IBM Launches the z15 and LinuxONE III

Yesterday IBM launched the z15 mainframe and LinuxONE III. In this post I look at the new mainframe features and positioning, which – coupled with the pent-up demand the expectation of the new kit has created – will push sales up in coming quarters significantly.

Impressive Specifications

It has chosen to base the new machines on 1-4 standard 19” ‘modular’ racks for the first time – a form factor used for the vast majority of server and storage products by other vendors. It is offering two power regimes – Intelligent Power Distribution Units (PDUs), or Bulk Power Assembly (BPA) by which it claims the new servers will use around 40% of the power taken up by equivalent x86 server configurations, which are used by all other server suppliers apart from the Oracle, Fujitsu (Sparc), Atos and other Power processor suppliers. The new machines can operate on either raised or non-raised floors within data centers.

The z15 has some incredible specs:

• The processors can be coupled together to a maximum of 190 cores in the largest configuration and have a 25% bigger maximum system capacity and 14% better single thread performance than the largest z14s in use today. They also have on-chip compression capabilities, speeding up processing and making storage systems more efficient. IBM claims this feature makes compression up to 42 times faster than on industry standard machines. They also have better garbage collection and have 30 new instructions for improving Java programming.
• The memory has expanded to a maximum of 40T on the largest z15s – a 25% improvement over the z14.
• Data handling – IBM has added 20% more I/O channels and 50% more physical Coupling Facility connections on top of the previous generation server.

The new servers have between 1 and 5 CPC draws – the largest of which are the z15 Type 8561 Model T01 and LinuxONE Model LT1.

Adding compression at the chip level will lead to storage savings, reduced bandwidth and faster data transfer times. The Integrated Acceleration feature is standard on all z15 cores, improving reliability and simplifying the planning and set-up procedures. There are advantages for Linux virtualization as well, which now is available on all Logical Partitions (LPARS). Throughput as a result is 17% better than on the z14.

Security has always been a strong advantage IBM mainframes have over their competition – one reason why they are found in so many Financial and Government data centers. The new storage systems launched today have in-built encryption, which (combined with the on-chip compression) will allow users to cut the CPU time for both process by 7% in comparison the z14.

As we now live in a world where cyber-attacks are more likely to succeed, creating the safest server isn’t enough and users are beginning to focus on resiliency as well as security. IBM has added Instant Recovery to the new machines halving the time to pre-shutdown service levels and has included 20 ‘dark cores’ which can be unlocked to accelerate workload recovery on an LPAR-by-LPAR basis, whether the outage was planned or unplanned.

Data privacy protection addressed at a system level

I’ve spent some considerable time recently looking at digital risk, privacy and cyber security. The more expansive our personal, financial, social and political lives have become through the ever-increasing use of computers, the more we are exposing ourselves to new risks; so it’s heartening to see that IBM is introducing Data Privacy Passports to protect personal identities processed on the new machines. This software combines encryption and revocation protection, privacy controls and consent with the ability to audit within specific compliance regimes such as PCI DSS, HIPPA, the EU’s GDPR and California’s Consumer Protection Act. It expands protection beyond the confines of the mainframe itself to the entire lifecycle of the data created by creating a single protected table, which (with appropriate permissions) can be viewed in multiple ways based on the policies created on the mainframe.

New mainframes will create strong revenue growth for IBM

IBM is the most important innovative server vendor in the world, intent on creating products from its own expertise and resources, even if the component production is now mainly handled by others. In the case of mainframe processors the fabrication is now done by Samsung, which at the end of last year took over from GlobalFoundries to which it offloaded its Technology division in 2014.

Due to the high-end and proprietary systems architecture of its mainframe and Power servers, demand for its products are stochastic – in that purchasing will slow significantly in the quarters leading up to a new introduction. IBM introduced the z13 in 2014 and z14 in 2017. IBM mainframe hardware revenues declined by 41% in Q1 2019 and will inevitably grow significantly as the new machines are shipped to meet demand. IBM has multiple strategies in place to smooth the transition periods – introducing Linux on Power and mainframe platforms, making processing and storage available as cloud services and (in the case of Power) encouraging the use of the processors by other suppliers through the OpenPower Association.

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