLC products will also be made available on AEWLC pricing.
Software pricing : the not so good news
For EWLC customers on z9 BC and z10 BC
This one was already announced last week but of course it fits in over here. In addition to the announcement of the new pricing metric there was also an announcement about EWLC pricing : 'Price Changes in monthly Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC) on selected IBM System z Software Products(ZA11-1029)'. You might have noticed that there were already quite some pricing announcements last year. There was the yearly price modification announcement usually starting July 1, there were some announcements about increasing prices for back level versions of CICS, DB2 ... and here's this new one now announcing an additional 5% price increase for EWLC pricing that will take effect January 1, 2012. Should we call that a gentle push from IBM towards the new z114 ?
Other pricing considerations
Next to the software pricing initiatives, IBM really seems to do quite some efforts to lower the prices for the platform. First of all, they promise a reduction on the hardware maintenance. This actually has been the case for all last generations. Specialty engines will cost less and memory will even cost a lot less. Or, as the announcement says : "Significant reduction in maintenance, hardware, specialty engine, and memory pricing, making new workload deployment even more affordable"
Statements of Direction
The statements of direction (next to the one about Windows of course) are an interesting read. Also take a look at the recommendations for not running into trouble.
- z114 will be the very last server to support ESCON channels. It will not be possible to order new ESCON channels on follow-up models nor carry them forward during an upgrade of the z196 or the z114
If you really still need them, you can have a look at the Opticatech products - z114 will be the last server to support FICON Express4 channels
Enterprises should migrate to FICON Express8S channels. - z114 will be the last server to support OSA-Express2 features
Enterprises should migrate to OSA-Express4S features. - z114 will be the last server to offer ordering of ISC-3
Enterprises should migrate to 12x InfiniBand or 1x InfiniBand LR coupling links. - z114 will be the last server to offer ordering of the PSC feature.
- z114 will be the last server to support dial-up modems for use with the Remote Support Facility (RSF), and the External Time Source (ETS) option of Server Time Protocol (STP).
Apparantly, it's still a bit early to come with full documentation, but this is what is already available for the moment.
Redbook : IBM zEnterprise 114 Technical Guide (still a draft for the moment)
Web :
Documents
- Data Sheet
- zEnterprise FAQ (July 2011 Edition)
- publications of manuals will be at Resource Link
Some key dates for the z114 and z196 GA2
July 12, 2011
- day of announcement
- first day orders
- Resource Link support available
- new builds for z114 M05 and M10 models
- upgrades from z9 BC or z10 BC
- GA2 level for new z196s or upgrades
- Manage Firmware System x Blade
- Microsoft Windows (64-bit only) for select IBM System x Blades in a zBX (SOD).
- And I find this one a bit odd : Unified Resource Manager support for System x Blades (SOD) !
- z114 Model M05 to M10 upgrades.
As usual, I could only touch upon the very highlights of this new system. There's much more to discover about it. So I'd say : stay tuned !
The new z114 mainframe : overview of the announcements
I've been writing an overview of the new z114, but I thought it might be a good idea to just start off with a list of announcements related to this one. But do come back today for my general overview of the z114.
