zIIP

IBM warns customers about Neon’s zPrime

OK, here we go. Many were wondering what IBM’s reaction to the Neon zPrime software would be. As you may know, the purpose of zPrime is to offload work from a mainframe’s central processors to specialty engines such as the zIIP and zAAP, saving on software costs and possibly delaying a multimillion-dollar mainframe upgrade. What Neon claims is that zPrime can offload a lot more than just DB2 and Java workloads, which is what the zIIP and zAAP are aimed at, respectively. One beta customer said they could save $10 million a year using zPrime.

Initially, IBM had no response, saying it needed to look into the product first. Neon was also being coy, not releasing any pricing on their product even though it is supposedly in general availability.

Now IBM is warning its mainframe customers.

In a letter dated July 10 and addressed to a generic client, IBM restates that it is trying to learn more information about the product “and how it is supposed to work, but the vendor has not yet offered to provide IBM with any detailed information and seems to be restricting access to such information.” Though I’m not positive about what “restricting information” means, I heard from a reliable source that a Neon Webcast last week on zPrime wasn’t allowing IBMers to register. The letter continues:

In general, any product which is designed to cause additional workloads, not designated by IBM or other (software) providers as eligible to run on the Specialty Engines, to nevertheless to be routed to a Specialty Engine should be evaluated to determine whether installation and use of such a product would violate, among other things, the IBM Customer Agreement (for instance, Section 4 regarding authorized use of IBM program products such as z/OS) and/or the license governing use of the IBM “Licensed Internal Code” (frequently referred to as “LIC”) running on IBM System z servers, or license agreements with any third party software providers.

IBM would also caution its customers regarding any claimed ability to reduce IBM Program license charges by off-loading workloads to Specialty Engines beyond the eligible workload identified by IBM. IBM’s applicable pricing terms governing Eligible Workloads on zIIPs and zAAPs will not apply to zIIPs and zAAPs running anything other than IBM specified eligible workloads. Therefore, customers should not anticipate any reduction (and may actually experience an increase) in the IBM Program License Charges associated with non-Eligible Workloads which may be off-loaded to IBM Specialty Engines, since the non-Eligible Workload running on the Specialty Engine will cause the software running on the Specialty Engine to be chargeable. IBM cannot comment on the potential impact on the software charges from other third party software providers.

So what will happen next? Will IBM still try to work with Neon to make this product a viable one for reducing mainframe costs? Will the negotiations turn contentious, possibly resulting in lawsuits and/or an acquisition, as was the case with Platform Solutions Inc. (PSI)? Rich Ptak, an analyst with Ptak, Noel & Associates, gave his opinion on the two sides of the coin.

“It could provide [IBM with] the significant opportunity to reinforce the message that the mainframe can be a very attractive workload platform,” he said. “It could really go to the heart of the challenge today that HP and Microsoft and distributed folks make about moving off the mainframe. They could also just as easily decide that they’ll just start including MIPS [million instructions per second] on the specialty engines in their pricing. To me, in many ways, that would be self-defeating.”

I discovered this IBM letter through DataDirect, another mainframe software vendor that sells a product for offloading work to the zIIP. Neither IBM nor Neon Software got back to me yesterday for an interview.

Advice on zPrime: Get in while you can

Trevor Eddolls at Mainframe Update has some advice regarding zPrime, the new product from Neon Software that we reported about last week: Get in while you can. From the story:

Now, I’m not here to recommend any organization’s software – they pay people to do that, and I haven’t noticed a brown envelope full of bank notes being slipped into my hands – but it seems this kind of software is going to make NEON popular with everyone except IBM! Obvously, MSUs (Metered Software Units) are IBM’s way of ensuring a regular income – and it’s based on GPP usage. If people find a way of running their software on zIIP and zAAP specialty engines then IBM will have to come up with a new pricing model.

It seems that they best policy for users is to get in quick and pay for zPrime with the savings that will be made on monthly licence fees. And then bank all future savings until IBM changes the pricing rules.

TCO calculator for the mainframe zIIP engine now online

Mainframe vendor DataDirect and analyst firm WinterGreen Research have developed an online calculator tool for users to determine how much they could save by offloading Web services work to the zIIP engine.

The zIIP, short for (System) z Integrated Information Processor, is an extra mainframe engine designed to run database workloads. The zIIP’s benefit comes from being able to free up the central processors — and therefore avoiding the possibility of having to buy a new mainframe — as well as avoiding software licensing costs, as some vendors don’t charge for work on the specialty engines.

DataDirect’s Shadow, a services-oriented architecture (SOA) software product for the mainframe, can be offloaded to the zIIP. In fact, the company claims that more than 90% of the integration processing for Web services supporting SOA or large data queries can be offloaded to mainframe specialty engines.

DataDirect’s claims are one thing. Now it has the online calculator so mainframers can figure out hypothetically how much they could save by offloading Web services to the zIIP. The company calls it the DataDirect Shadow TCO Calculator. Here’s a sample screenshot:

As you can see, the calculator has three major variables, which you can slide back and forth to see your estimated savings. Gregg Willhoit, the chief software architect for mainframe software at DataDirect, said his company and Lexington, Mass.-based WinterGreen Research developed internal constants such as one called “service units per byte processed,” as they found that there was a “repeatable relationship in regards to size of their payloads and service units consumed.” They also take into account network, administrative and electric costs in relation to the cost per MIPS figure that the user provides.

Willhoit said DataDirect is willing to have its “more than 90%” claim tested by an objective body, too. In a recent blog post, Willhoit called for an independent body, much like the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC), to verify vendor claims about how much mainframe work they’re able to offload to specialty engines.

CA encourages mainframe zIIP use with latest DBMS release

CA is pushing for users to take advantage of zIIP, a mainframe specialty processor built to run data-intensive applications, with its latest release of CA Datacom, its relational database management system.

The zIIP, which stands for (System) z Integrated Information Processor, is often used to run DB2 and other database workloads, and can be beneficial to end users because it can take MIPS away from the central processors and reduce licensing costs. CA Datacom r12 is now one of 14 CA products that can take advantage of the zIIP. Other products include its tape encryption and network management products for the mainframe.

CA Datacom r12 allows customers to shift production database workloads - including those generated by online transaction systems, batch jobs and distributed server requests - to the zIIP.

The new version also has improvements in index processing and performance monitoring and tuning. It is being integrated with CA’s Mainframe 2.0 initiative.