IBM Z14 - the New Standard for Modern Digital Enterprises
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IBM z14 - The New Standard for Modern Digital Enterprises THE CLIPPER GROUP TM SM Navigator Navigating Information Technology Horizons Published Since 1993 Report #TCG2017001 July 17, 2017 IBM z14 — The New Standard for Modern Digital Enterprises Analyst: Stephen D. Bartlett Management Summary The race to the top continues, whether it is for jetliners, automobiles, smart phones, or enterprise computers. The Exhibit 1 – The IBM z14 top-of-the-line defines the pinnacle of excellence and the most advanced capabilities, at least until something better comes along. That pinnacle offering sets the standard to which all other offerings must be compared, unless you are sure that that you will be satisfied by something less capable. For many decades, the IBM mainframe has been at the pin- nacle of enterprise computing (for the moment, think very- high volume transaction processing, beginning with its bril- liant, world-changing origin 53 years ago. Not resting on the laurels of the previous generation, every three or four years IBM has released a new model with a greatly enhanced but compatible architecture. That’s a lot of new models and en- hancements over more than five decades. To think of to- day’s mainframe as being something from the dark ages would be making the same mistake as comparing today’s Boeing 787 jetliner to a Boeing 727 that was launched in 1962. Both Boeing’s and IBM’s latest model have a strong Source: IBM historical lineage but, really, very little is the same, except the desire to provide the best possible solution at an affordable price per unit of capacity. With its newly announced z14 mainframe, IBM has done it again. As you will learn in this report, the standard of enterprise computing (now with a broader definition and set of goals) has been ratcheted up to new heights. Of course, z14 IN THIS ISSUE is bigger and more capable than its predecessor, the z13; but that is to be expected. What just Introducing the z14 ................................. 2 might surprise you is the extent to which IBM The Sanity of Encrypting Everything .... 2 has gone to make z14 applicable (and afforda- Driving Analytics and Machine ble) to a broad set of present-day and forward- Learning on IBM Z .................................. 4 looking applications and needs, relevant not Open and Connected for the Modern only to those enterprises that already have Digital Enterprise .................................... 5 mainframes but also to those enterprises who New Pricing Models Extend the are looking to excel in their large-scale opera- Flexibility of IBM Z .................................. 6 tions as a digital enterprise. To get the full Comparing the z14 to Prior story, please read on. Generations ............................................ 9 Conclusion .............................................. 9 The Clipper Group, Inc. - Technology Acquisition Consultants Internet Publisher One Forest Green Road Rye, New Hampshire 03870 U.S.A. 781-235-0085 781-235-5454 FAX Visit Clipper at clipper.com Send comments to [email protected] July 17, 2017 The Clipper Group NavigatorTM Page 2 Introducing the z14 1964. IBM’ mainframe continually has evolved Enhancing the relevancy of the its mainframe to meet the demands of the shifting IT landscape systems, now branded as IBM Z (no longer IBM z and stringent demands of its clients. Beyond that, Systems) has been IBM’s challenge throughout IBM’s mainframe technology continues to antici- its history, beginning with its announcement in pate the needs of its clients and prospects by of- 1964. The enterprise systems playing field now fering leading-edge hardware and software inno- is dominated by virtually everything virtual, the vations that continue to demonstrate improved Cloud (however one wishes to define it), expo- resiliency, higher performance, scalability, and nentially growing end-points (IoT), and a society security. At the core is that IBM’s mainframe that has become dependent and addicted to is the most trusted system on which enterpris- always being connected to a very responsive es can operate their mission-critical applica- computing or data serving resource – whether tions and databases. And, in the case of the they realize it or not. z14, it is noteworthy that over 150 clients have Yet year after year most of the world’s larg- been engaged, some for as long as two years, in est enterprises, and some not so large, happily the design specifications and ultimately the remain dependent on IBM’s mainframe for pro- content of the z14 and many of its supporting cessing critical operations and its role as the elements. computing and data repository backbone. Why is The themes for today’s announcement are not this, you may ask? Because it makes economic focused on the hardware “feeds and speeds” of sense in an always-on, increasingly risky world in the new processor, although there is plenty of which enterprises operate. There are multiple