IBM extends mainframes to mid-sized firms with zEnterprise 114

IBM has announced the zEnterprise 114, a 'midframe' system aimed at small and mid-sized firms in areas such as finance and healthcare, as well as emerging markets such as government organisations in developing countries.

The 114 is based on the larger zEnterprise 196 mainframe, and is being sold for  $75,000 in a bid to attract customers to IBM's mainframe platform while they are still investing in early infrastructure.

"[These customers] are excited about the zEnterprise 114 because their organisations tend to be flatter so the decision making is at a lower level," John Birtles, IBM director of System z products, told V3.co.uk.

"They can get past some of the organisational constraints that would keep them from moving the workload."

Providing a lower-cost system allows IBM to bring customers into the zEnterprise platform sooner and offer a granular approach to accommodate firms as they grow.

IBM is also looking to expand the support and management options of the System z line, and will add an extension to the platform to allow System x servers to run on System z servers.

The extension will support only System x servers running Linux initially, but support for Windows systems is planned for later in the year.

Birtles explained that the introductions are about continuing the growth of the System z platforms.

"We have tremendous momentum. We have had double digit growth in revenue since the introduction of the Z-class family," he said.

"This introduction really rides on that momentum. It brings those things and that value to smaller customers."