IBM announced new systems and solutions intended to help clients and managed service providers build private and hybrid clouds to get the most out of big data, social, and mobile workloads. These include PureSystems, Power Systems, Smarter Storage Systems, System x, and Technical Computing offerings that provide the flexibility clients need to quickly deploy clouds.
“IBM is positioned to compete aggressively for public, private and hybrid cloud computing opportunities," said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president of IBM Systems & Technology Group and Integrated Supply Chain. "The new IBM Systems and solutions provide superior efficiency and agility to help clients quickly deploy the right cloud infrastructure that best meet their needs."
IBM also announced new software and services that can provide an on-ramp to line-of-business leaders to help move key department workloads into the cloud. The integrated cloud capabilities are built on IBM's recent acquisition of SoftLayer.
Two updated PureFlex configurations - PureFlex System - Express and PureFlex System - Enterprise
IBM announced new capabilities across the PureSystems family that can help clients of all sizes experience the benefits of expert integrated systems. Key among these are two updated PureFlex configurations - PureFlex System - Express and PureFlex System - Enterprise. The PureFlex System - Express, available as a single chassis configuration, offers an entry price point suitable for SMBs and departmental deployments in larger enterprises.
PureFlex System – Enterprise, which includes multi-chassis configurations, is designed for scalable cloud deployments with built-in redundancy for resilient operation. Both systems support choice of POWER processor and x86-based compute nodes. The PureApplication System for simplifying and accelerating cloud applications is now available in smaller, 32 or 64-core configurations on POWER7+ with enhanced performance, density and resiliency.
New PureFlex and Flex System compute nodes, networking options, and The PureFlex Solution for IBM i
Complementing these two new configurations are new PureFlex and Flex System compute nodes, networking options, and The PureFlex Solution for IBM i, a complete, integrated system with an attractive alternative that allows existing SMB IBM i clients to reduce IT costs and complexity by consolidating i and Windows applications on an IBM PureFlex solution. IBM is also expanding and simplifying its PureFlex cloud support with an easy upgrade path to advanced SmartCloud offerings, as well as a new SmartCloud Entry offering that provides support for OpenStack. The PureFlex Solution for SmartCloud Desktop Infrastructure is optimized to deliver superior performance and flexibility to meet clients’ unique desktop virtualization business needs.
PureData System for Analytics
IBM is also introducing PureSystems to address big data and analytics. PureData System for Analytics has a new cost-effective entry model, powered by IBM Netezza technology that enables business to gain insights on ever growing volumes of data, simpler and faster. To simplify big data for the enterprise, PureData System for Hadoop enables big data exploration in areas like social and text analytics.
New Power Systems offerings
In addition, IBM plans to release a series of new Power Systems offerings that further support hybrid cloud environments and can simplify clients’ ability to adapt to emerging business needs at a lower cost with superior choice and flexibility compared to commodity servers based on decades old, PC era design.
The new Power Systems Solution Edition for Service Providers is based on a pre-built, pre-installed cloud solution that is based on OpenStack support for SmartCloud Entry and the PowerVirtualizationCenter product (IBM PowerVC). IBM PowerVC offers virtualization and management capabilities that can improve system resource efficiency and agility for virtual workload implementations. The new IBM PowerVP is a virtualization performance tool that helps clients respond to business needs faster by providing real-time insight through a graphical display. It enables further optimization of virtualized systems and helps identify potential performance bottlenecks.
New Power Integrated Facility for Linux
For clients seeking open cloud environments, the new Power Integrated Facility for Linux can enable them to exploit the reliability, scale and performance of enterprise class Power Systems to improve quality of service and reduce the cost of managing their Linux ecosystem. Each Power IFL is comprised of four processor activations, memory activations and PowerVM license entitlements. With Power IFLs, clients can quickly activate capacity for Linux applications without interruption. And with PowerVM included, clients can accelerate response to changing priorities without incurring extra virtualization software licensing fees.
Storwize V5000 for SMBs
On the storage front, IBM says it is also launching a new storage management system which targets the SMB market. Positioned in the middle of the Storwize portfolio, the Storwize V5000 provides SMBs a flexible entry into the advanced management capabilities and performance of the Storwize family. The system can be configured with disk and flash, and supports IBM Easy Tier capabilities that automatically place data in the most cost-effective tier. The cloud-ready system, which comes with built-in support for OpenStack, can help clients build private and hybrid cloud storage architectures, while virtualization and clustering capabilities help them take advantage of true Software Defined Storage that grows and adapts with their changing businesses.
New NeXtScale System
IBM also announced general availability for later this month of its new NeXtScale System, a computing platform with three times as many cores as previous one-unit rack servers, ideal for the fastest-growing workloads such a social media, analytics, technical computing, and public, private and hybrid cloud delivery. This new system incorporates up to 84 x86-based systems and 2,016 processing cores in a standard EIA 19-inch rack.
For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit www.ibm.com/smartcloud.