IBM Comes Up with the Fastest Mainframe in the World


The zEnterprise EC12 has 3TB of system memory and also adds flash memory called Flash Express, with a maximum capacity of 6.4 TB, to improve system performance. The memory is easily configurable and protected with 128-bit encryption.

IBM says the new model could help corporate clients ranging from banks to chain stores to analyze clients’ buying habits and then use the information to create a more customized shopping experience. It comes with a tamper-resistant cryptographic co-processor to provide privacy for sensitive transactions.

``Whether its retail or whether its transportation, making reservations, whatever it is, the system has been built really to help clients do those new types of new-age transactions,'' said Doug Brown, an IBM vice president of marketing.

IBM says more than $1 billion was spent on research and development for the system at 18 sites worldwide, with most of it in Poughkeepsie, about 65 kilometers north of its headquarters in Armonk in Westchester County.