Mainframe
IBM zEnterprise 114 - Freedom by design (ZG11-0207)
IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension support for select IBM BladeCenter HX5 blades (ZG11-0200)
IBM zEnterprise 196 enhancements deliver faster access to data (ZG11-0193)
Advanced Entry Workload License Charges offers price/performance for the IBM zEnterprise z114 (ZP11-0311)
Special consideration for FICON Express and OSA-Express features on IBM System z (ZG11-0196)
Site preparation and installation support for IBM zEnterprise 114 (ZG11-0195)
Hardware withdrawal: IBM System z10 EC, IBM System z10 BC, and a selected IBM zEnterprise 196 feature - Replacements availabe (ZG11-0116)
Storage
IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 offers a new high-performance model 114 for machine types 2810 and 2812 (ZG11-0199)
IBM XIV Storage System Software Version 11.0.0 (5639-YYB) supports for new IBM XIV Gen3 hardware (ZP11-0310)
New IBM System Storage Tape Controller 3592 Model C07 enhances performance and connectivity (ZG11-0211)
Software : z/OS
IBM z/OS V1.13 delivers new availability, batch programming, and usability functions (ZP11-0313)
IBM z/OS Management Facility V1.13 delivers new function for simplified software deployment, disk storage management, and a more unified z/OS experience (ZP11-0303)
IBM SMP/E for z/OS, V3.6 provides new functions designed to support z/OSMF software deployment, and two new reporting capabilities (ZP11-0320)
Mainframe
IBM zEnterprise 114 - Freedom by design (ZG11-0207)
IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension support for select IBM BladeCenter HX5 blades (ZG11-0200)
IBM zEnterprise 196 enhancements deliver faster access to data (ZG11-0193)
Advanced Entry Workload License Charges offers price/performance for the IBM zEnterprise z114 (ZP11-0311)
Special consideration for FICON Express and OSA-Express features on IBM System z (ZG11-0196)
Site preparation and installation support for IBM zEnterprise 114 (ZG11-0195)
Hardware withdrawal: IBM System z10 EC, IBM System z10 BC, and a selected IBM zEnterprise 196 feature - Replacements availabe (ZG11-0116)
Storage
IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 offers a new high-performance model 114 for machine types 2810 and 2812 (ZG11-0199)
IBM XIV Storage System Software Version 11.0.0 (5639-YYB) supports for new IBM XIV Gen3 hardware (ZP11-0310)
New IBM System Storage Tape Controller 3592 Model C07 enhances performance and connectivity (ZG11-0211)
Software : z/OS
IBM z/OS V1.13 delivers new availability, batch programming, and usability functions (ZP11-0313)
IBM z/OS Management Facility V1.13 delivers new function for simplified software deployment, disk storage management, and a more unified z/OS experience (ZP11-0303)
IBM SMP/E for z/OS, V3.6 provides new functions designed to support z/OSMF software deployment, and two new reporting capabilities (ZP11-0320)
Friday, July 8, 2011
Virtual Event : the next step in the evolution of zEnterprise hybrid computing
A couple of weeks ago the IBM Smarter Computing Blog mentioned this virtual event for July 12, 2011 entitled : 'Join us to experience freedom by design'.
The introduction goes as follows :
The topics :
The introduction goes as follows :
"Join us on July 12, 2011 for the next step in the evolution of zEnterprise hybrid computing - with a new entry point for clients of all sizes - designed to unleash new business innovation in your data center"."A new entry point for clients of all sizes" : hmm, I wonder what that might be referring to ? If you think about recent topics in the IBM-Main list and a recent article at The Register and you connect the dots, perhaps you can figure it out yourselves. Am I insulting your intelligence now ?
The topics :
- Jean S. Bozman, Research VP at IDC Enterprise Servers, Reducing the Cost of Multi-tier Hybrid Computing
- David Marts, VP of Operations at Transzap, Inc, Strategies to Better Manage and Store Data with zEnterprise
- Tom Rosamilia, IBM General Manager of Power and z Systems Smarter Computing Perspective
- Greg Lotko, IBM VP for System z , The Evolution of zEnterprise Hybrid Computing
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
EWLC price increase of up to 5%
In reference to my previous post, I first thought of paraphrasing the title for this announcement : 'They shoot mainframers, don't they ?' But I guess it wouldn't be very informative and I really wanted the message to get through.
So today IBM made this announcement : 'Price Changes in monthly Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC) on selected IBM System z Software Products(ZA11-1029)'. You know already enough when you see the well-known words 'Prince Change'. This is usually not very good news, to say the least. The text is very simple :
I'm referring to the EMEA announcement but I guess this will be announced worldwide.
