IBM pumps up on-demand line with new iSeries model

By Kate Evans-Correia, Search400.com Senior News Editor 21 Jul 2003 | Search400.com

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In its ongoing effort to be the king of utility computing, IBM will announce Tuesday a new version of the iSeries 870 that utilizes on/off capacity on demand. The new server will feature a 5- to 8- way processor option and, like many of IBM's other recent offerings, gives small to medium size businesses (SMB) a way to opt into the high-end servers without the expense.

The move follows numerous announcements made earlier this year by IBM involving its on-demand computing initiatives. In January, IBM announced a16-way iSeries model and in May, announced a new entry model to the iSeries 810 server with a flexible payment option that allows users to prepay for on/off capacity on demand.

On-demand lets users tap into varying amounts of server power, depending on changes in their demand and has become a virtual hot button among vendors.

"This 5 to 8 way is an entry into the 870 for customers who want expandability," said Ian Jarman, iSeries product manager. With 7,700 to 11,500 CPW, the new option is designed for customers adding highly scalable transaction workloads or upgrading from AS/400 740 or i830 servers. It also supports up to 32 logical partitions running OS/400, Linux and Windows.

It will ship July 30, Jarman said.

IBM is also expected to announce Tuesday, WebSphere Portal Express V5 and WebSphere Portal Express Plus V5 on iSeries, a portal solution for iSeries SMB customers. The term "express" is used for a category of product that takes enterprise class middleware and makes it simple enough to deploy and price for SMBs, said Jarman.

"This is spawning a whole new development wave for portlets," he add. It's a vital productivity tool and we're bringing that from enterprise class portal to SMB.

In addition, IBM will preview two new servers that extend its on demand portfolio: the iSeries for Capacity BackUp and the iSeries for High Availability. The iSeries for Capacity BackUp server is targeted at companies requiring an off-site, stand-by server for disaster recovery at an affordable price.

Using on/off capacity on demand of iSeries, the Capacity BackUp server will be sold with a minimum set of active processors and offer no-charge activation of standby processors in the event of a disaster. The iSeries for High Availability server is targeted at companies that require 24x7 high availability clustering, where an additional production server is actively deployed as part of a strategy to provide workload distribution and regular role swapping. Allows to go from very low to very high--in the event you need to activate processing power in case of disaster recovery--full power.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

IBM buoys on-demand with new iSeries, payment plan

Tivoli extends autonomic capabilities, ups ante for ISVs

New cost incentives could be iSeries' savior

IBM to push on-demand computing in 2003

Featured Topic: On-demand computing

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