Making Linux POCs successful

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Making LinuxPOCs successful

• Andy Greco
• Mainline Information Systems
• andy.greco_at_mainline.com

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CONTENTS

• Why Mainline?
• Why linux on z Series?
• Steps for a successful POC
• What apps make sense?
• POC organizational issues
• Next steps after successful POC

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About Mainline

• Founded in 1989 20 year partnership with IBM
• Specializing in System z, System p, System i,
  System x, System Storage, Software Networking,
  Retail and Services
• Has grown to become an IBM Premier Business
  Partner and global provider of information
  technology and infrastructure solutions with more
  than 600 employees nationwide
• Offices are located in Tallahassee, Los Angeles,
  Chicago, Jersey City, Nashville Sao Paulo, and
  Monterrey

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Revenue Growth
millions
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
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Product Mix
Software
System z
Maintenance
Services
System l
System x
System p
Storage
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2007 Performance Highlights

• Top IBM SP1 Solution Provider (buy direct from
  IBM)
• 1 IBM System z SP1
• 1 IBM System Storage SP1
• 1 IBM System p SP1
• 1 IBM System i SP1
• 1 IBM System x SP1
• 1 IBM Software SP1
• 1 IBM IGS SP1
• 1 IBM IGF SP1

Mainline has set the standard for business
excellence by delivering unique solutions as well
as high customer satisfaction. Ravi Marwaha,
general manager, IBM Global Business Partners
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Local Teams, National Coverage

• 2008 CENTRAL Objectives
• Revenue 169.5 M

Central West
Central East
Northeast
West Region

• 2008 WEST Objectives
• Revenue 171.5M

Mid-Atlantic
Southeast

• 2008 EAST Objectives
• Revenue 472 M

• 2008 MIS Objectives
• Revenue 813 M

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Why linux on z series?

• Leverage classic strengths of the zSeries
• High availability
• High i/o bandwidth capabilities
• Flexibility to run disparate workloads
  concurrently
• Requirement for excellent disaster recovery
  capabilities
• Security
• Shortening end to end path length for
  applications
• Collocation of applications
• Consolidation of applications from distributed
  servers
• Reduction in network traffic
• Simplification of support model

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IBM System z Workload Growth Worldwide
MIPS Shipped
New Workload ?
Source IBM Market Research
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What System z brings to Linux
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TCO Impact of Mainframe Consolidations

• Potential for dramatic reductions in software
  expense for processor based licenses
• Significant reductions in power and cooling costs
  are typical
• Cost curve is not linear when will
  infrastructure break?
• Reductions in Floor Space
• People savings from virtualization
• Increased processor utilization

Web Trading Application Costs WebLogic/Oracle 3Yea
r TCO
4.9x
3-Year IT Expense (M)
2.3x
Source Capricorn whitepaper
Workload consolidation using Linux on a mainframe
can result in significant TCO savings
Competitive UNIX
Linux on Intel
Linux on System z9 and zSeries
Source Scorpion Study 1999 - 2005
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Bank consolidates 45 Oracle x86 Servers to one
System z !
72 reduction in SW maintenance costs 95
reduction in connectivity costs 75 reduction in
power/cooling costs 60 reduction in System Admin
costs
Note Upgrade required for mainframe Dell and
HP were existing HW
details on next slide
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What is the greatest facility problem with your
primary data center?
Power and cooling will be a top 3 issue with all
CIOs in the next 6-12 months Michael Bell
Gartner Group Power and cooling costs will
increase to more than one-third of the totalIT
budget Robert Frances Group, January 2006
Gartner 2006
IDC 2006
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Business Case for Linux on System z

• Increased solutions through Linux application
  portfolio
• Large number of highly skilled programmers
  familiar with Linux
• Integrated business solutions
• Data richness from System z
• Wide range of Linux applications
• Industrial strength environment
• Flexibility and openness of Linux
• Qualities of service of System z
• Unique ability to easily consolidate large
  number of servers

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Steps in a successful POC

• Pick appropriate application, appropriately sized
  for a POC
• Build POC organization / team
• Detail project plan with success criteria
• Execute the plan
• Present results to customer management
• Define next steps

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What makes best fit?

• Leverage classic strengths of the System z
• High availability
• High i/o bandwidth capabilities
• Flexibility to run disparate workloads
  concurrently
• Requirement for excellent disaster recovery
  capabilities
• Security
• Shortening end to end path length for
  applications
• Collocation of applications
• Consolidation of applications from distributed
  servers
• Reduction in network traffic
• Simplification of support model
• Consolidation Effect
• Power requirements
• Software costs
• People Costs
• Real Estate
• Workloads requiring EXTREME Flexibility

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Best Fit applications
Websphere MQ Series DB2 Connect CICS
Transaction Gateway , IMS Connect for Java
SAPWebSphere and JAVA applications
developmentWebSphere Application Server (WAS),
PortalDominoNetwork Infrastructure, FTP, NFS,
DNS etc.., Oracle DatabaseApplications
requiring top end disaster recovery
modelComServer and Communications Controller for
LinuxVirtualization and Security Services
InfoSphere/CognosCommunigate Pro
(VoIP)Weblogic
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What Makes Good Fit Applications

• Evaluate server choices
• Correct application availability,
• Supporting applications,
• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Politics within the organization.
• Porting issues
• Shortening end to end path length for
  applications
• Collocation of applications
• Consolidation of applications from distributed
  servers
• Reduction in network traffic
• Simplification of support model

• Consolidation Effect
• Power requirements
• Software costs
• People Costs
• Real Estate
• Workloads requiring EXTREME flexibility

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Good Fit Application Workloads

• UDB (DB2)
• Informix, (IDS)
• Apache web serving
• SAMBA
• TIM/TAM (LDAP Services)
• TSM
• Existing Linux Workloads

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Selecting an application

• Performance on System z CPUs is superior to any
  other CPUs on any other platforms
• CPU speed is not the entire story its in the
  architecture!
• Architecture designed for multiple or
  consolidated workloads
• System z has definite advantage with applications
  that have mixed CPU and I/O
• System z10 Enterprise Quad Core 4.4 GHZ
• System z and z/VM provide the best virtualization
  capabilities
• All workload types are eligible
• Good planning is essential
• Mainline with IBMs assistance can
• Perform sizing estimate with actual server
  statistics
• Perform Application Assessment
• Perform TCO Business Case Analysis (Alinean
  tool,RACEv)
• Assist with planning and initial installation
  needs

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Organizational issues that need to be addressed

• Need executive sponsor
• Customer must provide systems, application and
  network representation
• Customer must have dedicated resource for the POC
• Get distributed team engaged
• Customer assigned tasks and accountability
• Status calls required on a weekly basis measuring
  progress

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Detailed project plan

• Project plan clearly defined and agreed upon by
  all parties involved (examples are available upon
  request)
• CLEARLY defined success criteria must be agreed
  upon (examples available upon request)
• Dates and names assigned to each task
• Loaner equipment (if required) needs lead time
  for paperwork to be processed and equipment
  installed
• Determine loaner software (if needed) with
  required lead time
• Weekly status calls required for measure of
  progress
• Engage technical resources (MIS and IBM) when
  issues arise

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Whats next after success?

• Present success story to customer management
• Get management commitment for production
• Plan for production
• Develop support organization structure within
  customer
• Plan for additional applications
• Develop a cross platform virtualization strategy