IBM-2007-04569-E-01
©2007 Sine Nomine Associates
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4.5 z9 Hardware
For those moving from older hardware, the new z9 family of processors provides a substantial
increase in computing power. This equipment is also rated as being amongst the most
“environmentally friendly” processors ever produced. What this should translate to is lower
power and air conditioning requirements, lower maintenance requirements, and ultimately a
better TCO. In previous times the jump in MSU rating would translate to higher software bills
that would all but obliterate any other savings. However, with the introduction of MWLC
environmental, maintenance, and software savings can all be realized simultaneously.
A full TCO analysis of these chances is predicated on accurate pricing, and thus the actual TCO
results will differ greatly by customer, as IBM prices their solutions on a custom basis according
to the customer's portfolio of applications and hardware.
The following table illustrates a comparison of the different pricing models based on running a
software stack which includes z/VSE, LE, HLAS, DITTO, and COBOL and uses 32 MSUs. The
data for this table is sourced from the presentation “What's new in zSubcapacity Pricing” and
prices are as of January 2007 in $US.
9672 GMLC
z800 ELC
z890 TWLC
z9 BC MWLC
z9 BC MWLC at
70% 4-hour
rolling average
$240K/year
$120K/year
$96K/year
$76K/year
$71K/year
Table 1: Sample Comparative Pricing
4.6 Human Resources
By extending VSE's reach within an organization through the use of the “PIE” strategy the other
IT resources within that organization that have web, SOA, and/or open systems skills are able to
use the services of the VSE system. In this way staff may be more effectively used and the
systems under VSE's control increase their utility to the business.
4.7 Environmental Savings
As part of IBM's “Green” strategy, the System z9 is the most energy efficient processors yet
produced. Depending on the equipment currently being used migration to the z9 platform can
yield significant savings in power, air conditioning, and footprint. Even coming from an MP3000
configuration where internal disk is used there would be savings from moving to a z9 and
DS6000 combination.
Sine Nomine Associates provides an extended discussion of the impact of power and cooling
facilities and the strengths of System z in this area, in its white paper “Avoiding the $25 million
Server”. One of the conclusions from that paper is directly relevant to running z/VSE on System
z:
“Power distribution units (PDUs), computer room air conditioners (CRACs), and the network
and SAN infrastructure components all require periodic maintenance and occasional repairs,
