IBM Announces PowerLinux and PowerLinux Solution Edition for SAP Applications

Seems I’m suddenly hearing a lot about SAP solutions. Our May Power Systems issue, which hits desks in about a week, covers today’s big PowerLinux announcement. Jon and Susan wrote a recent blog about SAP on IBM i that garnered a lot of comments and interest. We’re working on an article about SAP and cloud for the July Power Systems issue. There’s even an IBM and SAP website. Today, IBM is also announcing the IBM PowerLinux Solution Edition for SAP Applications product. It’s SAP everywhere.

IBM PowerLinux Solution Edition for SAP Applications
is an affordable single-system SAP environment for midsize businesses, supporting up to 500 SAP users. The solution leverages preintegrated, Linux optimized, enterprise proven hardware and software at competitive pricing compared to traditional Linux x86 offering. 

IBM PowerLinux solutions leverage industry standard Linux, optimized for POWER7 with IBM PowerVM technology to deliver infrastructure services and industry application solutions in a virtualized, secure and resilient environment. As we’ve been hearing about this new PowerLinux announcement, solution pricing is competitive to x86 comparable solutions while leveraging the advantages of the POWER architecture, resulting in IT efficiencies and lower cost per workload. You can read more about that in the soon-to-be-released May issue of IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems edition in an article titled, “Exchanging ‘Good Enough’ for Superior.” This solution runs on a two-socket 2U rack server that can be installed in a standard rack, so it can be deployed with other Power or x86 rack servers.

The IBM PowerLinux Solution Edition for SAP Applications:

• Delivers SAP ERP services faster and more reliably with a robust, enterprise-proven platform
• Is ideal for midsize companies looking for IT solutions that deliver higher quality and yet are still affordable for their IT budgets
• Simplifies deployment and server management with a single server solution
• Maximizes server throughput with advanced virtualization capabilities
• Reduces licensing and operational costs with fewer servers
• Is competitively priced to comparable x86 offerings

Midmarket customers face several IT challenges that this new product can help them solve, including Microsoft software support and upgrade costs, facilities and management costs, closed architecture and vendor lock-in, lengthy processes to acquire and implement applications and single-purpose servers, security, downtime, and inefficient infrastructure and server sprawl.

So how does this solution fit into the IBM SAP Alliance plays around cloud, mobility, ERP upgrades or analytics? Thought you’d never ask. The IBM PowerLinux Solution Edition for SAP Applications can be used to consolidate SAP systems running on single-purpose x86 servers, so it can be considered an ERP upgrade or become part of a cloud environment.

You can read more about the PowerLinux announcement or visit the new PowerLinux website.