So today IBM made this announcement : 'Price Changes in monthly Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC) on selected IBM System z Software Products(ZA11-1029)'. You know already enough when you see the well-known words 'Prince Change'. This is usually not very good news, to say the least. The text is very simple :
Today, IBM announces up to 5% increase in monthly Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC) on selected IBM System z software products .EWLC pricing is the variable MLC pricing on most BC machines nowadays. So I guess nearly every BC z/OS customer will be involved. It says "selected" software products, but I have no clue how many or how little products are involved. Worst case scenario : your EWLC pricing will go up by 5% starting on January 1, 2012.
Increased monthly charges on these Entry WLC products will be effective with the billing period that starts on or after January 1, 2012.
I'm referring to the EMEA announcement but I guess this will be announced worldwide.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
They shoot mainframes, don't they ?
Until now I haven't been referring much to 'The Register', the site with the subtitle 'Biting the hand that feeds IT'. Yout can't follow them all of course and perhaps I'm just not associating The Register with mainframe. But I want to look at the bright side of this : surely, it's because the mainframe is making its comeback, or should I say, is completely back, that also The Register is giving it more attention than before. As I wrote already quite some time ago : it's when you see the mainframe re-appearing in the less- or non-specialised press that we would know that we're really getting somewhere. Out of our little circle of mainframe adepts. Well, this time has come now. Isn't that great ? Isn't that some serious peptalk ?
So, what's it about : it's about The Registers article : 'They shoot mainframes, don't they ?' with as subtitle : 'Rethinking big iron for the data centre'. Starting point is that many people have still very oldfashioned ideas about the mainframe adhering to the two and two myth : it takes you two years to move applications to the mainframe and it costs you at least $2 million. The white paper The Register presents here takes a closer look at some of those myths and misunderstandigs about the mainframe and contradicts them. I'll give you a couple of quotes to give you an idea :
So, what's it about : it's about The Registers article : 'They shoot mainframes, don't they ?' with as subtitle : 'Rethinking big iron for the data centre'. Starting point is that many people have still very oldfashioned ideas about the mainframe adhering to the two and two myth : it takes you two years to move applications to the mainframe and it costs you at least $2 million. The white paper The Register presents here takes a closer look at some of those myths and misunderstandigs about the mainframe and contradicts them. I'll give you a couple of quotes to give you an idea :
"(...) objections to the mainframe are firmly rooted in what the platform was, not what it is. That does not necessarily make it the best platform for everyone’s needs, but it does alter the criteria by which it is accepted or rejected".
"(...) the mainframe can answer the problems today that the expansion of traditional data centres and the adoption of the cloud are still struggling to solve".
"Data analysis is an example of an existing application which migrated to the client-server environment, but with limited success: by moving the data to the processing, it has often created multiple versions of the truth, because of the variable age of the data under test. Keeping the processing close to core data can improve analysis".
"(...) reconsidering the mainframe has to be an effort led from the top of the business, and sponsored by it. It requires open minds and a willingness to work outside silos and fiefdoms. Departmental protectionism must be acknowledged, and the project leader must have the authority to overcome it if the opportunity is not to be lost".You can download the white paper over here. Oh, and I know you keen mainframers have a sharp view and will immediately notice it indicates 'By IBM' as the author, but I still think the paper is worth your time, it's well written and you have to admit it, the quotes I just gave you can surely start a lively discussion about the role of the mainframe in your company.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
BMC acquires NEON’s IMS products
zPrime has long gotten a lot, perhaps too much focus which made us forget Neon Enterprise has more products than just this one. Or should I say, had, when I'm talking about their IMS software. As the BMC press release says : BMC "has acquired the portfolio of IMS (Information Management System) database products and customers from NEON Enterprise Software, a leading mainframe management software company". By this acquisition BMC "enhances its IMS database management portfolio, providing the most comprehensive solution set to best address today’s IT challenges with big data, database availability and data analysis all within an organization’s IMS environment". This acquisition showcases BMCs continuing commitment to the mainframe and shows its belief in a growing mainframe market.
You can find the press release over here and some more information about BMC's IMS products over here.
You can find the press release over here and some more information about BMC's IMS products over here.
Friday, June 17, 2011
'Sogeti - RealDolmen' : Partner of choice for a mainframe with a future!
