IBM Corporation is unveiling a new mainframe computer Tuesday that it says has 50 percent better performance and dramatically lower energy use than its predecessor. The new System z10, with a starting price of about $1 million, comes as IBM focuses on lowering the cost of running its industry-leading mainframes. IBM said it designed the new machine to help companies and government agencies that rely on mainframes-usually for critical data processing such as bank transactions or census statistics-save money on energy bills and better handle a flood of internet information. The company spent five years and $1.5 billion developing the new mainframe, underscoring its commitment to the long-term viability of the machine and efforts to continue adapting the decades-old product to the internet age. For several years, information-technology (IT) experts predicted the demise of the mainframe-big and expensive machines that face competition from smaller and cheaper servers. But IBM says mainframe revenue is growing, rising in 5 of the last 7 quarters, due to interest from emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, and Russia. The z10's capacity is equivalent to 1,500 servers based on the popular x86 design, IBM says, though it has 85 percent lower energy costs and takes up 85 percent less space than the 1,500 x86 servers. The z10 also has more processing power, using 64 processors compared to the 54 processors used in its predecessor, the z9.
