IBM, DataPower Cut to The Quick at Supercomm

IBM has fashioned new blade servers to accompany its BladeCenter T chassis,

a move to lure telecommunications vendors looking for more flexible and

sturdy computing devices.

Telecommunications businesses require more hardy computing gear because

hardware often has to operate undeterred in remote locations subject to

unpredictable weather patterns.

Servers for telcos generally have to be certified under the NEBS compliance

rule, a standard developed by the telco industry that qualifies equipment

under extreme environmental conditions and requires specific levels of

technological resiliency.

That is why IBM is going to offer BladeCenter JS20 blades — based on IBM

Power PC 970 processors — in the BladeCenter T chassis, according to Juhi Jotwani, director of BladeCenter alliances for IBM.

The JS20 blade is

designed according to the specifications dictated by both NEBS and the

European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

A slimmer version of the server

that runs AIX and Linux effectively, the JS20 blade will support 64- and

32-bit software packages for networks, high-performance clustering and

databases. Just as important, the blades will consume only half the power of

larger, cabinet-size servers.

“We’ve had requests from our telco customers and partners who are looking to

use AIX-based telco applications like resource management and higher

availability,” Jotwani said.

BladeCenter T chassis with blades Source: IBM

The JS20 blade will be available in July, starting at $2,259 for a blade with

two PowerPC 970 processors and 512 megabytes of memory. The product should

be another feather in IBM’s blade server cap, which has a chokehold on 39

percent of the market, according to IDC.

IBM also gave its Integrated Platform for Telecommunications (IPT) software

stack a boost.

IBM is now offering the software, which integrates Linux on BladeCenter T to fuel applications like Voice over IP , with high-availability middleware from Motorola, Fujitsu

Siemens and Clovis. Motorola is also developing a VoIP blade

for IBM’s BladeCenter.

IBM made the announcements at the Supercomm show in Chicago, where several

companies are on hand to tout their wares for telcos, a huge money-making

market for high-tech businesses.

In related news, XML security, integration and accelerator outfit DataPower unveiled a new networking blade geared toward speed up XML content in IBM’s BladeCenter T for telcos.

The new product should help service providers rout and secure XML

Web services messages, according to DataPower founder and CTO Eugene

Kuznetsov.

DataPower’s XML-driving chips support IBM’s various middleware products,

including WebSphere, Tivoli, and resources from Big Blue’s Autonomic

computing endeavors. Kuznetsov said DataPower’s hardware can support and

help deploy service-oriented architecture services in a

BladeCenter T chassis.

“Telcos are really waking up to the fact that having a Web services and

SOAP-based message network is an area where they could offer a really high

margin,” Kuznetsov said.

The XML networking blades for BladeCenter T are the newest members of

DataPower’s product family, which includes the XA35 XML accelerator, the

XS40 XML security gateway, the XI50 XML integration appliance and the XG4

XML chipset for OEMs.