System iNetwork

January 2008

January 30, 2008 11:51 AM

IBM Sharpens BladeCenter with i5/OS

The hints first hit last summer, spilled a bit this fall, and now, i5/OS on a blade is real. As part of its V6R1 announcements yesterday, IBM released details about its i5/OS blade offerings and plans, which brings up two stories -- the basic offering and the details behind it.

The Basics

V6R1 of i5/OS now supports the existing JS22 blade, which is a four-core, 4GHz POWER6 blade that was previously announced last fall for AIX and Linux on POWER. The JS22 can run in a BladeCenter H chassis, which in turn can support up to 14 POWER and x86-based blades. The BladeCenter H connects to a SAN for storage, most notably the DS4700, DS4800, DS8100, or DS8300 -- i5/OS still does not support the DS4700 and DS4800, but a partition-management system (VIOS) new to the System i now does (more on this below).

IBM says it will support the relatively new -- and popular -- BladeCenter S chassis, which is geared for smaller businesses. The BladeCenter S can handle up to six blades and up to 12 disks, all in the same box.*

How'd IBM Do It?

Last fall, when the JS22 blade was first announced, IBM tipped its hand over adding i5/OS support for the blade, but it did not do so at the same time it released the blade for AIX and Linux on POWER. The reason? As it turns out, V6R1 doesn't exactly run directly on the blade, and part of that is due to storage. With a blade, there's not a lot of internal hard disk to match the same way that a System i has built-in disk ready to hold DB2. So i5/OS needs a method for getting to disk, and that method is virtualization with VIOS -- a virtual IO server.

"This is how System p does its storage virtualization," said Craig Johnson, IBM's i5/OS product manager, in a pre-announcement interview last week. "You have a VIOS partition as partition number one, and you serve out storage to AIX and Linux today. So what we're doing on POWER6 systems with V6R1 is that VIOS can serve i5/OS as well as AIX and Linux."

Johnson likens VIOS to an appliance partition. "All it does is serve out IO to other partitions," he noted. To create those partitions, you would use a built-in tool called Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), and it's basically an alternative to using HMC for LPAR management. VIOS is a real partition, based on AIX, and it uses CPU and memory -- but it's not used for running applications. It's only there to serve out storage.

"If VIOS is turned off, then your i5/OS partition is turned off as well. These partitions are tied to each other," Johnson explained.

As for the JS22 blade, it runs the POWER6 hypervisor with the first partition being VIOS, which will "own" the fibre, ethernet, and SAS adapters, which are virtualized to i5/OS in the second partition. You can have multiple partitions on the blade, including AIX and Linux partitions.

"The theoretical maxium is 40 partitions, 10 per core, on the blade. We don't expect anyone to do that, but it's capable of doing that," Johnson said.

The System i Sweet Spot

"What we expect, and where we've seen interest from our customers, is around consolidating their five, 10, or 20 Intel servers along with their System i in the BladeCenter environment," Johnson noted.

"So the BladeCenter is almost like consolidating your infrastructure, your ethernet switches, and fibre switches -- the blade is your server. It's got your cores and memory and your ethernet adapter to go to the ethernet switch to get to the network. Your storage is a SAN," he explained.

Storage Area Networks (SAN), by the way, are being increasingly adopted in enterprises that need to consolidate storage and backup and also have encryption methods for securely holding data governed by compliance regulations.

The defining point about the BladeCenter S isn't so much its small size and easy-to-plug-in power requirements but rather its 12 integrated disk drives that give it a semblance of being an integrated box that has "internal" storage. The BladeCenter S is more complicated than a System i, of course, but using it is more compelling than managing several servers in a small business that has typically added servers and workloads on an ad hoc basis. This is IBM's basic message, and it seems to be resonating well with non-System i companies.

For smaller System i-based organizations that also have Intel servers -- and maybe a Unix or Linux need -- a BladeCenter S may be a great solution. For companies that may be fighting presidents, CEOs, or CIOs for System i mindshare, a way to keep an i5/OS investment may be through an IBM BladeCenter. Of course, upper managers who already appreciate the System i can also see the benefits of BladeCenters -- and a traditional System i.

Despite a long-held lead in total cost of ownership, SMB System i customers have been running into cost-of-acquisition issues for new System i boxes, software, and upgrades. Sometimes the cost issues are real and sometimes just perceived, but as I see it, BladeCenters will level the playing field and lead to more transparent pricing. How will the cost of the JS22 blade shake out when you compare the same number of AIX users against the same number of i5/OS users? Compared to Linux? And for the database? So what's the sacrifice that may come from more direct comparisons?

Answer: Integration and simplicity. On a practical level, customers will need new sets of skills to effectively manage a BladeCenter. As for the all-in-one integration of the traditional System i . . . I think in the SMB space, at least, market pressures bend it toward BladeCenters.

* Personally, I think the BladeCenter S and its derivatives will be the core offerings for IBM SMB efforts. IBM and its partners will lead with the BladeCenter S, and if it's too small, end up upselling a more expansive BladeCenter solution or System i or System p. The BladeCenter encourages an IBM hardware/software/storage lock-in, and it has direct blade competition from HP, Sun, and upstart Dell -- and that direct competition, ironically, makes it easier to sell than the System i, which faces only indirect competition.

Posted by cmaxcer on January 30, 2008 at 11:51 AM | Comments (12)

January 29, 2008 12:05 PM

Mark Shearer Still In Play

In a previous post about IBM's latest reorganization, I noted that our last System i general ganager, Mark Shearer, seemed to be in a bit of limbo when it came to a new position at IBM. Although there was never a doubt that Shearer would work for IBM, for a while we had a little trouble getting some confirmed answers about which role he would play. Then, when IBM's shift kicked loose Marc Dupaquier, who essentially seemed to take on a role that could have been filled by Shearer, I was really curious about which executives IBM would send to COMMON.

