CLOUD requires massive data handling and processing which in turn requires vast data centers that draw immense amounts of energy. High power consumption–especially when drawn from fossil fuel-powered generators–is not sustainable.
“Data centers are energy intensive, and they can account for a large portion of an organization’s energy use. But data and technology can help companies turn sustainability ambition into action,” Marcel Mitran, IBM Fellow and CTO of Cloud Platform, IBM LinuxONE said.
Unveiled only yesterday, the next generation of IBM’s LinuxONE server is a highly scalable Linux and Kubernetes-based platform. It’s designed to deliver scalability to support thousands of workloads in the footprint of a single system. The new servers extend IBM’s capabilities to help clients across industries, including Citibank, reach sustainability targets. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 will be generally available globally starting today, September 14, 2022, with entry and mid-range systems to follow in the first half of 2023.
Respond to unpredictable demand
Shifts in the global economy have driven volatility and require flexibility in operational and technical decision-making. Built with the same security, scalability, and reliability that has been the hallmark of IBM infrastructure, the next-generation LinuxONE also offers cloud-like flexibility. With a system built for a rebalancing of resources in combination with on-demand capacity, workloads can scale up and scale out dynamically and non-disruptively.
LinuxONE is one solution within IBM’s vast portfolio of sustainability technologies designed to optimize data centers by reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency. These solutions design, deploy and manage energy-efficient infrastructures and innovations with a hybrid Cloud approach.
IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 features capabilities that can reduce clients’ energy consumption. Up to 75 percent reduction in energy use and 50 percent decrease in space can be achieved by five IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 compared to conventional x86 servers under similar conditions. This alone can reduce CO2e footprint by over 850 metric tons annually.
“Reducing data center energy consumption is a tangible way to decrease carbon footprint. In that context, migrating to IBM LinuxONE is designed to help clients meet their scale and security goals, in addition to meeting sustainability goals for today’s digital business,” Mitran specified.
According to an IBM IBV study, forty-eight percent of CEOs across industries say increasing sustainability is one of the highest priorities for their organization in the next two to three years. However, 51 percent also cite sustainability as among their greatest challenges in that same timeframe, with lack of data insights, unclear ROI, and technology barriers, as hurdles. For these CEOs, scaling their business with modern infrastructure can often be one of the barriers to achieving sustainability goals.
Citibank sets an example by its sustainability strategy which is driven by a commitment to advance solutions that address climate change and support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Operationally, Citi is focused on reducing the environmental footprint of its facilities, by improving hosting densities with lower power consumption. Citi is hosting MongoDB on IBM LinuxONE, leveraging the platform’s security and resiliency, as well as elastic capacity to address unexpected demand.
“As our business grows and becomes increasingly digital-first, traditional IT solutions add more physical servers and increase required floor space. IBM LinuxONE with MongoDB provides vertical scale and critical protection against data breaches and cyber-attacks, helping optimize data centers while lowering our overall carbon footprint,” Martin Kennedy, Managing Director, Citi Technology Infrastructure said.
“For CIOs, change is happening at an unprecedented rate and requires organizations to invest in infrastructure that is stable, high value, and energy-efficient,” Bjorn Stengal, IDC Global Sustainability Research and Practice Lead explained. “IBM LinuxONE provides organizations with a secured, scalable architecture to meet their government regulations and customer expectations.”
Sustainable without compromising security
The new LinuxONE system also features pervasive encryption to protect data at rest and in-flight, a priority for clients in regulated industries such as financial services. Building on IBM’s cloud security leadership in confidential computing, IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 protects data in use while providing end-to-end encryption. This comprehensive data protection profile provides businesses with a data protection strategy that underpins current and anticipated future cyber security protocols.
With Cloud-native development on LinuxONE, teams of developers can deliver portable and agile solutions without having to learn a new operating system. IT managers need a system that is easy to operate supports common tools and provides a foundation for the future. LinuxONE enables managers to focus on delivering new services, instead of managing complexity across a vast number of servers. Based on Linux and Kubernetes, everyone benefits from open standards and an ecosystem that includes modern DevSecOps and Cloud-native tools.
Hybrid cloud platform for cloud and on-premise workloads
Today’s hybrid and multi-Cloud environments require clients to deploy workloads where it makes the most sense for their business needs. IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Virtual Servers provide a public cloud environment in which the cloud tenant maintains complete authority over Linux-based virtual servers for workloads that contain sensitive data. Built on IBM LinuxONE and running on IBM Cloud, this service provides customers complete authority over their encrypted data, workloads, and encryption keys — not even IBM as the cloud provider has access.
IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 supports a large number of Linux and Red Hat OpenShift-certified workloads, including data serving, core banking and digital assets. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 receives support from IBM Ecosystem partners, such as Illmuio, METACO, MongoDB, NGINX, Nth Exception, Fujitsu Limited, Pennant, SQ Solution, Sysdig, Inc. and Temenos.
“Together, Temenos and IBM LinuxONE can help major banks move to a modern architecture in a safe, predictable and scalable way, while reducing total cost of ownership and meeting their ESG obligations,” said Philip Barnett, President of Strategy Growth at Temenos. “Temenos core banking running on the new LinuxONE servers can operate at a fraction of the cost of general-purpose servers and offer great scalability, resilience and speed to market.”
Additional information
- IBM LinuxONE TCO Calculator: by answering just a few questions such as hardware, workload type and software, the IBM LinuxONE cost estimator provides a high-level total cost of ownership based on industry-proven assumptions.
- Register for the IBM zDay no-cost virtual conference on Sept. 15, 2022 to learn more about LinuxONE through a dedicated track of sessions
- IBM LinuxONE Expert Care offers a way of attaching services and support through tiers at the time of product purchase. This offering provides the client with an optimum level of support over multiple years for mission-critical requirements of their IT infrastructure.
