A server that’s worth having
The following summary is a comparison of the performance of servers intended for medium-size companies, and it is the result of analysis by the International Technology Group, published in February 2011 in a document called ITG Executive Summary: VALUES PROPOSITION FOR IBM POWER SYSTEMS SERVERS AND IBM i: MINIMIZING COSTS AND RISKS FOR MIDSIZE BUSINESSES..
In medium-size firms the implementation of a server platform is much more limited in terms of financial resources and technically-skilled staff compared with large companies. For this reason the consequences of the choice of hardware are more evident. This analysis focuses on comparing the levels of risk, costs and complexity associated with implementing a Linux/Oracle server, a Windows/SQL server or a Power Systems IBM i 7.1 server.
Levels of risk
In reducing risk levels, without exception the main features of the whole IBM i 7.1 platform are:
- minimized downtime,
- security and protection against malware.
In the latter area the differences between the IBM platform and either Windows or Linux servers are undeniable. IBM i is one of the most secure operating systems in IT history, and malware incidents essentially do not exist, because there are no known native IBM i viruses.
Level of costs
The analysis was carried out in four midsize companies (from 500 up to 4500 employees) using the latest (Feb. 2011) hardware platform versions. Total costs in three years of using systems based on Power7 processors and the IBMi 7.1 platform proved to be on average 42% lower overall compared with x86 servers with Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server, and 56% lower compared with x86 servers with Linux and Oracle database.
Level of complexity
The complexity of implementing a server platform has clear impact on IT cost levels and the effectivity of the whole solution, not only for the systems and database administrators, but also for the application developers.
The IBM i 7.1 platform with systems based on Power 7 processors are designed so as to minimize the complexity of the whole solution. The advantages of this platform include close integration with the IBM DB2 database together with its control and admin tools (there are over 300 of these), as well as the high degree of automation and the consequent ability to reduce the staff requirement for server administration and the associated human error factor.
