Unisys Corporation has launched its newest modular mainframe series, the ClearPath Plus Libra 500, built on a foundation of industry firsts. Among these innovations, the series offers a pay-for-use business model based on new metering technology and access to open source J2EE, giving customers greater flexibility and visibility into their data centers.
“The new Unisys pay-per-use metering technology will allow us to harness the power of the mainframe more effectively and with a savings of close to 30 percent,” said René Groot, information technology (IT) director at Hooge Huys, the insurance company within SNS Reaal Group in the Netherlands. “For the first time, we will be able to base system capacity on our usage patterns and pay for what we are actually using. We finally will have a way to manage costs without sacrificing service.”
Industry-Leading Pay-For-Use Business Model
The new ClearPath series includes Utilization Sentinel, a new addition to the Unisys Sentinel management series of products and services, that provides measurement, management and reporting capabilities that support a pay-for-use business model. Utilization Sentinel enables customers to elect to instantly access extra system resources, measure their overall usage very precisely and pay for these extra resources in small increments only as consumed. By the end of 2004, the pay-for-use business model will be available on all ClearPath products.
“Unisys mainframes are crucial to our largest and most critical business segments – including our rapidly growing Internet banking business,” said Theo Speijers, IT director at SNS Bank, part of SNS Reaal Group. “The flexibility and manageability offered by the new Unisys pay-per-use metering technology will allow us to access up to three times more capacity than we previously could from a mainframe. It will also more closely align IT costs with the success of our business as, for the first time, we will be able to base system capacity on our usage patterns and pay for what we are actually using. With this new capability, we will be able to confidently provide the service our customers demand while managing costs more efficiently than ever.”
Mainframe Flexibility Through Open Source J2EE
The ClearPath Plus servers provide a more secure environment in which to run Web applications, such as those written for J2EE. Starting later this year, the new ClearPath Plus 500 Series will provide full J2EE capability for Unisys MCP operating environments as part of a major multiyear initiative. Mainframe J2EE is provided by JBoss, with Unisys providing support worldwide.
The mainframe series combines J2EE and enhancements to Unisys rapid application development tool, Enterprise Application Environment (EAE). This combination allows developers to choose J2EE, .NET or COBOL as their developing environments, allowing businesses to take advantage of readily available programming skills and applications.
Building Block Infrastructure
For the first time, customers can mix and match server modules in the same system cabinet, choosing from a range of operating environments and processor types depending on their business model. Options include server modules running Unisys mainframe MCP operating system on either mainframe processors or Intel Xeon processors; or server modules running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions on Intel’s Xeon processors or Itanium 2 processors.
Modules can be added and removed as appropriate. Therefore, a customer’s initial hardware investment is sustainable and its incremental investment can be smaller than paying for an entire replacement server.
The Next Generation of Modular ClearPath Servers
The three new ClearPath Plus Libra server lines include:
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Libra Model 590: features Utilization Sentinel, the new pay-for-use metering technology.
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Libra Model 580: provides a 10 percent price/performance improvement over previous model.
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Libra Model 520: approximately doubles scalability, compared to previous models, with newest Intel Gallatin technology.
Models in the new ClearPath Plus Libra 500 series are available immediately and range in price from $300,000 to more than $18 million.
“The Unisys vision for our ClearPath product line has always been to synthesize the traditional mainframe world with the modern world of business agility,” said Chander Khanna, vice president platform marketing, Unisys. “The ClearPath Libra 500 Series is a bold step in this effort toward having a technology environment respond to changing conditions by adjusting resource requirements as needed, while providing measurable business results.”
The Libra 500 Series can be a key element in delivering Unisys 3D Visible Enterprise (3D-VE). The 3D-VE initiative aligns a client’s business processes with its information technology infrastructure. It provides visibility into cause and effect relationships before process or technology changes are made, enabling companies to determine the result of business decisions before they are made. The Libra 500 Series will provide organizations with the flexibility and security they need to ensure that their IT infrastructures stay aligned with their business objectives.