People who (think they) know me would probably call me a cool, or perhaps rather calm person; ok, with this strange aberration of wanting to see every Prince concert in the (European) neighbourhood, but for the rest, not that easily excited about anything. But I càn get excited you know : about my kids getting good grades, about this great book I just read, about a deal that cost a lot of effort we just closed . . . And today I'm really excited about this new announcement we are making, and as a picture tells you more than a thousand words, just take a look below. 
Perhaps a couple of words of explanation. I know this mainly concerns our customers in Belgium and Luxemburg, but be my guest to read on anyway.
For quite some years now, NV RealDolmen and Sogeti are both occupying important positions in the world of mainframe - NV RealDolmen mainly acting as a hardware reseller and Sogeti mainly delivering services. Now our companies have decided to combine forces in order to become the leader for Mainframe in Belgium.
What are the strengths of Sogeti ?
Sogeti is already one of the main actors in BeLux in mainframe but currently focusing on services. It is not a System z hardware nor System z software partner. It wants to offer the complete picture including technical hardware and software proposals.
RealDolmen on the other hand wants to expand on the mainframe market with a focus on new workload and new zEnterprise customers. In order to offer the complete picture too, we were on the lookout for more technical implementation and support skills and for an improvement of our service value propositions.
So, Sogeti and RealDolmen together, we're convinced that jointly we can deliver an added value to the customers with :
From now on, Sogeti and RealDolmen, we're your Mainframe Partner !
Perhaps a couple of words of explanation. I know this mainly concerns our customers in Belgium and Luxemburg, but be my guest to read on anyway.For quite some years now, NV RealDolmen and Sogeti are both occupying important positions in the world of mainframe - NV RealDolmen mainly acting as a hardware reseller and Sogeti mainly delivering services. Now our companies have decided to combine forces in order to become the leader for Mainframe in Belgium.
What are the strengths of Sogeti ?
- T & M services
- z/OS, DBMS, DC, performance, operations, …
- Cobol, PLI
- Managed Services 24/7 (Onsite & offsite)
- Server consolidation projects
- Hardware evaluations
- Software evaluations
- Migration projects
- Assisting customer in new projects
- Advisory role
- RealDolmen has years of experience in and knowledge of the mainframe environment
- RealDolmen provides the customer with information
- Presentations
- System z Newsletter
- Blog (yes, mine !)
- RealDolmen creates awareness of the new technologies
- RealDolmen does performance- and capacity-studies
- RealDolmen makes TCA-calculations ( hardware, hardware maintenance, MLC, IPLA... )
- RealDolmen offers services for the development of new functions
- Consultants, project leaders, analysts, software engineers
- Legacy and other : COBOL, PL/I, CICS, DB2, IMS, Cool:GEN, JAVA, Websphere
Sogeti is already one of the main actors in BeLux in mainframe but currently focusing on services. It is not a System z hardware nor System z software partner. It wants to offer the complete picture including technical hardware and software proposals.
RealDolmen on the other hand wants to expand on the mainframe market with a focus on new workload and new zEnterprise customers. In order to offer the complete picture too, we were on the lookout for more technical implementation and support skills and for an improvement of our service value propositions.
So, Sogeti and RealDolmen together, we're convinced that jointly we can deliver an added value to the customers with :
- Exhaustive offering for (existing) mainframe customers
- Hardware
- Software
- Services
- Support
- A reinforced business approach
- Single point of contact
- TCO
- Cost reduction, Performance
- New workload if it creates value
- The largest team of dedicated mainframe professionals in BeLux ! ! !
- The full support of IBM for this project
From now on, Sogeti and RealDolmen, we're your Mainframe Partner !
Thursday, June 16, 2011
IBM’s Centennial : 100 Icons of Progress
Today's the big day for IBM, it's celebrating its 100th anniversary. If you want to browse through some of its historic moments and to learn a bit more about some of the milestones during its history you should have a look at this page : 'IBM's 100 Icons of Progress'.
