Today IBM is launching its latest enterprise Linux server. It’s a high-end system for enterprise customers and cloud service providers, based on technology found in its IBM z16 server, launched in April. This open, enterprise server gives customers the ability to run Linux at scale, but not the IBM Z stack that the z16 runs, such as z/OS, CICS, IMS and other IBM proprietary mainframe software.
What’s it announcing?
The new machine has some very impressive specifications. In particular:
- Housed in 1, 2, 3 or 4 19” frames (with 125 cores in a single frame),
- 32 (7nm 5.2GHz) Telum processors ,
- 200 LinuxONE cores/system, which are designated as Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL),
- 40TB memory/system,
- 16 internal NVMe carrier cards for flash storage/system,
- Quantum-safe encryption and
- On-chip accelerators for AI, data compression and encryption.
This allows the new system to execute up to 20 billion secure transactions per day and – more importantly – do the equivalent work about 2k typical x86 cores used in the servers of almost all of its competitors. The machines can operate at temperatures as high as º40 Celsius before automatically shutting down at º50.
In comparison with the previous generation (based on z15 technology) LinuxONE III LT1 that launched in September 2019, the new machine has:
- 50% more cache/system,
- 9% better per-core performance,
- 17% greater total system capacity and
- 25% greater processor capacity per drawer.
The system’s on-chip AI accelerator and Quantum-safe encryption are also new. It’s the highest-end server in its LinuxONE range, which also includes the midrange LT2 and stretches downwards to machines with an entry price as low as $135k. Even cheaper is using a single-core LinuxONE as a PaaS service via the IBM cloud for which IBM is offering a free 30-day trial for those who want to try.
Hybrid Multi-Cloud Advantages
IBM started offering Linux as an alternative mainframe operating system back in 2000. The advantage for users is being able to:
- Build open modern container-based applications at a much lower cost than those based on IBM z/OS and
- Run them at scale with better performance, lower environmental consequences and much lower costs than similar sized workloads running on x86-based machines.
LinuxONE machines have widened the appeal of IBM’s mainframes beyond their traditional markets (Banking, Insurance, Finance, Government and the largest Manufacturers and Retailers), although many of them are used by customers alongside z/OS-based servers. They’ve helped it pursue its hybrid multi-cloud strategy and have existed in a much richer ecosystem through the use of OpenShift since its acquisition of Red Hat in 2018. My figure above compares the composition of the leading three cloud service providers from IaaS, PaaS and SaaS in the last year; it shows that IBM’s business is more balanced between the three elements than AWS (all IaaS and PaaS) and Microsoft (mainly SaaS).
Advantages in Environmental Sustainability
LinuxONE gives IBM a leading role in sustainable computing. It quotes that all the data centers in the world use between 200-250TW hour – equivalent to the total energy usage of Australia and points to the 250 and growing number of environmental laws worldwide introduced to combat global warming.
The new machines are shipped in recyclable wooden packing crates and ethically recycled at the end of life with a bare minimal of material going to land-fill. In use they have very significant sustainability advantages over x86-based solutions, with reductions calculated by IBM as:
- Energy consumption of 75% and
- Data center floor space of 50%
Based partially on their ability to run at 90% utilization compared with around 30% for x86-based machines.
In my view IBM could go even further ahead by investigating how it and its component suppliers can manufacture these large machines using renewable electricity as opposed to fossil fuel, when/if it becomes possible. This is important because manufacturing a server creates as much as 50% the total lifetime carbon cost, with their usage accounting for the rest.
In general – and beyond IBM’s responsibility – I also believe we could restrict and, perhaps even, ban spurious workloads such as bitcoin mining, gaming networks (already being restricted in China) and others.
In general, I don’t expect the mass of x86 server users to swap over to this new machine – most x86 users are not trying to run the high-end modern workloads the new machine is built for; however a significant number of enterprise users with large workloads and needs for compliance with new sustainability legislation, high security and consolidation of large server farms will. I believe enough will to help extend the period of IBM mainframe revenue growth, which was up 69% in Q2 2022.