IBM Introduces New Low-Priced POWER5 Server Based on Linux

IBM today announced it will offer a new, low-priced IBM POWER5™ processor-based server running the Linux® operating system (OS). The introduction of the IBM eServer™ OpenPower™ 710 marks IBM's continued commitment to extend POWER5 performance for Linux environments to companies of all sizes.

The powerful new IBM eServer OpenPower 710 provides a Linux OS-based alternative to HP and Sun entry-level UNIX® and Linux systems, helping clients to attain greater business productivity and lower costs. Its introduction is significant news, as it provides smaller businesses greater opportunity to access high-performing systems and is ideal for companies in industries such as financial services, life sciences and government.

The IBM eServer OpenPower 710 is a reliable, one- to two-way rack-mount system that supports the Linux operating system as distributed by both Red Hat and SUSE LINUX. The system is tuned for Linux for optimal performance and utilizes high-end features of larger server systems such as IBM's proven 64-bit Power Architecture™ technology and optional mainframe-inspired virtualization and Micro-Partitioning™ capabilities unique to POWER5 systems. When compared to similar offerings, the OpenPower 710 beats HP and Sun in system performance including:

-- The IBM eServer OpenPower 710 2-way Linpack HPC performance is higher
than the performance of both the HP Itanium® 2 rx1620 and rx2620. The
only published higher 2-way RISC SMP non-vector performance result was run
on the IBM eServer BladeCenter™ JS20. (1)

-- The IBM eServer OpenPower 710 2-way SPECompM2001 (peak) performance is
higher than the performance of the Sun Opteron V40z. The only higher 2-way
SPECompM2001 performance result published was run on the IBM eServer p5
520. (2)

The result is a system that allows clients to support multiple workloads on fewer systems -- making the OpenPower 710 optimal for datacenter consolidation and enterprise-class scale-out growth. Software developers in organizations of any size can also leverage the OpenPower 710 as they develop and run applications on the Linux OS.
"With the addition of the OpenPower 710, IBM extends Linux on POWER™ even deeper into the entry-level market where demand is increasing for substantial functionality and benefits of the POWER5 architecture," said Brian Connors, vice president, Linux on POWER, IBM. "OpenPower is a revolutionary option for businesses, particularly in the financial, government and retail industries, who are looking for lower-priced, more powerful Linux OS-tuned alternatives to HP and Sun systems."

Solutions Grow on OpenPower -- Over 900 ISV Applications and Growing

Also announced are a series of industry-focused solutions optimized for the OpenPower platform, marking growing momentum around Linux on POWER from IBM. In only four months since the introduction of OpenPower systems, an additional 250 applications have been optimized for the OpenPower platform by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Linux Developers -- bringing the total to over 900 certified applications. These applications are alongside thousands of additional open source applications -- extending into industries including financial services, retail, government and life sciences. New solutions introduced today include:

-- SAP -- The Linux 64-bit combination of SAP solutions with IBM DB2 and
maxDB will be available for the OpenPower 710 providing small to mid-size
customers, affordable, performance and enterprise-class reliability on SAP-
based solutions.

-- IBM OpenPower Consolidation Express -- enables small to mid-size
customers to simplify their IT Infrastructure while enhancing their
business flexibility. Through the flexible advanced virtualization and
Micro-Partitioning capabilities of the OpenPower 710, customers can
efficiently consolidate workloads traditionally deployed as separate web,
file and print, directory, firewall and e-mail servers onto a single
OpenPower 710. Companies can now replace aging servers that are expensive
to maintain with a new, consolidated infrastructure built on a simpler,
more open and flexible, modern architecture.

This level of support gives small and medium enterprise customers the capability to easily build, deploy and manage critical business and technical applications using Linux on POWER.
OpenPower Customer Success

TSYS Prepaid

New York-based TSYS Prepaid, a leading provider of prepaid card solutions that utilize the Visa, MasterCard, EFT and ATM networks, recently turned to IBM's OpenPower systems as a means to support its electronic, prepaid card solutions for companies in various markets ranging from corporate incentive to consumer promotion initiatives.