You've seen them appearing here and there, the 100 Icons like this one :
Each Icon hides a short description of what this meant for IBM or how IBM influenced certain evolutions. And when you click through, you get an extensive article on the subject. This one here refers to Linux of course but there's much more. A couple of examples ? IBM 1401:The Mainframe, The Floppy Disk, RAMAC, System 360, Websphere, Magnetic Tape Storage, The Apollo Missions, Smarter Planet, The Selectric Typewriter, A Culture of THINK etc. etc. ...
As I always say, just check them out !
And . . . go back once in a while, as new ones are added throughout the year !
You've seen them appearing here and there, the 100 Icons like this one :
Each Icon hides a short description of what this meant for IBM or how IBM influenced certain evolutions. And when you click through, you get an extensive article on the subject. This one here refers to Linux of course but there's much more. A couple of examples ? IBM 1401:The Mainframe, The Floppy Disk, RAMAC, System 360, Websphere, Magnetic Tape Storage, The Apollo Missions, Smarter Planet, The Selectric Typewriter, A Culture of THINK etc. etc. ...As I always say, just check them out !
And . . . go back once in a while, as new ones are added throughout the year !
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
IBM Centennial : happy anniversary
Am I the only one who didn't mention the IBM Centennial so far ? Well, here's the films that've been circulating for a while now. Tomorrow's the big day, so enjoy the movies. I wonder, would the people from IBM get an extra day off or something ?
"Happy Anniversary", as Blixa Bargeld taught us when some one shouted "Happy Birthday" from the public when Einstuerzende Neubauten toured for their 25th, uhm, anniversary. "it's Happy Anniversary !"
"Happy Anniversary", as Blixa Bargeld taught us when some one shouted "Happy Birthday" from the public when Einstuerzende Neubauten toured for their 25th, uhm, anniversary. "it's Happy Anniversary !"
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Upcoming events and webcasts
I've just made a new round-up of upcoming events and webcasts. The 'real-life' events are mainly for Belgium, of course.
DB2 : June 9, 2011 - All day event at IBM Forum Brussels
GSE DB2-Security Working group meeting
This event has a really nice agenda on DB2 and security and in the morning there's a separate mainframe track.
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 13, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
DB2night Show for z/OS platform
Table Spaces new options and migration considerations
This series has already a long tradition for the DB2 LUW version. Now there's also a series on DB2 for z/OS. There are still two sessions left for this season. Do check them out. And . . . the replays also remain available.
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 14, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
New Features in DB2 10
Information and Registration
IMS : June 14, 2011 - Webcast at 4.30 p.m. Brussels Time
Virtual IMS User Group on 'MSU reduction due to in-memory table management with IMS applications'
Information and Registration
z/OS : June 15, 2011 - All day event at RealDolmen Huizingen
GSE z/OS Working group meeting
The agenda for the moment : Rational Innovations, S390-tools (the Swiss Army Knife for Linux on System z System Administration), a closer look at EAV ...
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 27, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
DB2night Show for z/OS platform
Top DB2 e-communities, blogs and networking tools that will enhance your DB2 skills
Information and Registration
June 28, 2011 - All day event at IBM Forum Brussels
'10 years of Enterprise Linux on System z'
This looks like a very promising event with some general presentations on Hybrid computing, Linux on system z (past and future) and customer stories from AGC-Europe, Toyota, Securex and P&V
Information and Registration and flyer
System z : September 28-30, 2011
FREE Total Solution event for System z 2011 at IBM Forum Brussels.
Check out my blog post about this event over here. Just pay attention : dates have changed from September 27-29 to September 28-30, 2011.
Information and Registration
DB2 : November 14-18, 2011
IDUG EMEA 2011 in Prague
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 9, 2011 - All day event at IBM Forum Brussels
GSE DB2-Security Working group meeting
This event has a really nice agenda on DB2 and security and in the morning there's a separate mainframe track.
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 13, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
DB2night Show for z/OS platform
Table Spaces new options and migration considerations
This series has already a long tradition for the DB2 LUW version. Now there's also a series on DB2 for z/OS. There are still two sessions left for this season. Do check them out. And . . . the replays also remain available.
