z990 Announcement

The following is the text of an IBM Systems Group press release distributed on May 13, 2003.

IBM today introduced the world's most sophisticated server and announced that customers of all sizes will now be able to access the unprecedented capabilities of the IBM mainframe through new on demand services from IBM Global Services.

The IBM eServer zSeries 990, the new flagship of the eServer family, builds on the breakthrough technology of the eServer z900, which rewrote the rules for enterprise-class computing with fortress-like security, rock-solid reliability, and extreme performance in Linux virtualization and automation.

The new z990 is the result of a four-year, more than $1 billion investment in the zSeries platform involving 1,200 IBM developers.

The z990 sets a new standard for enterprise-class computing and will feature industry leadership in:

• Virtualization -- the z990 architecture can support hundreds or even thousands of virtual Linux servers in a single box. That roughly equates to an entire data center on one server the size of a refrigerator.
• Automation -- the z990 features IBM's exclusive Intelligent Resource Director (IRD) technology, which dynamically moves system resources to the workloads that need them, according to priorities and objectives set by the customer.
• Scalability -- a single z990 offers massive capacity and the ability to scale up and out. It can scale up to process 450 million e-business transactions/day or scale out to manage hundreds of virtual Linux servers. A clustered z990 can handle up to 13 billion transactions/day, exceeding the average weekly volume on the New York Stock Exchange. The z990 also offers the ability to turn capacity on and off, allowing customers to temporarily add server engines during peak periods.
• Security -- designed from the ground up to help thwart intrusion into the system, the IBM mainframe is one of the most secure servers on the market. A 16-way z990 can securely process up to 11,000 transactions/second.
• Reliability -- mainframe reliability is measured in decades, not weeks or days, and the hardware availability rate for a clustered zSeries is up to 99.999%, or less than five minutes of downtime per year.

The z990 is the most powerful and scalable IBM mainframe in the 40-year history of the product, with twice the virtualization capabilities and the ability to do nearly three times the work of the z900, a new "building block" design that allows customers to plug in new capacity without taking the system down, and a dramatically simplified product structure that reduces the number of mainframe models from 42 to 4.

IBM also announced that IBM Global Services has begun deployment of the z990 in its On Demand Data Centers -- beginning in Boulder, Colorado -- providing new services for customers seeking mainframe computing power on demand. The new mainframe will serve as a cornerstone of the multi-platform centers, enabling customers of all sizes to acquire computing power and capacity on demand in new ways. IBM Global Services will offer mainframe capabilities, featuring technology from its Utility Management Infrastructure (UMI) service, which provides customers with fully-integrated infrastructure including mainframe processors, storage, networking and middleware.

"The IBM mainframe has long set the industry standard for server technology. This technology is critical to customers who rely on it to manage unpredictable, on demand environments where performance, security and reliability are so critical. Our new eServer z990 again raises the bar for our competitors who aspire to offer mainframe-class computing," said William Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Systems Group. "In addition, technologies born on the mainframe are influencing systems development and driving leadership performance across IBM's eServer family."

"The availability of mainframe on demand services marks a new era in data center delivery for our customers," said Jim Corgel, general manager, IBM e-business hosting services. "IBM's On Demand Data Centers are revolutionizing the way businesses large and small access technology, applications and computing resources. From these centers, IBM delivers unprecedented server processing power and storage capacity, while managing thousands of critical business applications for companies of all sizes."

The z990 will provide new levels of scalability, security and connectivity:

