IBM's Systems Offerings, at a Glance

Server Line Power (System i and System p) System x BladeCenter System z Description Midrange servers/Unix servers Intel, AMD processor-based servers Intel, AMD, POWER6 and Cell BE based servers as well as Intel workstation clients Mainframe-class servers Target Deployment SMBs and large enterprise data centers/ Data centers of all sizes Scale up and scale out x86 users SMB, data centers, high-performance computing centers, and telecom and financial services firms Large and midsize enterprises running mission-critical applications Processor Type POWER5+, POWER6 Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron Opteron, Xeon, POWER6 and Cell BE z9 BC has 8 CPUs on an IBM Multichip Module (MCM)with 16 total chips Chips: 8 PU chips/MCM, 4 System Data (SD) cache chips/MCM, One Storage Control (SC) chip, two Memory Storage Control (MSC) chips and one Clock (CLK) chip - CMOS 8S Processor Range Power Blades: 2- to 4-way Power 520: 1- to 4-way Power 550: 2- to 8-way Power 570: 2- to 16-way Power 595: 8- to 64-way Rack-Optimized: 1 to 4-way Tower: 1 to 4-way High-Performance Scalable: 4 to 16-way Support for 2-way POWER and up to 4-way x86-based servers z10 scales from 1-64-way z9BC: 1-7 processors z9EC: 1-54-way Operating Systems i5/OS, AIX, Linux Windows, Linux, Unix, Solaris Windows, Linux, IBM i, AIX, Solaris z/OS, z/OS.e, Linux on IBM System z, z/VM, z/VSE, VSE/ESA, TPF, z/TPF Servers Power2: Power Blade Express Servers Power 520 Express Power 550 Express Power 570 Power 575 supercomputing node Power 595 System i Small to Medium: i515 Express i5 520 i5 520 Express i525 Express Medium to Large: i550 i595 System P Entry-Level: p5 505 Express p5 505Q Express p5 510 Express p5 510Q Express p5 520 Express p5 520Q Express p5 550 Express p5 550Q Express Midrange: p5 560Q Express High End p5 595 High Performance Computing: Commercial Blue Gene3 Rack-optimized: x3250 M2 x3350 x3450 x3455 x3550 x3550 Express Model x3650 x3650 T 3650 Express Model 3655 3655 Express Model Tower: x3200 M2 x3400 x3500 Enterprise: x3755 x3850 M2 x3850 Express Model x3950 M2 Internet Scale System x iDataPlex High-Performance Cluster: Cluster 1350 Cluster 1600 Intel-based HS12 HS21 HS21 extended memory Opteron-based LS21 LS22 LS41 LS42 Power Based: JS12 Express JS21 Express JS22 Express Cell-Based: QS22 QS21 z10 Enterprise Class z9 Business Class (z9BC) z9 Enterprise Class (z9EC)1 Price Range2 Power 520 Express - Starts at $5,576; Power 550 Express - Starts at $25,247; IBM System i models - Contact IBM; p5 505 Express - Starts at $3,717; p5 550 Express - Starts at $13,840; High-End: Contact IBM Rack Server: Starts at $1045 Tower: Starts at $989 (economy) High-Performance scalable: Contact IBM HS21: starts at $1,896 (economy) JS12: Starts at $4,228 JS21: Starts at $2,838 JS22: Starts at $5,779 LS21: Starts at $1,550 (economy) LS22: Starts at $2,109 QS22: Starts at $9,995 z9BC: starts at around $100,000 Others: Contact IBM 1 The System z line also includes the S/390 G5/G6 and S/390 Multiprise, which are no longer sold but are still supported. 2 Based on IBM's posted prices. 3 Commercial Blue Gene3 powered by PowerPC 450. Contact IBM for pricing. via [ serverwatch ]