IBM PureSystems and new System x M4 unveiled in Sri Lanka

IBM has launched Expert Integrated Systems in Sri Lanka to help organisations achieve greater agility, efficiency, simplicity and control, with a seamless and more dynamic approach to IT.

IBM also announced new server solutions designed to expand cloud and analytics capabilities across its entire portfolio, helping make Smarter Computing a reality for clients in Sri Lanka. These solutions are now available for customers and partners in Sri Lanka helping them stay ahead of the business.  

IDC estimates that in 2013, organisations will spend US$247 billion on server acquisition, power, cooling and management. The biggest chunk of those costs will come from management expenses, which will account for 69 per cent of IT spending.  IBM’s expert integrated systems family – PureSystems – is the result of $2 billion in R&D and acquisitions over four years, an unprecedented move by IBM to integrate all IT elements, both physical and virtual. The new family of servers offer clients an alternative to today’s enterprise computing model, where multiple and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain.

With the introduction of the new PureSystems family, IBM is unveiling three major advances that point to a new era of computing technology that is designed to allow businesses slash high costs and the nagging complexity associated with managing information technology.

“Scale-In” System Design: With PureSystems, IBM is introducing a new concept in systems design that integrates the server, storage and networking into a highly automated, simple-to-manage machine. Scale-in design provides for increased density – PureSystems can handle twice as many applications compared to some systems available in the market, doubling the computing power per square foot of data center space.

Patterns of Expertise:  For the first time, IBM is embedding technology and industry expertise through first-of-a-kind software that allows the systems to automatically handle basic, time-consuming tasks such as configuration, upgrades, and application requirements.

Cloud Ready integration: All PureSystems family is built for the cloud, enabling corporations to quickly create private, self-service cloud offerings that can scale automatically.

The PureSystems offerings are available on x86 or Power or a hybrid of both. The offerings include high-performance systems, networking and software products aimed at helping clients optimise data centre operations with flexible, easy-to-deploy solutions to help reduce complexity, lower costs and deliver rapid return on investments.

Among the solutions introduced is a new version of IBM’s BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud (BCFC), an integrated virtualisation platform with built-in system management and preconfigured with servers, storage, and networking. BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is now powered by the new generation of IBM BladeCenter HS23 systems that offer 62% more compute power, and comes integrated with the new 10GbE Virtual Fabric technology that enables clients to run 20% more virtual machines, creating an optimal environment for building and deploying advanced cloud applications. 

“Businesses are spending a significant amount of time and money integrating, tuning and managing various components to support their application workloads. Organisations have begun to use appliances, cloud computing and other software as a Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS) to help improve service levels and reduce cost,” said IBM Sri Lanka Country General Manager Chrishan Fernando adding, “Expert integrated systems provide advantages of these approaches while avoiding many limitations for customers. For IBM Business Partners, these launches create a new opportunity to help clients solve the complexity of enterprise IT, reduce costs and encourage innovation.”

More than 150 Patterns of Expertise have been developed and optimised for IBM PureSystems by more than 125 of the world’s leading ISVs. With technical and validation resources from IBM, these companies have the flexibility to optimise their industry leading applications to run on either the IBM PureFlex or IBM PureApplications systems. For clients this means that after a simple download of the ISV Pattern of Expertise, they can quickly be up and running with a new software or industry-specific solution.

To help address this new opportunity, IBM is providing training, marketing and technical validation support to its Business Partners. Globally, from resellers to distributors and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), more than 700 Business Partners are supporting IBM PureSystems. There are more than 160 solutions and applications from IBM and Business Partners in the IBM PureSystems Centre, spanning 20 industries. Additionally, more than 200 ISVs have created application patterns and virtual appliances that can be downloaded on PureSystems. This includes leading solutions from some of the world’s largest ISVs, from ERP systems to applications for the banking, marketing, healthcare and energy industries.  Across growth markets, over 2000 of IBM business partners are now PureSystems enabled.

This year marks 50 years of presence for IBM in Sri Lanka with its operations in the country dating back to 1962. In recent years IBM has strengthened its operations in the country in line with increased demand for solutions and services as businesses and government organisations turn to IT to transform operations and increase global competitiveness.