IBM to consolidate servers

Bangalore

August 10th, 2007

IBM announced that it would consolidate thousands of computer servers onto
about 30 System z mainframes running the Linux operating system.

The new server environment would consume approximately 80 per cent less energy
than the current set up and expects to save IBM more than $250 million over five
years in energy, software and system support costs, an IBM statement said.

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.

"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 Sreenath Chary, business unit executive, System z, IBM
India/South Asia. "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."

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
dramatically reduce costs along a broad front, including expenditures related
to: energy consumption, software, and 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.