P9 Pilot Series offers largest capacity copper-based CMOS technology, Open-Network Connectivity-2 (ONC/2), Enhanced Open Systems Connection Feature (OCF/E), Virtual Server Facility (VSF), and Dynamic Capacity Upgrade (DCU) to enhance connectivity and provide configuration flexibility.
P9/P8 Pilot family teams with Skyline Trinium to offer widest range of price/performance options for customers.
Global business alliance with Cisco Systems facilitates broad connectivity solutions.
May 17 1999 — Recognizing the challenge IT managers face in implementing enterprise-wide, business-enabling solutions, Hitachi Data Systems today announced the P9 Pilot Series™, a new generation of CMOS-based enterprise servers designed to enable customers to handle more than two billion Internet hits a day.
The new Pilot P9 performs at nearly 1,700 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) when configured with 13 instruction processors (IPs), making it the world's most powerful commercial enterprise server currently available. Additionally, the P8 Pilot Series can be fully upgraded to the P9 Series, with all new features available on the P9 to be extended to P8 as well.
"A critical requirement for conducting transactions over the Internet is the ability to handle large volumes of requests simultaneously," said Alan Cade, Vice President and General Manager, Hitachi Data Systems Enterprise Server Business Unit. "With the acceleration of the Internet and an increasing reliance on mainframe systems that support e-commerce initiatives, Hitachi Data Systems is committed to providing our customers with an effective business solution that meets critical e-business requirements such as capacity, scalability, security, and availability, clearly providing a superior choice over alternative products."
Offering a broad array of technology intended to deliver continuous business solutions, the P9 series will facilitate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), server consolidation, data mining, and mission-critical applications. The Pilot's balanced system design translates into improved service levels, nondisruptive test beds for e-commerce and Eurocurrency issues, and effective risk management. As an ideal platform for unpredictable transaction volumes, P9 can also handle mixed workloads and support 24X7X365 worldwide access.
Pilot P9 has the capability to handle more than 30,000 Internet hits per second, ensuring continuous e-business performance. Available in June 1999, the new P9 Pilot Series provides exceptional availability and features equivalent performance, on an engine by engine basis, to the recently announced IBM G6 CMOS systems, but with additional scalability. The introduction of the P9 Pilot Series will add 26 new models, including 13 high-end turbo models, to the P9/P8 family Also, Hitachi Data Systems intends to provide an upgrade path for the P9 series, enabling clients to upgrade to the next generation of Hitachi Data Systems® CMOS systems.
To augment the launch of the P9 Pilot Series, Hitachi Data Systems will offer a suite of professional services designed to complement the P9 in the areas of e-commerce, enterprise and server consolidation, infrastructure and performance management, and availability management. Hitachi Data Systems Professional Services will allow clients to take advantage of leading middleware technologies such as Java®, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA®), purchased components software, and Object Transaction Monitors (OTM). The service offerings of the e-commerce group include diagnostics, design, implementation, and mentoring services that walk customers through new technologies using real world applications.
"E-commerce means a lot more than just selling over the Web. It means expanding markets, increasing efficiency, and retaining customers," said Cliff Stratton, Executive Vice President, Operations, for Hitachi Data Systems. "If you're going to succeed in e-commerce, you have to be open for business all the time. You've got to provide 24-hour access, 365 days a year to your site — for customers placing orders, tele-marketers tracking inventory levels, and executing credit card transactions in real time. 'Reboot and see if that works' is not an option. With the launch of the Pilot P9, Hitachi Data Systems delivers the platform and solutions that customers need to make successful e-commerce a reality."
The P9 Pilot Series will also incorporate a Virtual Server Facility (VSF™), previously announced on the Hitachi Data Systems Skyline Trinium™. VSF is designed to aid customers in software asset management through its capability of setting hard boundaries within the processor and assigning unique serial numbers and model identifiers. Utilizing IP Isolation Technology, VSF allows the definition of up to 13 discrete Virtual Servers within a single Pilot footprint. This enables Hitachi Data Systems to configure each virtual server specifically for the number of nodes being used for a particular software application, thereby allowing customers improved asset management for ISV offerings.
Physical Instruction Processors can be reassigned by Hitachi Data Systems among virtual servers to increase or reduce server capacity. As noted in the Skyline Trinium announcement (February 22, 1999), VSF will be enhanced in the future to allow Hitachi Data Systems to perform local and remote dynamic server upgrades or downgrades. Currently, Computer Associates, BMC Software, Candle Corporation, and ISM have all announced support for VSF, with more industry-leading ISV endorsements expected.
As part of its goal to extend flexibility to customers faced with unpredictable workloads, Hitachi Data Systems will also offer a Dynamic Capacity Upgrade (DCU) feature on a wide range of P9 models. Designed to meet the needs of today's complex business challenges, DCU will enable customers to activate pre-configured standby IPs to address unexpected capacity requirements mandated by such power-hungry applications such as e-commerce.
DCU can be configured to allow customers to upgrade their Pilot servers from a uniprocessor to a 13-way server, all without interrupting their normal operating environment. In addition, Hitachi Data Systems announced its intention to provide an optional feature, Remote Dynamic Capacity Upgrade (DCU/R), which will allow for both remote and local IP activation of reserved capacity by Hitachi Data Systems.
Web-IO Accelerator, a unique integrated Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) presently being engineered by Hitachi Data Systems to provide reduced system response time in the workplace, is intended for delivery on both P9 and P8 systems. Currently under development, this enhanced feature will be the first implementation of a native ANSI Fibre Channel connection at a 100MB per second transfer rate in the S/390®-compatible world. The feature will utilize processor storage as first level cache to provide ultra-fast DASD Input/Output (I/O) for high performance applications. It will also enable e-commerce environments to accommodate high I/O rates and sustain a greater number of Internet hits per second, making the Hitachi Data Systems Pilot Series the preferred choice for Web hosting.
