RESEARCH PAPER: Can IBM Revitalize 8P with x86?

The need for greater agility is driving IT strategies. The importance of scale up applications is growing, but a different innovation cadence is needed.

Applications and data streams are becoming more complex, requiring additional processing power and larger memory footprints for these scale up applications. With cloud-based applications, large virtualization pools, and ERP/database all running on x86 platforms, there is a need for 8 CPU servers that can run standards-based backend workloads or create a large consolidation point for virtualized workloads. The scalability of 8 CPU x86 servers combined with their robust platform availability make them an excellent choice for deploying critical applications. In an era of rapid innovation and changing IT patterns, these products can be the right choice for demanding applications.

Executive Summary
Application Needs Continue to Scale Up
Standardized Systems Are the Clear Choice
Scalable Applications Require Resilient, Scalable Platforms
The IBM x3950 X6 Server
Performance and Scalability
High Availability/RAS
IBM Support
True Customer Benefits for Scale Up Applications
Summary
Figure 1: Application Growth and Scalability
Figure 2: IBM x3950 X6 Chassis
Figure 2: Individual Compute Book
Figure 4: Uptime Features and Capabilities

You can download the paper here.

Companies Cited

Cisco
Dell
Facebook
Google
HP
IBM
Intel
Lenovo
Microsoft
Oracle
VMware
Windows

Patrick Moorhead

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Patrick founded the firm based on his real-world world technology experiences with the understanding of what he wasn’t getting from analysts and consultants. Ten years later, Patrick is ranked #1 among technology industry analysts in terms of “power” (ARInsights) in “press citations” (Apollo Research). Moorhead is a contributor at Forbes and frequently appears on CNBC. He is a broad-based analyst covering a wide variety of topics including the cloud, enterprise SaaS, collaboration, client computing, and semiconductors. He has 30 years of experience including 15 years of executive experience at high tech companies (NCR, AT&T, Compaq, now HP, and AMD) leading strategy, product management, product marketing, and corporate marketing, including three industry board appointments.