The energy-efficient mainframe

These ceramic multichip modules, the CPU of the new computer, pack 96 of the fastest 5.2-GHz microprocessors together. The CPUs can execute 50 billion instructions/sec.

The zEnterprise mainframe server and a new systems architecture will let workloads on mainframe, POWER7, and System x systems share resources and be managed as a single, virtualized system. The powerful and energy-efficient mainframe was designed by IBM,Armonk, N. Y., to attack a major problem for corporate data centers — the jumble of disparate technologies added over time to run specific applications. These technologies, which operate in silos, are sometimes unable to communicate with each other in real time and require separate staffs and software tools to manage them.