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 14, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
New Features in DB2 10
Information and Registration
IMS : June 14, 2011 - Webcast at 4.30 p.m. Brussels Time
Virtual IMS User Group on 'MSU reduction due to in-memory table management with IMS applications'
Information and Registration
z/OS : June 15, 2011 - All day event at RealDolmen Huizingen
GSE z/OS Working group meeting
The agenda for the moment : Rational Innovations, S390-tools (the Swiss Army Knife for Linux on System z System Administration), a closer look at EAV ...
Information and Registration
DB2 : June 27, 2011 - Webcast at 5 p.m. Brussels Time
DB2night Show for z/OS platform
Top DB2 e-communities, blogs and networking tools that will enhance your DB2 skills
Information and Registration
June 28, 2011 - All day event at IBM Forum Brussels
'10 years of Enterprise Linux on System z'
This looks like a very promising event with some general presentations on Hybrid computing, Linux on system z (past and future) and customer stories from AGC-Europe, Toyota, Securex and P&V
Information and Registration and flyer
System z : September 28-30, 2011
FREE Total Solution event for System z 2011 at IBM Forum Brussels.
Check out my blog post about this event over here. Just pay attention : dates have changed from September 27-29 to September 28-30, 2011.
Information and Registration
DB2 : November 14-18, 2011
IDUG EMEA 2011 in Prague
Information and Registration
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Neon settles legal dispute with IBM - Neon zPrime to be withdrawn
Well, this story has apparantly come to an end with a press release Neon released yesterday. In short : Neon withdraws zPrime from the market and it will ask existing customers to "remove and destroy" their copies of zPrime. You can find the entire press release over here. And I don't think there's much more to add after you've read that one. So, this time apparantly no 'To be Continued' but 'The End', I guess . . .
Monday, May 30, 2011
Total Solution Event for System z - Change of date
If you have planned to go to the Solution Event in September at the IBM Forum in Brussels, beware that there's a change of date. Those who've already registered received the following communication :
Dear enthusiast of the Total Solution Event for System z,More information and how to register is over here in my previous post about the event.
First of all thank you for your registration to the Total Solution Event for System z in the IBM FORUM in September 2011.
Since we have overlooked that on September 27, 2011 there is the "Fête de la Communauté française", we have decided to move the Total Solution Event for System z to Wednesday September 28, Thursday September 29 and Friday September 30, 2011.
Looking forward to meet you in September !
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sampling Techdocs : April/May 2011
You know by now I retrieve lots of information from Techdocs. And I have the impression that my harvest for the latest two months is really quite impressive. Just take a look below.
- White paper : z/OS: Planning Considerations for HiperDispatch Mode
This paper describes planning considerations for z/OS environments using hiperdispatch. It has been updated to contain information on the benefits of hiperdispatch for the z10 and z196 processors. It also talks about the influence of hiperdispatch on WLM policies, zIIPs and zAAPs ... - White paper : IBM HyperSwap Technology
The document title mentions 'April 2010' but it has been recently updated. I've described the various HyperSwap options in a previous System z newsletter but here's the more elaborate version describing the 4 different HyperSwap options: z/OS Basic HyperSwap, TPC-R HyperSwap, GDPS/PPRC HyperSwap Manager and the full function GDPS/PPRC HyperSwap solution ànd giving you some advice which one might best suit your specific needs. You can also find a presentation summarizing the document over here. - Presentation : Websphere advanced skills youtube videos
Don't let the 'advanced' scare you off : this is a presentation with lots of links to youtube videos presenting a series of videos introducing the viewer to WebSphere Application Server and WAS on z/OS in particular but also giving an overview of the WebSphere Optimized Local Adapters (WOLA) function and an overview of IBM Modern Batch solutions, including WebSphere Compute Grid and integration with Tivoli Workload Scheduler.
- Presentation : IBM DS8800 Data Migration Scenarios
Here's an interesting presentation when you want to do (complex) migrations towards DS8000. It outlines the various data migration options with the DS8000 data replication technology like TDMF, Global Copy, z/OS Global Mirror (aka XRC), HyperSwap, useful disk subsystem capabilities like NOCOPY and it also builds some sample scenarios.
