September 15, 2008 16:45 ET

IBM Announces Services to Migrate Clients to the IBM System z for Greater Energy Efficiency, Smaller Footprint and Unmatched Performance

Builds on Successful Program for IBM Power Systems With Nearly 1,200 Successful Migrations to Date; Resulting in Nearly $1 Billion in Revenues

ARMONK, NY--(Marketwire - September 15, 2008) - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new services to migrate clients to its System z mainframes to help them regain control of the mushrooming issues associated with data center sprawl, including increasing energy, cooling, people, and downtime costs. IBM is expanding its Migration Factory program for IBM Power Systems to include System z mainframes. The Migration Factory program includes competitive server assessments, migration services, and other resources.

Benefits to current and new customers moving to IBM System z10 mainframes could include:

• Energy and Space Savings: A System z10 EC is the equivalent of nearly 1500 x86 servers with an 85% smaller footprint with up to 85% less energy costs; by comparison, in published benchmarks, a System z used approximately 14% less energy for comparable workloads than an HP Superdome system.[1]
• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership as the result of fewer software licenses to purchase; reduced electricity and cooling costs; reduced downtime costs.
• Built to Run a Range of Workloads: From Linux to Java, and supporting more than 4,000 unique applications.
• Scalability and Security: System z mainframes have unparalleled scalability[1] based on published benchmarks while delivering the US government's highest security rating. [2]
• The Growing Skills Boom: 400 universities around the globe are teaching 50,000 students about the mainframe.

To help customers assess the full scope of technology options currently available, the new System z Migration factory builds on IBM's successful Migration Factory program for Power Systems, storage and System x. For instance, IBM has helped nearly 1,200 customers migrate from competitive Sun, HP and other UNIX platforms to IBM's AIX or Linux on Power. The Power Systems migrations have resulted in more than $1 billion in revenues since the program began several years ago. [3]

The System z Migration factory offers: no-charge server consolidation assessment services; no-charge assessment support for SAP migrations; migration services (porting, migrating software code, controlling risk associated with application migration) and middleware integration; system and application upgrades to newer platforms; technical assistance for customers and Business Partners for successful migrations (e.g. access to roadshows, educational seminars); and testing and validation of migrations. [4]

At its core, the IBM Migration Factory helps clients lower their cost of ownership, reduce complexity in managing servers, rationalize IT assets, and run greener IT for stronger social responsibility.

The Migration Factory for System z is the latest addition to IBM's company-wide resources to help clients migrate from servers such as those from HP and other competitors. For 2008 alone, IBM will invest nearly $200 million for server migration programs and has dedicated 800 services employees around the globe to this effort. This has fueled IBM's server business as IBM's mainframe has more than doubled its revenue share this decade*[5]. In Gartner's recently announced 2Q08 worldwide server revenue share results, IBM broadened its revenue lead as the number one provider of servers, with growth in System z mainframe and Power Systems. [6]

"Several years ago, we created the IBM's Migration Factory for Power Systems. In my opinion, Gartner's worldwide report validates that customers are buying and responding well to this aggressive program because of the business benefits afforded by IBM systems," said David Gelardi, vice president of STG Worldwide Client Centers at IBM. "Tack on the fact that IBM sold out of the System z10 in the second quarter and you'll see that customers are ready for a strategic roadmap to consider the mainframe for their server consolidation needs."

For more information, please visit: www.ibm.com/mainframe

[1] Data gained from a combination of internal benchmarks, sizings and external reports. Sources: http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.com/monthly/art.php?2976; InfoSizing FNS BANCS Scalability on IBM System z - Report Date: September 20, 2006; **TEMENOS BENCHMARKS; http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/downloads/TemenosBenchmark.pdf.

[2] The IBM mainframe utilizes a cryptographic coprocessor, which has received the US government's highest security rating for hardware -- FIPS 140-2 Level 4 meeting federal requirements for protecting sensitive data. IBM has also achieved EAL5, which, according to Computer Security Resource Center, "is applicable in those circumstances where developers or users require a high level of independently assured security in a planned development and require a rigorous development approach without incurring unreasonable costs attributable to specialist security engineering techniques. In practice, EAL5 certification is most often required by government agencies for military and aerospace applications."

[3] Source: IBM internal numbers

[4] Unless otherwise noted, services, assistance, upgrades, testing and validation are available on a for-fee basis

[5] Source: according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker high end +$250K servers quarterly tracker results from 3Q'00 to 2Q'08

[6] Source: Gartner, Inc., "Servers Quarterly Statistics Worldwide: Database," by Erroll Rasit et al, August 21, 2008. According to Gartner, "IBM's overall revenue share lead over second-place HP was 3.6 percent for the quarter."