• For the first time, with On/Off Capacity on Demand, mainframe customers can power up available additional engines on demand, when they need them, and turn them off when they don't, offering the ultimate flexibility to help respond to daily or seasonal surges in demand.
• The z990 features up to 9,000 MIPS (million instructions per second) on 32 processors -- twice the number of processors and almost three times the system capacity of the z900 -- and allows customers the ability to scale up from 1- to 32-way, without taking the system down.
• Up to 30 logical partitions (LPARs) are supported on the z990, providing twice the LPAR capability of the z900. Running the latest version of z/VM, release 4.4, customers can quickly create and effectively manage hundreds of virtual Linux servers within one physical box. IBM's advanced virtualization technologies make the z990 an ideal consolidation platform for customers seeking to reduce the cost and management expense of server farms.
• Topping its own security record, the new 16-way z990 can handle up to 11,000 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) transactions/second (a 57% improvement over a 16-way z900). SSL handshakes -- those that cause the "locked" padlock icon to appear at the bottom of browsers -- are crucial to e-business transactions, enabling companies to more securely process orders on-line. The ability to process greater numbers of SSL transactions helps businesses serve more customers and make more sales in less time.
• For customers seeking additional connectivity for new e-business workloads on the mainframe, the new z990 provides up to 512 I/O channels, double the number of its predecessor. In addition, there are now up to 16 HiperSockets, which provide high speed TCP/IP connectivity between virtual servers within a single z990, quadruple the number in the z900. IBM has also introduced a new technology called logical channel subsystems, which can make it easier for customers to consolidate multiple mainframes into a larger z990.
• The z990 has available up to four times the memory of the z900, 256GB versus 64GB.

The heart of the z990 is the IBM multichip module (MCM) -- the densest, most advanced semiconductor and packaging technology in the world. The redesigned 3.7" x 3.7" x .75" module, which fits in the palm of your hand, contains 16 chips mounted on 101 layers of ceramic glass connected to over 5,000 I/O pins by 500 meters of wire. The new MCM is 50% smaller, enabling the z990 to deliver almost three times the processor capacity of the z900 in the same footprint. The module uses IBM's leading-edge copper and Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology and contains over 3.2 billion transistors. Designed and manufactured by IBM's world-class chip developers in Burlington, VT, this leading-edge technology provides significant advantages in performance, power consumption and reliability. In addition, the z990's new superscalar microprocessor design helps deliver up to 60% performance improvement for Linux, e-business and traditional workloads.

IBM Systems Group also announced that IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (code-named "Shark") now features stand-by storage capacity on demand for the z990, which allows customers to effectively double their storage -- up to 7 Terabytes -- based on their business needs. In addition, IBM's flagship storage solution introduced FlashCopy v.2 and Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy v.2, which provide significantly enhanced data mirroring and business continuity functions for the z990.

IBM will also deliver WebSphere Application Server for z/OS, v.5, featuring the latest support for J2EE and Web services standards as well as a new flexible pricing option. The development environment is also simpler as WebSphere for z/OS tools, which are based on the Eclipse open source tool integration platform, can be used to develop once and deploy to any WebSphere environment.

IBM also announced a beta program for its new version of DB2 Universal Database, specially tuned for the z990. With 100 new and enhanced features, it is the most significant new version of DB2 for the mainframe. The database is the first IBM software product designed to take advantage of new 64-bit z/OS addressing on the mainframe, which enables applications to run faster and supports larger and more complex data transactions. Other mainframe database enhancements include the ability to alter a database on the fly, without service disruption, and improved support for XML, SQL and Java. Enhanced SQL simplifies the porting of popular UNIX and Windows applications to DB2 on the mainframe.

In addition, IBM Tivoli Software is introducing a new suite of comprehensive systems management products designed to enhance z/OS and OS/390 operating environments. A new technology, Tivoli Management Portal, offers a single point of control to view performance information on an overall system to help enable users to ensure that an infrastructure is reliable, available and efficient. The improvements to the management of zSeries solutions are designed to help drive down the cost of ownership for IBM customers.

IBM also announced enhancements to its Workload License Charge (WLC) software pricing structure. IBM has reduced the entry point for its WLC variable priced products, which gives customers the granularity and flexibility they need to more economically manage smaller e-business and traditional workloads.

In addition, IBM Global Financing announced new Total solution financing that is designed to help customers better handle the costs of unpredictable or variable workloads. IBM Global Financing now provides financing of On/Off Capacity on Demand charges to help customers more affordably acquire capacity when they need it, on a daily basis. IBM customers can now finance both their long-term use of IT infrastructure for a fixed term, and their temporary use of On/Off Capacity on Demand or capacity backup for shorter terms as required.

The IBM eServer z990, models A08 and B16, will be available on June 16, 2003. Models C24 and D32 will be available on October 31, 2003. On/Off Capacity on Demand functionality will be available in September 2003. Secure key cryptography, support for 30 LPARs, and z/OS exploitation of 512 I/O channels will be available in October 2003.