IBM System z is a family name used by IBM for all of its mainframe computers.
In 2000, IBM renamed the existing System/390 to IBM eServer zSeries with
the e depicted in IBM's red trademarked symbol, but because no specific machine
names were changed for System/390, the zSeries in common use refers only to the
z900 and z990 generations of mainframes. In April 2006, with another generation
of products, the official family was changed to IBM System z, which now
includes both older IBM eServer zSeries, the IBM System z9 models, the IBM System
z10 models, and the newer IBM zEnterprise. The zSeries, System z and
zEnterprise families were named for their availability – z stands for zero
downtime. The systems are built with spare components capable of hot
failovers to ensure continuous operations. The System z family
maintains full backward compatibility. In effect, current systems are the
direct, lineal descendants of System/360, announced in 1964, and the
System/370 from the 1970s. Many applications written for these systems
can still run unmodified on the newest System z over five decades later.
IBM System z13 First system able to process 2.5 billion
transactions per day IBM's first mainframe capable of
real-time encrypting all transactions at scale
First mainframe system with embedded analytics providing real-time
transaction insights IBM zEnterprise System
The IBM zEnterprise System, announced in July 2010, with the z196 model, is
designed to offer both mainframe and distributed server technologies in an
integrated system. The zEnterprise System consists of three components.
First is a System z server. Second is the IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter
Extension. Last is the management layer, IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource
Manager, which provides a single management view of zEnterprise
resources. The zEnterprise is designed to extend mainframe capabilities –
management efficiency, dynamic resource allocation, serviceability – to other
systems and workloads running on AIX on POWER7, and Microsoft Windows or Linux
on x86. The zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension is
an infrastructure component that hosts both general purpose blade servers and
appliance-like workload optimizers which can all be managed as if they were a
single mainframe. The zBX supports a private high speed internal network that
connects it to the central processing complex, which reduces the need for
networking hardware and provides inherently high security.
The IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager integrates the System z and zBX
resources as a single virtualized system and provides unified and integrated
management across the zEnterprise System. It can identify system
bottlenecks or failures among disparate systems and if a failure occurs it can
dynamically reallocate system resources to prevent or reduce application
problems. The Unified Resource Manager provides energy monitoring and
management, resource management, increased security, virtual networking,
and information management from a single user interface.
Highlights of the original zEnterprise z196 include:
BladeCenter Extension and Unified Resource Manager
Up to 80 central processors 60% higher capacity than the z10
Twice the memory capacity 5.2 GHz quad-core chips
The newest zEnterprise, the EC12, was announced in August 2012, and included:
Up to 101 central processors 50% higher capacity than the z196
Transactional Execution 5.5 GHz hex-core chips
Flash Express – integrated SSDs which improve paging and certain other I/O
performance On April 8, 2014, in honor of the 50th
anniversary of the System/360 mainframe, IBM announced the release of its first
converged infrastructure solution based on mainframe technology. Dubbed the IBM
Enterprise Cloud System, this new offering combines IBM mainframe
hardware, software, and storage into a single system and is designed to compete
with competitive offerings from VCE, HP, and Oracle. According to IBM, it is the
most scalable Linux server available with support for up to 6,000 virtual
machines in a single-footprint. In June 2014, IBM announced it had
shipped its first Enterprise Cloud System to Vissensa, a UK-based managed
service provider. IBM System z10
The IBM System z10 servers support more memory than previous generation systems
and can have up to 64 central processors per frame. The full speed z10
processor's uniprocessor performance is up to 62% faster than that of the z9
server, according to IBM's z10 announcement. New capabilities for
System z10 servers: 50% more performance and 70% more usable
capacity. The new 4.4 GHz processor was designed to address CPU intensive
workloads and support large scale server consolidation on the mainframe.
Just-in-time capacity and management – monitoring of multiple systems based on
Capacity Provisioning and Workload Manager definitions. When the defined
conditions are met, z/OS can suggest capacity changes for manual activation
from a z/OS console, or the system can add or remove temporary capacity
automatically and without operator intervention.
IBM System z9 In July 2005, IBM announced a new family
of servers – the System z9 family – with the IBM System z9 Enterprise Class and
the IBM System z9 Business Class servers. The System z9 servers offered:
More flexibility on the enterprise class servers in customizing and sizing the
capacity of the general purposes processors that reside in the server.
The z9 EC servers offered four different sub-capacity settings when run with
eight or fewer general purpose processors.
zIIP engines. The zIIP is designed so that a program can work with z/OS to
have all or a portion of its Service Request Block dispatched work directed
to the zIIP to help free up capacity on the general purpose processor which may
make it available for use by other workloads running on the server.
