There's a new mainframe in town, and some industry observers predict it may quiet the predictions of the mainframe's impending death. IBM (NYSE: IBM) showcased its new multi-purpose zEnterprise server, designed to help consolidate data centers and smooth the path to cloud computing.

The hybrid machine takes on a number of functions that typically are dispersed among different machines, offering the prospect of reducing the cost of labor, power, storage, components and more.

"This is the most powerful announcement we've ever made in the history of the IBM company in terms of customer economics," Steve Mills, senior vice president for Software and Systems, said upon unveiling the computer. The company is touting the zEnterprise as offering 60 percent greater capacity and 60 percent greater performance on data-intensive workloads than the previous server in the line.

The machine is not inexpensive, however, and IBM will have to ensure a speedy ROI if it wants it to succeed, notes Paul McDougall at InformationWeek.

"[W]hile zEnterprise's specs are impressive, it won't add much to IBM's coffers unless the company can convince more large customers to make seven-figure investments in big iron at a time when capex budgets remain tight," McDougall writes. "IBM's mainframe revenues have declined in seven of the past eight quarters, and zEnterprise won't change that unless Big Blue delivers fast ROI to CIOs that take the plunge."

IBM is not pioneering an entirely new idea with the hybrid machine, but instead is following the path of its rivals in the hardware business, writes ZDNet's Larry Dignan.

"All of the hardware giants--IBM, HP, Cisco, Dell and Oracle--are producing magic boxes (or armies of them) to modernize data centers and bridge them to cloud computing," Dignan writes. "The lead-in to IBM's zEnterprise System was interesting as rivals were pooh-poohing the effort before the launch. While hardware vendors take shots at each other, the reality is that most data centers have multiple hardware components. The key is to integrate those components, cut down on sprawl and save on energy-all while handling massive computing loads."

For more:
- see Paul McDougall's article at InformationWeek
- see Larry Dignan's post at ZDNet

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