IBM refreshes mainframe line

Emphasis on security, encryption in new z9

July 27, 2005|Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Trying to stay atop the market for corporate computer servers, IBM renewed its lucrative line of mainframe computers yesterday with a system aimed at helping banks, government agencies and other big customers keep data secure.

IBM spent $1.2 billion over the past three years developing the mainframe, the z9, which is twice as powerful as Big Blue's current top model. The price starts around $1 million.

Like previous mainframes -- enormous, centralized computers that date to the early days of the digital era -- the z9 can encrypt data. But IBM contends the machines make encryption more of a priority by spreading that capability throughout the system instead of just in the central processor.

As a result, IBM executives said, banks and other customers that traffic in sensitive data will find it easier to encode backup tapes and other records that often are transmitted or stored in clear text. That flaw has been at the heart of some of the recent data breaches that garnered widespread attention.

''It really does attack the practical issues with an enterprise using encryption as their standard," said George Walsh, an IBM systems vice president who led development of the z9.

Research firm IDC estimates that at least 15,000 mainframe computers are in use around the world, and that IBM sells about 2,500 annually.

While rivals have long derided mainframes as dinosaurs that lock customers into expensive service bills, mainframes remain key to IBM's computing-systems business, which accounts for about 25 percent of the company's total revenue.