The Ultimate Virtual Server
New IBM mainframe can handle some 1,500 virtual machines.
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March 4, 2008
By Doug Barney
Trivia question: What was the first machine ever to be virtualized? The IBM 370 mainframe in the 1960’s with a little tool called VM/370 (IBM didn’t just invent the technology, but the nomenclature as well).
Much of the hype about virtualization surrounds VMware, which has a near monopoly in the x86 market, and the upcoming Hyper-V from Microsoft, which may take over the market the exact same way that IE, Office, Exchange, and Windows did in years past.
The unsung hero in this whole area may well be IBM Corp. (Armonk, NY). Sure, Big Blue has hypervisors for its x86 rack and blade servers, as well as virtual I/O and storage virtualization tools. But the baddest box of all is the new System z10 mainframe.
This box can run VMs based on Linux, Unix, and Solaris. But one expert tells me the System z10’s x86 emulation also allows it to run Windows in virtual machines. Imagine how much space, cooling, electricity, cabling, and management costs you could save by replacing 1,500 Windows servers with a single hunk of big iron?
What do you think? Is virtualization all it’s cracked up to be? What’s been your experience? And do mainframes suddenly have a new luster? Let me know by writing [email protected].
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