Banish Server Sprawl and Reduce Risk, Costs and Complexity – IBM’s Enterprise Linux Server from Triton Consulting
Triton Consulting, the UK-based Information Management specialists are pleased to announce they have been selected as an IBM Enterprise Linux Server Business Partner.
It goes without saying that IT budgets everywhere are under ever-increasing pressure, but most IT managers also have to combat the additional challenges caused by "server sprawl" as they struggle to accommodate rapidly growing workloads. Whether they are x86 or RISC based, this proliferation of individual application and database servers can put intolerable pressure on server room environmentals such as floor space, power and cooling in addition to requiring ever more expensive human resources to manage and maintain.
Recognising this challenge, IBM has launched its Enterprise Linux Server (ELS) offering. Based on the same System z hardware that is widely recognised as being one of the most resilient and scalable platforms in the industry, the IBM Enterprise Linux Server is able to consolidate hundreds of distributed UNIX servers onto a single physical unit. Advanced virtualisation and workload management capabilities (built on 40 years of continuous investment and development) allow much higher utilisation rates than would be possible in a traditional environment, while the use of industry-standard Linux distributions such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux provide the assurance of first-class support and application compatibility.
Consolidating multiple server workloads into a single ELS environment can dramatically improve Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by cutting server room environmental costs and software licence fees, as well as offering vastly improved workload management and productivity benefits.
The benefits of consolidating UNIX workloads on an IBM Enterprise Linux Server include:
• Reduced Risk: Enterprise Linux Server is the most secure virtual infrastructure in the industry and the only EAL5 security-rated platform. The legendary resilience of the System z platform boasts a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) that can be measured in decades.
• Reduced Costs: Software licencing fees, operational and staff costs can all be dramatically cut, in addition to opportunity savings due to reduced system downtime.
• Reduced Complexity: A single physical server provides a truly centralised environment that is easier to manage and maintain. New virtual servers can be created and deployed in seconds, rather than the days or weeks necessary to order and configure a new physical x86 server.
• Improved Energy Efficiency: Reduction in overall energy usage due to lower overall power and cooling requirements when compared to multiple racks of x86 or RISC servers required to handle an equivalent workload.
• Improved Hardware Utilisation: Advanced workload management and virtualisation technology, combined with a very high capacity I/O subsystem, allow an ELS server to run at much higher utilisation rates than would typically be possible in a conventional x86/RISC environment (80-100%, compared to 10-30%).
As IBM Premier Business Partners, Triton Consulting is ideally placed to advise and assist with workload consolidation projects involving IBM Enterprise Linux Server. Triton can provide a complete end-to-end solution, from initial system design and supply of ELS hardware and software right the way through to systems programming services for installation/configuration and support for workload migration.
"IBM’s Enterprise Linux Server combines the flexibility, ubiquity and openness of Linux with the legendary power and reliability of System z" said Julian Stuhler, Triton’s Solutions Delivery Director. "I believe that the platform offers some unique and hugely compelling benefits for mid-market IT departments looking to contain their costs, and I’m thrilled that we’ve been appointed by IBM as an approved ELS partner."