I have seen, first-hand, the eruption of a volcano. I watched on television as Americans were freed from captivity and as Berliners took down their wall. I have viewed images from the outer reaches of space in awe and wonder. And today, I witnessed two grown men roll themselves around on a stage covered with one hundred live, snapping mouse traps. And that was pretty cool too.

The opening of the IBM Impact 2008 Smart SOA Conference in Las Vegas on April 7 was well-suited to its host city. First, the UNLV marching band – full uniforms, flags held high – entered the MGM arena space playing “Tusk.” (Which is, by the way, the only GCG-approved Fleetwood Mac tune.) Next up, the CIO of Harley-Davidson rode in on a – what else? – Harley. And really, no kickoff could be complete without Cirque De Soleil acrobats dangling and spinning from what appeared to be floor-to-ceiling fabric swags, accompanied by the music of a live string quartet. Damn, but those folks could climb some drapes!

IBM publicly unveiled its new System z10 Enterprise Class hardware today as the cornerstone of its New Enterprise Data Center – IBM’s new model for virtualized, business-driven, and service-oriented IT delivery.

The five System z models range from 12 – 64 4.4GHz processors, which provide 62% more performance than the largest z9 processors. The 64-way z10 is said to offer 70% more server capacity than the largest z9 and 50% more performance in n-way configuration comparisons. Customers looking to upgrade from z9 are being offered attractive leasing packages, non-disruptive migrations, and project financing that allows the payment stream to follow the benefit stream.

 Customers looking to consolidate x86 boxes will find compelling data as well: the company states that literally thousands of x86 servers can be consolidated onto single z10 mainframe systems, with comensurate cost savings in software license costs, power/cooling/floorspace requirements, and personnel costs. Much of this will depend on just how well the new quad-core z10 processor runs Linux code - this has been a bit of an issue with previous z systems - the processors simply didn't perform all that well with Linux. However, IBM is making assurances that the new mainframe brain is much better on Linux and will, presumably, prove it sometime in the near future. We'll be waiting with baited breath...

More information on z10’s impact on the data center can be found in IBM’s press release: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23592.wss

First Runner-up:

“Sun customers are those who see IT as a competitive weapon.” A concise insight into the company’s posture and executive-level thinking; Mr. Schwartz was referring to three core markets:

·         HPC: Not just TACC and other supercomputing centers, but FedEx, ExxonMobil, and other enterprises into which HPC is moving

·         Enterprise Infrastructure: GE, GM, AmEx, and the companies like ebay and salesforce.com who provide infrastructure to them

·         Web buildout: facebook and Linked in, of course, but also those who use them to build networks, such as Bank of America and Virgin

Grand Prize:

“We have removed ourselves from the ranks of GSA vendors, as have many of our peers, and are focusing on serving our customers.” This – and the long, uncomfortable silences that preceded it and followed it – were in response to the question, “What happened with the GSA contracts?” This last question of the last Q & A on the last day of the event was deemed so unpleasant that the moderator allowed an additional, last last question so as not to end on such an unseemly note. Who was that rude guy, anyway? Surely not someone from GCG – um, maybe…