"The market for prepaid debit cards is experiencing significant growth as the shift continues away from paper-based payment processes such as cash, personal checks, coupons and gift certificates," said Tim Kuchlein, Vice President of Technology for TSYS Prepaid. "IBM's entry-level 64-bit OpenPower systems with Linux on POWER technology will offer our clients the system performance, scalability and precision they need to easily tune and optimize their applications to convert paper-based payment processes into more secure electronic records, in real-time and at an affordable price."

Khimetrics, Inc.

Customer Demand Solutions from Khimetrics, Inc. are designed to help leading global enterprises in retail, consumer packaged goods, and financial services drive increases in revenue, margin, and shareholder value. Khimetrics combines its deep understanding of these industries with software solutions to help customers understand, predict, and manage customer demand.

"With IBM's POWER5 processor-based servers at the heart of our IT infrastructure, our engineers have the kind of truly scalable platform necessary to build best-of-breed applications that analyze the cyclical demands of customers in the retail and financial services industries," said Todd Burnett, Director of IT Services, Khimetrics. "The OpenPower system provides our designers with a superior 64-bit architecture, but at a fraction of the cost by using an open source Linux platform. This type of cost savings will trickle down to our customers, allowing us to offer a more competitively priced product."

Myricom

Myricom, the creator of Myrinet™, a high-performance, packet-communication and switching technology used to interconnect clusters of workstations, PCs, servers, or single-board computers, is working with IBM to port its technology onto IBM's OpenPower systems.

"The vast majority of our customers in the high-performance computing market rely on the openness and flexibility of Linux to drive their clustering projects," said Dr. Nan Boden, Executive Vice President of Myricom. "We're confident that the combined strength of POWER and Linux on IBM's new OpenPower systems will fill the need for many of our customers who are looking for an affordable, high-performance platform dedicated to open source computing."

A New Era for POWER

The new OpenPower 710 is an extension of the recently announced OpenPower server family and joins IBM's decorated family of 64-bit Linux on POWER offerings including new eServer i5, p5 and BladeCenter JS20 systems.

The Power Architecture is at the heart of products ranging from video gaming systems and blade servers to supercomputers. As one of the industry's leading high-performance customizable microprocessors, it has gained tremendous momentum within the past year, including the formulation of Power.org, an open standards community around chips and systems, which use Power Architecture technology.

Pricing and Availability

IBM plans to make the IBM eServer OpenPower 710 available on February 18, 2005 with 1.65 GHz POWER5 microprocessors. The system will be available in a 1- to 2-way rack with maximum memory of 32GB. The OpenPower 710 supports Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 (SLES 9), and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 (RHEL AS 3). The OpenPower 710 will have a starting price of $3,449 (excluding operating system) and includes a 1.65 GHz processor, one gigabyte (GB) memory, 73GB 10K rpm disk drive, DVD-ROM and three-year, next-business-day warranty.

The IBM eServer OpenPower Consolidation Express solution is also available for OpenPower 710 and 720 systems. This end-to-end solution provides a simplified, cost-effective building block to prepare companies for an on demand computing environment.

Statements of IBM's future intent are subject to change without notice.

Prices based on U.S. list price. Reseller prices may vary.

Benchmark results current as of January 14, 2005. IBM SPEC results submitted on January 21, 2005.

1. Based on 2-way 1.65 GHz POWER5 OpenPower710 Linpack HPC result of 12.12 Rmax GFlops vs. 2-way 1.6 GHz Itanium 2 HP rx1620 result of 12.05 Rmax GFlops vs. 2-way 1.6 GHz Itanium 2 HP rx2620 result of 1.98 Rmax GFlops. 2-way 2.2 GHz PowerPC® IBM eServer BladeCenter JS20 Linpack HPC result is 13.27 Rmax GFlops. See http://www.top500.org/lists/linpack.php for additional benchmark results.

2. Based on 2-way 1.65 GHz POWER5 OpenPower710 SPECompM2001 (peak) result running 2 threads per processor of 5,282 vs. 2.4 GHz Opteron 850 Sun Fire V40z SPECompM2001 (peak) result running 1 thread per processor of 5,000. The 2-way 1.6 GHz POWER5 IBM eServer p5 520 result running 2 threads per processor is 5,287. Source: http://www.spec.org/omp/results/ompm2001.html

Contact:
Kevin Acocella
IBM Corporation
646-598-5551
kma@us.ibm.com

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