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In one of the most significant transformations of its worldwide data centers in a generation, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it will consolidate about 3,900 computer servers onto about 30 System z mainframes running the Linux operating system. The company anticipates that the new server environment will consume approximately 80 percent less energy than the current set up and expects significant savings over five years in energy, software and system support costs.
At the same time, the transformation will make IBM’s IT infrastructure more flexible to evolving business needs. The initiative is part of Project Big Green, a broad commitment that IBM announced in May to sharply reduce data center energy consumption for IBM and its clients.
IBM, with over 8,000,000 square feet of data center space (equivalent to 139 football fields), operates the world’s largest and most sophisticated data center operations, with major locations in New York, Connecticut, Colorado, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia. The company anticipates that the new global infrastructure, supporting over 350,000 users, will serve as a powerful example of IBM’s ongoing transformation toward cutting-edge data center design for large enterprises around the world. Since 1997, IBM has consolidated its strategic worldwide data centers from 155 to seven.
“As one of the world’s largest technology providers, IBM consistently assesses how our systems can be maximized to support our employees and clients,” said Mark Hennessy, vice president and chief information officer, IBM. “A global account consolidation truly demonstrates that IBM is committed to driving stronger energy and technology optimization, and cost savings.”
“The mainframe is the single most powerful instrument to drive better economics and energy conservation at the data center today,” said James Stallings, general manager, IBM System z mainframe. “By moving globally onto the mainframe platform, IBM is creating a technology platform that saves energy while positioning our IT assets for flexibility and growth.”
IBM plans to recycle the 3,900 servers through IBM Global Asset Recovery Services.
Today’s news follows an impressive run for the IBM mainframe, which has posted five consecutive quarters of revenue growth and eight consecutive quarters of MIPs growth. In 2006, mainframe revenue outgrew platforms based on the Microsoft Windows operating system, according to IDC. The mainframe’s ability to run new workloads — including Linux and Java applications — is a big reason for its continued success.
How It Works
The consolidation project capitalizes on the ability of a single mainframe to behave as hundreds or thousands of individual servers. This capability, called virtualization — which IBM pioneered on the mainframe over 40 years ago — parcels out a mainframe’s system resources — including processing cycles, networking, storage and memory — to many “virtual” servers. Each virtual server functions as a real, physical machine. The migration will use only a portion of each mainframe, leaving substantial headroom for future growth.
By trading physical servers for virtual ones, IBM will be able to reduce costs along a broad front, including expenditures related to:
Energy Consumption, in replacing 3,900 servers, each with its own power supply, with 30 mainframes, IBM is expected to save enough electricity to power a small town.
Software, which often is priced on a per processor basis. IBM expects to help minimize software licensing charges as the new IBM mainframes contain significantly fewer processors than the current 3,900 servers.
System support, the project is expected to free up IBM technical personnel from system administration tasks to work on higher-value projects, including designing and building customer solutions.
The IBM mainframe’s ability to run the Linux operating system is key to the consolidation project, providing an open foundation for a wide variety of applications.
