Mainframe users are turning to Platform Solutions
Incorporated (PSI) as a supplier with a potentially cost-effective
alternative to IBM midrange mainframes - so much so, that IBM is
taking legal action against the server company.
PSI's claim to fame is Open Mainframe, a combination of server
hardware and software architecture that uses partitioning to
simultaneously run IBM's z/OS with Linux, Unix and Windows on
Itanium 2 servers.
Originally due for release in 2004, PSI's FlexES server should
finally become available early this year, after a long gestation
period and a few false starts. The company has demonstrated its
software on HP Integrity and Superdome Itanium 2-based servers and
is working with hardware suppliers to certify their Itanium 2
servers. In theory, a PSI-based system could offer users a
lower-cost alternative to the IBM mainframe.
PSI's heritage dates back to 1999 when it was founded by a core
team of former Amdahl engineers. The company also has close links
with Intel, which go back to 1995 when a team of Amdahl engineers
began collaborating with Intel on the system design of the first
64-bit IA-64 (Itanium) processor architecture.
PSI says its architecture is very similar to Amdahl's, Hitachi's
and IBM's mainframe implementations.
Christian Reilly, vice-president of product management and
marketing at PSI, said, "In the early days of Amdahl, the
technology called Fast Assist Mode was invented, which allowed z/OS
instructions [MVS at the time] to be implemented in firmware rather
than hardware. This allowed Amdahl to extend the life of its
hardware and keep machines compatible with new releases of the IBM
operating systems that included new features."
Reilly said Fam was the genesis of PSI's Just-in-Time
virtualisation technology. "PSI has taken the concept of
firmware-based instruction execution and combined it with
high-performance cacheing technology and the Itanium 2 Enterprise
Server architecture to form the basis of our mainframe
architecture. Of course, there is much more to a production-class
mainframe server," he said.
While the technology looks promising, there are concerns that
PSI will not be able to deliver on user demand for its servers.
In November 2006, IBM went to court alleging that PSI had
infringed the patents of its mainframe software - a move that
could discourage prospective users. IBM claims that PSI has
violated the terms of a customer agreement with itself, as well as
infringing five of IBM's patents.
PSI plans to sell systems that support z/OS this year, but IBM
claims the firm is only entitled to use z/OS and other IBM software
as an end-user rather than a supplier.
Mark Lillycrop, chief executive at mainframe analyst Arcati,
said, "The timing of this lawsuit is no coincidence, and I have no
idea whether IBM can make it stick. PSI's systems are reaching
general availability and the signs are that users are impressed.
They are sufficiently different from previous offerings in this
space to make customers sit up and take notice, and they provide a
new way of combining z/OS and Linux workloads on one Itanium
2-based system. Choice is always welcome."
Phil Payne, principal at mainframe analyst Isham Research, said
that PSI would have to license IBM's technology to produce the
servers, which would send the prices of its machines rocketing. He
also said legal documents showed that PSI did not currently have
the transferrable IBM software licences needed for it legally to
sell servers based on IBM's z/OS and other technology.
So far, PSI has taken no legal action against IBM, but the
company released a statement, saying, "While it is premature to
comment on the particulars of IBM's complaint, PSI is confident in
its legal position and that it will ultimately prevail in this
litigation. PSI is buoyed by the support it has received from its
customers and partners and looks forward to continuing to meet
their data processing requirements."
Lufthansa tests PSI engine
Lufthansa Systems, which provides IT services to the airline and
aviation industries, is a long-time IBM user, but it is trialling
the PSI platform after discovering it at the Share conference.
Lufthansa is running z/OS 1.6 on an IBM mainframe (alongside IMS
6, Cics 2.3 and DB2 7) and has archived its old z/OS 1.4-based
applications.
It is now running these archived applications on a PSI machine,
with storage peripherals connected via the Escon (Enterprise
Systems Connection) optical serial interface. In one test, it is
running z/OS 1.4 on one partition, with Symantec's Veritas
NetBackUp on another, and other Windows applications on a
third.
Ideally, the firm is looking to consolidate its Windows servers
on a single high-speed server to cut down on complexity. By doing
this, it also hopes to cut its server and management costs.
More information:
Linux drives mainframe revival
Itanium poses 64-bit question
PSI website
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