- White paper : Best Practices Upgrading a Coupling Facility
"Planning for an upgrade of a parallel sysplex to z196 or an upgrade which requires a POR? Need to install maintenance which requires a coupling facility to be reactivated? This paper documents the best practices for installing a new CF, doing a POR of a CEC with a coupling facility image on it and reactivating a coupling facility image".
- Referral page : WebSphere Application Server z/OS V8
This page claims to provide "a location for documentation and presentations on WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 8. Bookmark this Techdoc and come back for updates and new material as it is produced and made available here". For the moment it provides a technical presentation introducing WAS z/OS V8 (with a reference to some more companion videos on Youtube) and a general PowerPoint introduction to WAS z/OS V8.
- White paper : Query Where No Query Has Gone Before
An intriguing title for every Trekkie of course, this one. It's actually about the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer, but what's interesting is that it describes the various steps for implementing this solution. The paper describes the following steps the team followed : identifying the data warehouses to accelerate, creating an accelerator project, defining the data marts, validating, deploying, and loading the data mart, determining if the query is eligible for acceleration, comparing query execution and refreshing the data mart.
- And to conclude I found quite some Oracle Documents this time :
Running Oracle Database 11gR2 on Linux® on IBM System z™ Servers (FAQ),
IBM Supported Platforms for Oracle Database,
IBM Supported Platforms for Oracle E-Business Suite and
Hints & Tips for Installing Oracle 11g Release 2 on Linux on IBM System z.
It's no coincidence that you find a lot of information on Oracle on z right now since the Oracle support for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running on IBM System z became available on 1Q 2011.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
IBM Systems magazine Mainframe - May/June 2011
Last week there was the May/June issue of the IBM Systems Magazine with some very good content. You can find it over here. I would advise you to subscribe to the magazine. That way you also get a link to the .pdf.
I would like to draw your attention to some articles I really enjoyed reading. There's e.g. 'Beyond Restart and Concurrency' by Carl Feinberg about minimizing "the impact of failures with restartable batch applications" using a systemwide restart facility. Trust me, an interesting read for companies who see an ever decreasing batch window or who no longer draw the line between online and batch executions.
Tami Deedrick writes a good article on ProtecTIER, more specific on the TS7680 ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway for System z. If the technical arguments don't convince you there's also a financial argument : "Acquisition can be 50 to 80 percent lower than standard virtual tape library solutions, which may help lower total cost of ownership".
Wait, there's more. There's the customer story of our own Brussels based P&V Assurances company that reduces technology costs via VPN-free access. It tells the story how the technology for connecting their agents in the front office evolved from a tightly coupled system to a "platform-agnostic access to back-end systems".
And last but not least, there's a special report with the results of a readers' survey about business challenges, mainframe staffing, adopting new technologies like e.g. cloud computing and their view on hybrid environments.
As I always say, just check it out !
I would like to draw your attention to some articles I really enjoyed reading. There's e.g. 'Beyond Restart and Concurrency' by Carl Feinberg about minimizing "the impact of failures with restartable batch applications" using a systemwide restart facility. Trust me, an interesting read for companies who see an ever decreasing batch window or who no longer draw the line between online and batch executions.
Tami Deedrick writes a good article on ProtecTIER, more specific on the TS7680 ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway for System z. If the technical arguments don't convince you there's also a financial argument : "Acquisition can be 50 to 80 percent lower than standard virtual tape library solutions, which may help lower total cost of ownership".
Wait, there's more. There's the customer story of our own Brussels based P&V Assurances company that reduces technology costs via VPN-free access. It tells the story how the technology for connecting their agents in the front office evolved from a tightly coupled system to a "platform-agnostic access to back-end systems".
And last but not least, there's a special report with the results of a readers' survey about business challenges, mainframe staffing, adopting new technologies like e.g. cloud computing and their view on hybrid environments.
As I always say, just check it out !
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