In-Depth

Inside IBM

• 07/01/2000

IBM has acquired the Sequent Financial Services leasing portfolio, which primarily covers NUMA-Q 2000 processors, formerly named Sequent Computer Systems. IBM Global Financing’s purchase of the portfolio, consisting of U.S.-based customer lease contracts, extends IBM’s support for its acquisition of Sequent Computer Systems last year.

The portfolio acquisition will directly benefit customers, since IBM will be able to arrange their lease upgrades and extensions for installed NUMA-Q processors. In addition, many of these customers have relationships with IBM Global Financing and consolidating the number of vendors they deal with to obtain financing should improve procurement efficiency.

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Comdisco has invested more than $30 million in IBM S/390 servers to support the availability and continuity requirements of its customer base. Comdisco is installing 14 new IBM S/390 G6 enterprise servers in facilities across North America, increasing its processing power by 450 percent.

The acquisition is part of Comdisco’s expanded commitment to help its customers build and maintain highly available IT infrastructures to support mission-critical business functions. The IBM S/390 G6 servers, equipped with IBM’s copper chips, complement this initiative, offering high-speed processing capacity.

Comdisco will use the new S/390 servers to support its overall availability services, and to provide complete standby systems that replicate a customer’s own computing environment, as well as for back-end support, such as instantaneous transaction processing and data capturing of e-business transactions.

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IBM has begun shipping its Windows-based Terminal, a thin-client device built on Microsoft’s WBT Standard 1.5 specification.

The IBM NetVista thin client for Windows-based Terminal (WBT) Standard 1.5 is designed for customers who want access to Windows-based applications, as well as other server-based applications.

The device will provide enhanced performance levels when compared to other WBTs, and later this year will be upgraded to include the Internet Explorer browser for Windows-based Terminals (available as a free upgrade to all purchasers). It will also include key plug-ins, including Windows Media Player and nFuse via ICA ALE (applications launching and embedding) from Citrix Systems.

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IBM’s RS/6000 SP system with DB2 Universal Database Version 7.1 has set a new record for business intelligence performance in the TPC-H benchmark.

The achievement reaffirms the SP with DB2 Universal Database as an ideal computing platform for large-scale business intelligence (BI) applications. The TPC-H benchmark was designed as a tool to evaluate real-world BI performance. Because it places a focus on a system’s ability to execute complex ad hoc queries, the benchmark becomes more difficult to run as the size of the database grows.

IBM elected to run the benchmark test at one terabyte, the level most indicative of the amounts of data used in today’s enterprise BI applications. The RS/6000 SP, fueled by IBM copper microprocessor technology, demonstrated power, scalability and a price/performance ratio three times better than Compaq, the previous record holder.

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IBM is contributing its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technology to the Apache Software Foundation for their open source XML (Extensible Markup Language) project. Built in Java, "SOAP4J" should help developers create applications for e-business services using a vendor-neutral, open process.

IBM and Lotus are co-authors of the SOAP v1.1 specification, which uses XML to send messages and access Web services across distributed networks. Web services are business services conducted via the Web.

IBM’s SOAP4J enables applications to process SOAP messages and can be downloaded from Apache’s Web site (http://xml.apache.org).

The contribution of SOAP4J adds to IBM’s previous XML contributions to the Apache Software Foundation, including the XML4J Parser, XML4C Parser and Lotus XSL.

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IBM’s next generation of ThinkPad notebooks are designed to enhance and simplify the mobile computing experience.

The IBM ThinkPad A Series and IBM ThinkPad T Series incorporate weight-reducing Titanium Composite materials and a host of new features, including common swappable components and built-in ports for modem and LAN connections.

These new notebooks help keep users connected with a range of options, including wireless solutions. Plus, IBM’s service and support are available with the new ThinkPad Button, a tool that provides direct access to online and on-system information, resources and help.

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Customers can begin placing orders for IBM’s new NetVista all-in-one and legacy-free computers, two devices designed to simplify the computing experience.

These two NetVista computers offer fewer cables and smaller sizes; new drives, keyboards, "Access IBM" buttons and networking and security features.

Beyond new form factors, the NetVista PCs enable users to transfer data between computers with the optional IBM Portable Drive Bay 2000. This allows users to reduce the number of hard drives or CD-RW drives they need by offering a single, swappable drive that works in both ThinkPad notebook computers and NetVista desktop computers.

Also, the embedded Security Chip, available on select models of the legacy-free NetVista S40, provides 256-bit encryption for secure network and Internet transactions.

The IBM NetVista X40 is expandable with two low-profile PCI slots and seven USB ports that enable connection to printers, modems and other plug and play devices. It also features wireless networking options for home and business, eliminating cables and wires.