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 March 2007— One age-old saying is that, “You can't teach an old dog new tricks.” Venerable mainframe systems from IBM may have supported your business well in the past, but today’s business challenges demand greater computing flexibility, more adaptable applications, and better return on your IT investments. IBM has been touting new tricks for the mainframe such as affordability1, Linux, and power efficiency2 in an attempt to keep the mainframe relevant -- but do these claims hold up to close scrutiny?
Please consider the following:
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Fact 1: IBM has not made public any industry standard benchmarks of a mainframe running Linux.[3] |
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Without public performance data, users must rely on data from IBM.
How can a customer do independent comparisons of cost, energy efficiency, or TCO between mainframes and other platforms without objective public data?
Why doesn’t IBM freely publish the specifics of the TCO data presented to analysts so that the detail can be scrutinized?
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Fact 2: Absolute costs for Linux on the mainframe are MUCH higher than x86 or Itanium-based servers. |
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- The minimum list price for a mainframe Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) is $95,000 per central processor dedicated to the Linux workload. For many mainframe models the IFL is still is still priced at $125,000 per processor dedicated to Linux.4 IFL costs do not include the SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server subscription costs:
- For example, basic SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription can cost an additional $11,999 per central processor or IFL for one year and $29,998 per processor or IFL for three years.5
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| Contrast this to x86 or Itanium-based servers: |
- There is no charge like the mainframe IFL. ($95,000-$125,000 per IFL)
- Basic SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription costs $349 per server for one year and $873 per server for three years.6
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Mainframe Linux |
HP Integrity Linux |
Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL)
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$95-000 - $125,000 per IFL
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Not applicable
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Basic SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription (1 year)
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$11,999/processor or IFL
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$349/System
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Basic SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription (3 year)
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$29,998/processor or IFL
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$873/System
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Fact 3: A Standish Group report draws the logical conclusion that the HP Integrity NonStop servers will deliver better availability at approximately one-half the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the IBM zSeries mainframe.[7] |
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Because of this huge HP TCO advantage, it’s not surprising that IBM’s press release of December 2006 does not address mainframe TCO versus HP Integrity NonStop.8
For more on the HP Integrity NonStop NS1000 Availability click here to read the report.
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Fact 4: The HP Integrity Superdome is specified to draw about one-half the electrical power as the IBM z9 for similar number of processors. |
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The specified typical power draw for a HP Integrity Superdome with 64 Itanium2 cores is 9,490 watts,9 which is about ½ that of the IBM System z9 Enterprise Class model s54 with 54 central processors, rated at 18,300 watts.10
The HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE) for HP Integrity servers helps you achieve improved utilization. VSE gives you flexible capacity by optimizing server resource utilization in real time based on business priorities.
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Fact 5: The HP Integrity Superdome delivers greater processor core scalability, more I/O, and more main memory. |
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IBM z9 EC Mainframe11 |
HP Integrity Superdome12 |
Maximum CPUs
Memory Capacity
Internal I/O Capacity
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54 PU (processing units)
512GB
84 slots (3 I/O cages each with 28 slots)
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128 cores (64 dual core Itanium2)
2TB
192 slots (with I/O expansion)
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Max soft partitions
Max virtual machine images (theoretical)
Max electrically isolated hard partitions
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60 LPARs with z/OS13
>1,000 Linux VMs with z/VM 5.314
N/A
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128 vPars with HP-UX
2,560 Integrity VMs per Superdome with HP-UX, Windows (and Linux - future)
16 (HP-UX, Windows, Linux, OVMS)
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Max # cores in a single OS image
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32 with z/VM 5.3 (available June 29, 2007)15
54 with z/OS 1.9 (available Sept 2007)16
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128 (available now)
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Fact 6: Mainframe TCO studies that tout the reduction of costs due to the virtualization of the network infrastructure but leave out blade systems that do the same are incomplete. |
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For example, the HP BladeSystem’s Virtual Connect can reduce total LAN and SAN connectivity costs by up to 38 percent versus pass-through modules, and can consolidate cables and switch ports by up to 94 percent.17
Unlike the proprietary, monolithic mainframe approach, HP Virtual Connect is built on industry-standard technologies. The HP Virtual Connect modules cleanly separate server management from local area network (LAN) and storage area network (SAN) management without introducing another network to manage or disturbing existing network topologies.
To see how much HP Virtual Connect can save you see: http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/459620-0-0-0-121.html#How_much_could_it_save_me
IBM’s marketing machine is pushing hard on the idea that the mainframe is a cost effective platform relative to other platforms. When the claims are put to scrutiny, we found that --without the objective data behind those claims -- it is hard to tell what is truly fact, and what is creative marketing.
HP Consulting and Integration Services can help assess your mainframe applications and IT environment, and recommend more agile and cost-effective alternatives that will be right for your business. For more information about mainframe modernization options, visit:
http://www.hp.com/go/offmainframes
http://www.hp.com/go/applicationmodernization
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| NOTE: Selecting some of the links below will exit HP.com |
[1] IBM Mainframe More Cost Efficient Than Other Platforms, Analyst Reports
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/20823.wss
[2] IBM “IBM Mainframe Offers Unmatched Security and Power Efficiency, Analyst Says” http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/20840.wss
[3] As of March 13, 2007. A review of www.spec.org and www.tpc.org
[4] IBM document “Linux on System X – Integrated Facility for Linux”: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_sp/n/ZSD01347USEN/ZSD01347USEN.PDF
[5] See: http://www.novell.com/products/server/howtobuy.html
[6] See: http://www.novell.com/products/server/howtobuy.html
[7] The Standish Group, Virtual Beacon Issue 387, June 3, 2005, http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/beacon_387.php
[8] IBM Mainframe More Cost Efficient Than Other Platforms, Analyst Reports http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/20823.wss
[9] HP Integrity Superdome site preparation guide; http://docs.hp.com/en/A9834-9003C/A9834-9003C.pdf
[10] http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/z9ec/specifications.html, http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19577.wss
[11] http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/z9ec/specifications.html
[12] HP Integrity Superdome Specifications, http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/5982-9836EN.pdf
[13] ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_sp/n/ZSO03005USEN/ZSO03005USEN.PDF
[14] http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/21029.wss
[15] http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/21029.wss
[16] http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/8/897/ENUS207-018/ENUS207018.PDF
[17] http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070227a.html
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Intel, Itanium and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
Linux is a U.S. registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
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