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IBM Sees Collaboration Driving New Systems Paradigms

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

IBM today detailed new computing systems, initiatives and a planned collaborative community aimed at helping meet the rising demand by businesses to collaborate with each other more efficiently. The company said the demand is global in nature and will require that traditional transaction processing by computers be augmented by a collaborative processing approach that more tightly integrates technology, processes and personnel.

According to IBM, companies once isolated by disparate technologies are increasingly collaborating to create more on demand operations. This requires that each firm's computing systems must be linked more intelligently.

Collaborative processing means using technologies like virtualization, open standards and encryption to share information real-time inside a business and helping to enable companies in various industries to work seamlessly on business applications ranging from designing automobiles and aircraft to discovering new medicines. Collaboration between companies and institutions has begun to blur the traditional lines of information technology.

To help meet the surge in business demand for collaborative processing, IBM today announced:

 --  IBM System z9 mainframe -- a sophisticated computing system, the IBM     System z9 mainframe provides advanced security and virtualization     capabilities that the company said is designed to enable it to support     collaboration and to act as the hub of a new era of collaborative     computing.      --  IBM Virtualization Engine 2.0 -- IBM's latest advance in     virtualization technology with unprecedented interoperability across     systems, storage and networking.  Open interfaces and implementation of     standards allow premier companies such as Cisco, VMware, Network Appliance     and others, to participate in this infrastructure.      --  The intention to form Blade.org -- Blade.org is planned be a     collaborative organization focused on accelerating the expansion of     solutions for BladeCenter, developed by IBM and Intel. The organization is     aimed at spurring development and innovation around blade technology with     the intent of supporting BladeCenter innovation in Voice over IP, industry     specific solutions, security and many other technologies.      

"As businesses and institutions integrate their operations internally and externally with customers and partners, the IT environment is changing dramatically," said Bill Zeitler, senior vice-president and group executive. "Where transaction processing has been the focus of IT for decades, we now see clients engaged in a more interactive or collaborative processing. It's no longer about what you have, it's now about what you can accomplish through collaboration."

Collaborative Processing Drives Innovation

Opening the IT infrastructure, expanding intelligent components and allowing customers to highly integrate their systems for broader sharing of data is the core of the collaborative processing trend. For example:

 --  With the NYSE, IBM Engineering and Technology Services designed     custom, handheld systems that linked to the back-end IBM mainframe systems     to extend transaction and collaboration capabilities onto the trading     floor. Connecting disparate IT systems enables a free flow of information     across the enterprise. Now NYSE traders can access mainframe-based data in     the palm of their hands from hundreds of PDA devices to ensure accurate     decision-making at record speeds      --  GHY International, a leading provider of professional customs     brokerage, teamed with IBM to develop a highly virtualized and simplified     IT computing environment by replacing and reducing the number of servers     from four down to one. The company uses the IBM eServer i5 model 550 with     IBM xSeries servers to help reduce the miscellaneous use of x86 servers. .     GHY runs 17 virtualized servers and four operating systems, i5/OS, AIX,     Linux and Windows -- simultaneously on one physical machine.      --  Mercury Computer Systems expects to enhance the compute performance     and image quality of MRI, CT and digital x-ray devices, and other demanding     applications. Utilizing the strength of the Cell processor-based     technology's processing power and IBM's expertise in design engineering,     Mercury says it expects to significantly improve system performance,     delivering precise images of stunning clarity in real time for radiologists     and others.      --  BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the state's largest not for profit     health plan and a pioneering force in Tennessee's healthcare delivery     system, has significantly increased the volume of data over the last 9     years and expanded system capacity from 500 Gigabytes to 110 Terabytes over     the same period. Working with IBM, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee     adopted a scalable and highly secure infrastructure, including eight IBM     TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Servers, an IBM eServer zSeries mainframe,     nearly 200 IBM eServer xSeries, a dozen IBM eServer pSeries, IBM     TotalStorage Enterprise Tape Drive 3592s and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager.     BlueCross said The IBM solution helped the company to significantly save in     the last year and a half.      --  The customers of Reynolds and Reynolds, an automobile dealer services     company, are benefiting from the self-managing capabilities of IBM eServer     xSeries, BladeCenter servers, IBM TotalStorage DS4500 storage-area network     (SAN), IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and IBM Director systems management     tools. Using this infrastructure, Reynolds created a new delivery model --     Applications on Demand -- that delivers applications and services to car     dealerships from fully managed remote servers.  Applications on Demand     provides pre-scheduled, automatic and instantaneous systems backups for     dealerships.  In addition, all critical dealership data is copied and     stored off-site.  According to Reynolds, about 40 percent of the car     dealers in the U.S. and Canada rely on Reynolds' systems to help run their     businesses.      

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key IBM Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions, financing and technologies that help enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business on demand. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

The following are either trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both: IBM, the IBM e-business logo, System z9, z/OS, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, AIX, z/OS, BladeCenter, IBM TotalStorage and WebSphere . Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

All customer examples cited or described in this press release are presented as illustrations of the manner in which some customers have used IBM products and the results that they may have achieved. Actual performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. All statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

 Contact: Colleen Haikes IBM Corporation 415-509-7915 chaikes@us.ibm.com

SOURCE: IBM Corporation

Source: MARKET WIRE

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