innovation to brag about there – more about that risks that are addressed by IBM mainframes, later. Central to this announcement is continuing including: to build on the existing well-earned trust and 1. The business risk of protecting sensitive expanding the scope of the mainframe’s influ- data from interlopers and evil doers, ence in the ever-more digital world. both outside the enterprise or from with- By expanding security standard in. through pervasive encryption – data as 2. The business risk of not being sufficient- the new perimeter for protection. ly responsive to the requirements of cus- By building on the mainframe’s analyt- tomers and other users (or worse, being ic and machine learning capabilities to unavailable). provide continuous intelligence across 3. The business risk of being “pennywise the enterprise. and pound foolish”, i.e., going with a By extending, connecting, and innovat- supposedly “good enough” solution that ing in the delivery of open enterprise doesn’t ensure that operational and clouds. enterprise requirements will be met. Most importantly, by introducing new, 4. The infrastructure risk of not having groundbreaking pricing options to enough “spare” capacity to do critical provide more flexibility for modern work when demand spikes unexpectedly workloads to challenge the negative (or the risk of paying for too much for TCO arguments that are too frequently idle excess capacity to cover unexpected leveled at the mainframe. spikes in demand). These four points should dominate what you take This list could go on, but I think that you get away from this paper; although you also should the point. Enterprises have many needs to sat- conclude that z14 is the standard to which all isfy and risks to mitigate. An 80% solution other solutions must be compared. Let’s look at probably doesn’t measure up satisfactorily. each of these. The short, simple answer is that IBM Z mainframes have met these requirements for The Sanity of Encrypting Everything many years and now continues to do that, and Intuitively, it would be ideal to encrypt all more, with the new mainframe system an- your enterprise’s data, but historically that notion nounced today, the IBM z14. This is the 14th has been unrealistic and impractical and to sug- generation of IBM’s CMOS technology-based gest doing so would be seen as bordering on system. Clearly, it is very different from the insanity (both technically and economically). original System 360 mainframe announced in The typical objections are: Copyright © 2017 by The Clipper Group, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without advance written permission. All rights reserved. July 17, 2017 The Clipper Group NavigatorTM Page 3 1. All data does not need to be encrypted. All of an organization’s digital assets 2. Determining what data needs to be are protected. encrypted is expensive and resource And, the cost of compliance is signifi- intensive. cantly reduced. 3. The risk of over-classifying essential Clearly, the IBM z14 is the world’s premier data that makes it difficult or impossible system for enabling data as the new perimeter. for to those who require it to perform z14 facilitates the encryption of IBM Z data their responsibilities. in-flight and at-rest with new capabilities in 4. All applications will be impacted – their hardware, operating systems, and middleware performance will be significantly – with no application changes or impact on degraded and modifications will be service level agreements. required. Application and Databases Again, the list could go on. Bulk encryption is enabled in the z/OS for The unasked question, of course, is: What is simple implementation, transparent exploitation, the cost of a data breach by malicious hackers or and optimized performance. Secure Service Con- even from “trusted” insiders? The real life refer- tainer delivers tamper-resistant installation and ences for these being hacked are well known and runtime, restricted admin access, and encryption notorious, yet many enterprises fail to face the of data and code. Encryption is significantly issue head on.1 accelerated in the hardware by a Crypto Copro- Moreover, government and industry agencies cessor that is part of every system core – up to six times faster than in the z13 and up to 18 times are forcing the imperative by promulgating regu- th lations, for example the European Union General faster than the competition – at 1/20 the cost to Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Pay- implement. Additionally, the in-channel PCIe IBM Crypto Express6s is twice the performance ment Card Industry Data Security Standard 3 (PCI-DSS), and the Health Insurance Portability of its predecessor. and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Aside from In-flight Network Data Protection and APIs these examples, it just seems that the survival and Encryption of all incoming and outgoing growth of all enterprises, public or private, network connections delivers end-to-end data depends on continuous protection of all their protection.