IBM unveiled a number of major additions to its Flex System portfolio, combining the latest server technology with new virtualization, networking and management tools. IBM said its goal with the product launch is to help clients use smaller data center environments to quickly deploy, manage and secure increasingly larger clouds.
The key elements of today’s announcement include:
- Flex System x222 – A new double density design built on x86 architecture that allows support for up to 2,800 Windows 7 user images in a single chassis;
- Flex System p460 – Delivers POWER7+ performance for clients with larger workloads;
- Flex System p270 – A POWER7+ option that is designed for medium-sized businesses and delivers performance for technical computing and data analytics;
- Flex System p260 – A new entry-level POWER7+ node ideal for IBM i workloads;
- Flex System Manager – Provides management of more systems from a single point of control and the ability to do so from any location with iOS, Android or Blackberry devices; provides a new utilization fuel gauge to help clients monitor the status and availability of their infrastructure manage; and has been expanded with the ability to manage the System x HANA-optimized x3950;
- New switches and fabrics that help enable Software Defined Networks (SDN) and improve connectivity and performance by increasing infrastructure bandwidth up to 40Gb.
Additionally, IBM has upgraded the Flex System Manager so that clients can monitor and manage up to 5,000 infrastructure end points and do so from any location utilizing iOS, Android and Blackberry mobile devices.