MIDAW. The Modified Indirect Data Address Word facility offers an
alternative facility for a channel program to be constructed. It is
designed to improve performance for native FICON applications that use
extended format datasets by helping to improve channel utilization, reduce
channel overhead, and improve I/O response times.
CP Assist for Cryptographic Functions is shipped on every CP and IFL processor in
support of clear key encryption. CPACF was enhanced for System z9 processors to
include support of the Advanced Encryption Standard for 128-bit keys,
Secure Hash Algorithm-256, CPACF offers DES, Triple DES and SHA-1.
IBM zSeries family The zSeries family, which includes the
z900, z800, z990 and z890, introduced IBM's newly designed 64-bit
z/Architecture to the mainframe world. The new servers provide more than four
times the performance of previous models. In its 64-bit mode the new CPU
is freed from the 31-bit addressing constraints of its predecessors. Major
features of the eServer zSeries family: Based on z/Architecture, as opposed to
earlier ESA/390 used in S/390 systems yet emphasizing the backwards
compatibility the ESA/390 applications are fully compatible with z/Architecture
First zSeries Superscalar server – A superscalar processor allows concurrent
execution of instructions by adding additional resources onto the
microprocessor to achieve more parallelism by creating multiple
pipelines, each working on its own set of instructions.
Offers up to 32 central processors per frame
Frames can be coupled in up to a 32-frame Sysplex, with each frame
physically separated up to 100 kilometers
Supports the z/OS, Linux on System z, z/VM, z/VSE, and z/TPF operating systems
Support of multiple I/O channel subsystem – or multiple Logical Channel
Subsystem. The z990 allows for support of up to four LCSS – offering support
for up to 4 times the previous 256 channel limit
Support for zAAP processors. These specialty processors allow IBM JVM
processing cycles to be executed on the configured zAAPs with no anticipated
modifications to the Java application(s). This means that
deployment and integration of new Java technology-based workloads can happen on
the very same platform as heritage applications and core business databases
in a highly cost-effective manner Comparison to other servers
A direct comparison of System z servers with other computing platforms is
difficult. For example, System z servers offload such functions as I/O
processing, cryptography, memory control, and various service functions
to dedicated processors. These "extra" processors are in addition to the 141
cores per frame. System z cores include extensive self checking of results, and
if an error is detected the server retries the instruction. If the
instruction still fails, the server shuts down the failing processor and
shifts workload, "in flight," to a surviving spare processor. The IBM
mainframe then "calls home". An IBM service technician replaces the failed
component with a replacement part. With System z9 servers, the technician
installs the new book and removes the old one without interruption to running
applications.. Similar design redundancies exist in memory, I/O,
power, cooling, and other subsystems. All these features exist at the hardware
and microcode level, without special application programming. The same
concepts can extend to coupled frames separated by up to 100 kilometers in a
Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex when z/OS is used. System z
servers are used by IBM customers for business-critical installations in
medium and large organizations which need very high availability, where
scheduled and unscheduled downtime costs are high, and at traditional "mainframe
shops" such as banks and insurance companies which already have mainframe
applications at the center of their business processes. For such
organizations which have to consider a very high price for system failures and
service outages, System z machines may provide a lower total cost of ownership
than other platforms, especially when running a variety of business-critical
applications concurrently. Overall, mainframes like System z are used in
government, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and just about every
other industry. List of models
zEnterprise System/z Systems mainframe: z Systems z13, introduced on January 13,
2015 zEnterprise BC12, introduced on July 23,
2013 zEnterprise EC12, introduced on August
28, 2012 zEnterprise 114, introduced on July 6,
2011 zEnterprise 196, introduced on July 22,
2010 System z10 mainframe:
z10 Business Class, introduced on October 21, 2008
z10 Enterprise Class, introduced on February 26, 2008
System z9 mainframes: z9 Business Class, successor to the z890
and smallest z990 models z9 Enterprise Class, introduced in 2005,
initially as z9-109, beginning the new System z9 line
zSeries mainframes: z890, successor to the z800 and smaller
z900 models z990, successor to larger z900 models
z800, entry-level, less powerful variant of the z900
z900, for larger customers Older S/390 IBM mainframe servers are
not listed here since support for the last S/390 compatible version of z/OS
was dropped on March 31, 2007. See also
List of IBM products Linux on System z
zAAP zIIP
Peer to Peer Remote Copy Extended Remote Copy
LPAR HiperSocket
ESCON FICON
IBM Parallel Sysplex Hercules emulator
z/VM z/OS
OpenSolaris for System z Gameframe
References External links
IBM IT Infrastructure web page IBM Destination z
IBM Systems Mainframe Magazine IBM System z web page
Z6 microprocessor The follow-on to Z9, by Charles F. Webb of IBM
IBM Archives: A Brief History of the IBM ES/9000, System/390 AND zSeries