Who said the mainframe computer is dead? Determined to breathe new life into the mainframe, IBM Corp. today named the first customer for its new Linux Virtual Services e-business on demand service, a managed hosting offer designed to leverage “virtual servers” within its zSeries mainframes to provide on-demand access to large-scale computing infrastructure over the Internet.
As an alternative to buying and maintaining physical Web, database and application servers, corporate customers with Linux-based applications can now connect to IBM e-business hosting centers that provide managed server processing, storage and networking capacity on an on-demand basis. Priced per “service unit,” customers pay only for the computing power and capacity they require as they tap into virtual servers hosted on zSeries mainframes running the Linux operating system.
The first named customer of the Linux Virtual Services: Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corp., a private non-profit health insurance company based in Madison, Wisc., and one of the largest U.S. Medicare carriers. WPS recently consolidated e-mail, Web and directory applications from its distributed Linux servers to the IBM zSeries mainframe running Linux and plans to have 25 servers operating on the zSeries Linux environment this quarter. The company's z900 mainframe collectively processes 370,000 claims each day.
“The IBM eServer and Linux will help WPS to consolidate more than two dozen Intel-based servers onto a single mainframe,” Jim Hwang, director of Enterprise Network Systems at WPS, said in a statement. “The introduction of Linux Virtual Services from IBM takes this capability to the next level, offering the flexibility to add computing capacity as business needs dictate. It's a significant breakthrough for customers running Linux applications who want to turn up the power at a moments notice.”
By partitioning the processing, storage and network capacity for each customer, virtual servers isolate individual demand on the system and map resources to that demand, while providing the same level of separation between customers that a physical server would. According to IBM, virtual servers also significantly reduce complexity, because server-to-server communication is performed internally, cutting the number of potential points of failure while consolidating workload for greater availability and reliability, while reducing cost.
IBM will provide application porting services to a Linux environment for customers currently using non-Linux platforms. Linux has a proven record as an enterprise-class operating system, providing the foundation of more than 2800 independent software vendor (ISV) applications,” the company said.
As part of the solution, IBM is also making available on-demand storage capacity, network capacity and complementary managed services, leveraging IBM partnerships with telecommunications providers to provide multiple sources of on-demand network capacity. Linux Virtual Services enables customers to deploy additional virtual servers “within minutes,” once the initial service has been implemented, the company said. Businesses have a choice of “ready-to-go” server platforms, including an Apache-based Linux Web server, DB2 database software and WebSphere applications servers, along with an option to deploy a managed Linux environment for their own applications. For additional flexibility, customers can purchase additional capacity for scheduled workload peaks, such as batch processing
The company characterized the service as marking “a major expansion of IBM's strategy to deliver e-business on demand.” That strategy is based on the assumption that a number of customers will choose to bypass the upfront expense of buying the physical hardware.
“IBM advances in technology now permit the virtualization of computing, networking and storage components within the data center,” according to Jim Corgel, general manager of IBM e-business Hosting Services. “By creating a virtual, yet resilient infrastructure, customers can consolidate workloads and free themselves from the management of physical servers. With Linux Virtual Services, cutting edge technology can now be delivered in a cutting edge way: on-demand.”
Hewlett-Packard Co. is pursuing a similar on-demand data center capacity vision at the mid- and large-scale Linux and Unix server level with its Utility Data Center initiative.