I still haven't gotten an official confirmation out of IBM's media relations team on this topic, but I'm guessing that after this week things will settle down enough at IBM to let the real work begin -- determining the future of the reorganized IBM and how it's going to shake out.

As for Shearer, I traded a few lengthy e-mails with a large and proactive System i customer who managed to track down Shearer's new role within his own contacts at IBM. The customer prefers to remain anonymous. He's a fan of Shearer and his open and customer-centric philosophy , and he has been around the industry long enough to have seen the effects of a few other System i-related general managers. Here's a great point from my customer source that I can share:

"Mark has always been extremely eager to listen to our needs, took the time to deal with us personally on some things, and also seemed to be a man of action. There are always lots of things going on inside IBM that we don't know about. It's always hard to tell why things happen and in some cases not-so-good things happen to great people. I blame a lot of issues with the System i squarely back onto IBM itself."

In any event, my source reported that Shearer is now the "Vice President of Marketing for Business Systems," which is very close to the official title: "Vice President, Marketing & Offerings, Business Systems, IBM Systems and Technology Group." After a bit of a delay in January -- no surprise there, given the turmoil at IBM -- Shearer responded via e-mail to my colleague Rita-Lyn Sanders just yesterday, confirming the new title.

What's interesting about Shearer's new position is that on one hand, it seems as if it's a demotion. Yet on the other hand, Shearer's scope of responsibility has seemingly expanded: he will be taking all the Systems and Technology Group's products to market and will likely have a hand in shaping how the technology is packaged into product offerings that customers ultimately invest in. We're talking about not only the System i but also the System p, z, x86 and BladeCenter, and storage products.

It's hard to say how IBM will invest in future new System i-related sales. Is IBM's strategy to lead with the System i in response to customer business problems, lead with another solution, or simply respond to the customer's perceived path of least resistance?

With a guy like Shearer in the new vice president of marketing and offerings role for the IBM Business Systems unit, we may soon see the future. At the very least, as the marketing strategies at IBM are hammered out, Shearer will be fully aware of the capabilities of the System i -- and that's a good start.

Posted by cmaxcer on January 29, 2008 at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008 12:08 PM

Technical Difficulties Redux

Update: In addition to the previous issues, we added a whole new server migration, etc, for the Penton blogs, but it seems as if we're back in business -- and at what a time! IBM is busy on V6R1, etc. I'll be approving comments and making new posts, and dang, it's good to be back on Maxed Out!

We've been having some technical difficulties surrounding a big server migration project at Penton Media. I don't know the details, but some of our Web-based applications lost pieces of access, including this blog and our e-mail newsletter, NEWS Daily. As of right this moment, the comments feature isn't working. Please accept my apologies!

Posted by cmaxcer on January 16, 2008 at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)

January 7, 2008 8:53 AM

IBM Reorg Turns Into Major Overhaul

When IBM reorganized its System i and System p divisions last summer, it was just a tuneup compared to the new overhaul going on at IBM. In an internal memo, IBM Senior Vice President and Group Executive for the IBM Systems and Technology Group (STG) William Zeitler announced IBM's third and final step to move to a "client-centered structure -- top to bottom."

So what were the first two phases?

Phase one was to align development around the building blocks of leadership and competitiveness in our industry, Zeitler notes. Hard to say exactly what that phase was all about, but the second was IBM's "pilot" and rollout of a new team-based, client-focused coverage model in the field. This second phase would have included IBM's push to combine the System i and p and reorganize into the Enterprise Systems (large clients) and Business Systems (SMB) units, and it may have included the Vertical Industry Program (VIP) as well.

The Client Segments

IBM is now aligning its business around four client sets:

• Enterprise Systems, led by Jim Stallings
  
• Business Systems, led by Erich Clementi
  
• Industry Systems (clients in areas like retail, telecommunications, and healthcare, where IT is often embedded in processes beyond the traditional data center), led by Curtis Tearte
  
• Microelectronics, led by Adalio Sanchez
  

These four executives will report to Zeitler, and they'll be responsible for running the businesses, with one interesting note: they'll also provide requirements for future systems and technology solutions. The executives and divisions for IBM's technology platforms will also be moved to four platform units:

• Mainframe, led by Anne Altman
• Power Systems (System p, System i and Linux on Power), led by Ross Mauri
• Modular Systems (System x and IBM BladeCenter), led by Rich Hume
• Storage, led by Andy Monshaw

These general managers will also report to Zeitler, and they'll be tasked with providing solutions that are technologically competitive and meet the needs of the client-facing business units.

In this new business plan, there's no mention of Mark Shearer, who was the general manager of the System i division for the first half of last year and later moved to vice president and business line executive for Power Systems Products, where he would have been driving the product strategy and plans for the high and low-end of IBM's POWER systems.

Marc Dupaquier, who was essentially the new System i general manager and/or the Business Systems unit manager (the unit announced this summer), also doesn't have a clear position in this newly reorganized IBM. Incidentally, late last year, I spoke with Dupaquier, who hinted at further changes coming in early 2008, but this latest move didn't seem to be on the table -- at least not so quickly.

Either way, there was one area that Dupaquier was bullish about -- and indicated that IBM was, too -- and that's BladeCenter solutions geared for SMB customers. So IBM will definitely be continuing its BladeCenter S efforts, and I would expect them to be integrated into IBM's sales and Business Partner models.

IBM's sales team model will mirror the new units worldwide. It's hard to say at this point how Business Partners will react or change their customer-facing strategies to work with the new IBM.

Clearly, for the System i world, IBM is opening 2008 with a whole new set of questions.

Posted by cmaxcer on January 7, 2008 at 8:53 AM | Comments (13)