To address the increasing demand for network connectivity, Hitachi Data Systems will offer both ONC/2 and OCF/E on the Pilot P9, P8, and Skyline Trinium. The Pilot P9 features the second generation of Open Network Connectivity (ONC/2), a unique solution designed with Cisco Systems to bridge the gap between the data center and network systems environments. ONC/2 provides Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and voice and data integration capabilities. Offering multi-protocol support and multiple host/LPAR connectivity, ONC/2 will allow all resources in a campus environment to easily access host data. ONC/2 supports existing host parallel channel interfaces or channel interfaces compatible with ESCON™. It also provides connectivity to a wide range of LAN/WAN interfaces such as Token Ring, Ethernet, Fibre Distributed Data Interchange (FDDI), and Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM).
Hitachi Data Systems will use its core competencies in mainframe channel connectivity, Systems Network Architecture (SNA), and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking to enhance mainframe connectivity services. Some of the benefits that enterprises can expect from the combination of each company's expertise include network management, architecture flexibility, state-of-the-art network technology, optimized network operation, and improved large system service levels.
In addition, Hitachi Data Systems will offer an Enhanced Open Systems Connection Feature (OCF/E) as an option on Pilot P9 models, providing an alternative to enterprises requiring local area connectivity. OCF/E provides TCP/IP connection to Ethernet and FDDI LANs. OCF/E will also provide Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. Contrasted with ONC/2, OCF/E connects LANs directly to the Pilot Input-Output Processors (IOP) via adapter cards which plug directly into IOP.
Security and reliability are key concerns when doing millions of dollars in worldwide transactions over the Internet. Pilot addresses key e-business concerns such as transaction, system, and network level security. By taking advantage of logical partitions, customers can place Web servers on one Logical Partition (LPAR) or Virtual Server and applications and data on another, connecting both using TCP/IP and SNA protocols to provide an additional layer of segregation and security. The ability to set up this configuration will fortify the enterprise computing environment against viruses and hackers. Moreover, customers have the option of using multiple IP addresses to isolate different elements of a network and provide access to a wide variety of transactions.
P9 and P8 will offer integrated encryption co-processor capabilities compatible with IBM 9672. In addition, the proven security mechanisms of IBM's OS/390® will provide an increased level of security to companies engaged in e-business, ensuring a virtually bullet-proof network environment.
Equipped with 13 IPs offering nearly 1,700 MIPS of processing power, the Pilot P9 allows customers to reduce the number of high-end mainframes or a forest of smaller data or application servers, thereby reducing complexity and the overall systems management process. Companies are struggling with the task of operating, managing, and upgrading many small servers. Minimizing the number of servers by consolidating data or porting applications onto the P9 will greatly simplify their system management responsibilities, while still taking advantage of the latest technology offerings.
By consolidating servers onto a Pilot P9, businesses will eliminate data duplication, reduce maintenance costs, improve availability, scalability, and operating cost efficiencies. Furthermore, Hitachi Data Systems intends to provide Fibre connection Serial Channel (FSCH), a capability which is compatible with IBM's FICON™on the Pilot P9 and P8. The Pilot P9/P8 family will optionally support combinations of channel types up to a maximum of 512 total channels, providing users the broadest choice of channel connectivity.
Also available on the P9 Pilot Series is PC File Server, which enables Windows NT, OS/2, and UNIX®-based applications to perform seamless access to data files stored on an OS/390 file system, thereby allowing the consolidation of server and desktop-based data stores. Unlike other mainframe-based file server implementations, PC File Server requires no additional server or desktop software and no intermediate gateway servers.
With its superior availability, scalability, and intense processing power, the P9 enables customers to handle enormous and more complex ERP applications for larger user groups, exploiting advanced functions to their fullest. The P9 can be a dedicated ERP platform, and facilitates Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), supply-chain management, logistics management, cost center accounting, capacity planning, and other vital ERP functions.
Pilot P9 is fully compatible with Parallel Sysplex environments, and includes features such as an Integrated Coupling Facility (IntCF), high-speed Integrated System Bus (ISB) and Internal Coupling (IC) channels, allowing communication with a Parallel Sysplex coupling facility at much higher data rates. This translates into the ability to perform more work requiring coupling facility control functions, and to remove data-sharing bottlenecks. When linked together in a cluster formation, the Pilot P9 Series will deliver increased scale and capacity. By leveraging the power of the Pilot P9 in a Parallel Sysplex environment, customers will be able to achieve substantially higher levels of capacity, scale, and availability. P9 features capacity for growing workloads, choices for performance and capacity, application segmentation, and additional software asset management.
Recognized as a leading provider of business solutions for the world's most IT-intensive corporations, Hitachi Data Systems offers a global professional services division, multiplatform storage subsystems, and the industry's broadest line of high-performance servers. The company's extensive range of products and services, coupled with its business alliances with key industry leaders, enable it to translate technology into enterprise-wide solutions for high-end and middle-market customers. Hitachi Data Systems is owned by Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) and has its headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
Contacts: PR
Mark Lewis , Hitachi Data Systems Corp. (408) 970-4356
Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. Skyline Trinium, VSF, and Pilot Series are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. S/390, OS/390, OS/2, ESCON, and Parallel Sysplex are registered trademarks and FICON is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems. CORBA is a trademark or registered trademark of Object Management Group, Inc. in the US and other countries. PerfMan is a registered trademark of The Information Systems Manager, Inc. All other brand or product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.
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