IBM zSeries Sales Signal a Mainframe Revival

IBM Corp. has sold its 1,000th zSeries mainframe computer in what one analyst calls “a year of resurgence” for the refrigerator-size machines known for their reliability, the company said today.

Some companies are cutting costs by eliminating “farms” of smaller server computers that run Web sites and network printers. Instead, they are installing one mainframe and partitioning it into scores or even hundreds of “virtual” servers running the Linux operating system, said David Mastrobattista, an analyst at Giga Information Group, a computer industry research firm.

Sales growth of servers running the Unix operating system has been sluggish as the economy slows. Meanwhile, IBM, the largest computer maker, says sales of its mainframes have grown at least 10% for the last three quarters compared with the same period a year earlier. The company introduced the zSeries 900 mainframe last December.

“People had been moving more to the Unix camp; 2001 has been a year of resurgence for the mainframe,” Mastrobattista said.

Mainframes, the most powerful servers after supercomputers, are considered more reliable than the smaller servers because they integrate hardware with operating system software closely.

Unix servers, particularly from the market leader, Sun Microsystems Inc., have been preferred generally for running corporate Web sites. Armonk-based IBM wants to change that. The company’s 1,000th zSeries unit is expected to be shipped today to Boscov’s Inc., which operates 34 department stores in the mid-Atlantic states, IBM said.

IBM’s mainframes typically cost more than $1 million, with the price rising as customers add features. Unix-based Web servers start at several thousand dollars and cost as much as several hundred thousand dollars. Consolidating server farms reduces the cost of personnel to manage the servers, the floor space to house the devices and the power needed to run them and associated air-conditioning, Mastrobattista said.

While many customers use mainframes for processing various types of transactions, some have been attracted by the inexpensive Linux operating system and the ability of operators to partition the machines, Mastrobattista said.

More than 100 zSeries customers bought the mainframe with Linux, and others may have incorporated the software on their own, IBM said.

IBM shares fell $2.90 to close at $90.50 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.