In a smarter planet, information-centric processes are exploding in growth. The mainframe has always been the IT industry's leading platform for transaction processing, consolidated and secure data serving, and support for available enterprise-wide applications. IBM® has extended the mainframe platform to help large enterprises reshape their client experiences through information-centric computing and to deliver on key business initiatives.

IBM zEnterprise® is recognized as the most reliable and trusted system, and the most secure environment for core business operations. The new zEnterprise System consists of the IBM zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12) or IBM zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12), the IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager, and the IBM zEnterprise IBM BladeCenter® Extension (zBX) Model 003.

This IBM Redbooks® publication describes the zEC12 and zBC12, with their improved scalability, performance, security, resiliency, availability, and virtualization. The zEnterprise System has no peer as a trusted platform that also provides the most efficient transaction processing and database management. With efficiency at scale delivering significant cost savings on core processes, resources can be freed up to focus on developing new services to drive growth.

This book provides a technical overview of the zEC12, zBC12, zBX Model 003, and Unified Resource Manager. This publication is intended for IT managers, architects, consultants, and anyone else who wants to understand the elements of the zEnterprise System. For this introduction to the zEnterprise System, readers are not expected to be familiar with current IBM System z® technology and terminology.

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization (ITSO), Poughkeepsie Center.

Ivan Doboš is an IBM Certified Consulting IT Specialist working as a mainframe consultant at STG Lab Services Central & Eastern Europe. He has 15 years of experience with IBM System z. He joined IBM in 2003 and worked in different sales and technical roles supporting mainframe clients, as Technical Leader for Linux on System z projects in the System z Benchmark Center, IT Optimization Consultant in the System z New Technology Center, and Mainframe Technical Sales Manager in Central & Eastern Europe. During the past ten years, he has worked with many clients and spent most of his time supporting new workloads on System z projects. Ivan has authored several Redbooks publications and Redpaper publications.

Huabin Chu is an Advisory I/T Specialist in China. He has seven years of experience with IBM Global Technology Services® and in supporting clients of large System z products. His areas of expertise include IBM z/OS®, IBM Parallel Sysplex, System z high availability solutions, and IBM GDPS®.

Luiz Fadel is an IBM Distinguished Engineer responsible for supporting System z for the Latin America region, part of the Growth Markets Unit. He joined IBM in 1969 and has supported Large Systems ever since, including working on two assignments with the International Technical Support Organization (ITSO). Luiz is a member of the Latin America Advanced Technical Support team, which is responsible for handling Client Critical Situation and client claims within System z, Early Support Programs, new product installations, internal product announcements, and second level client support, as well as managing complex Proof of Concepts (POC). He is a member of the zChampions team and the co-author of several IBM Redbooks publications.

Wolfgang Fries is a Senior Consultant in the System z HW Support Center in Germany. He spent several years at the European Support Center in Montpellier, France, providing international support for System z servers. Wolfgang has more than 35 years of experience in supporting large System z customers. His areas of expertise include System z servers and connectivity. Wolfgang has co-authored a number of IBM Redbooks publications.

Octavian Lascu is a Senior IT Consultant for IBM Romania with over 20 years of experience. He is specialized in designing and supporting complex IT infrastructure environments (Systems, Storage, Networking), including High Availability and Disaster Recovery solutions and High performance Computing deployments. He has developed and taught over 50 workshops for technical audiences around the world. He has authored several Redbooks publications and Redpaper publications.

Fernando Nogal is an IBM Certified Consulting IT Specialist working as an STG Technical Consultant for the Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel IMT. He specializes in advanced infrastructures and architectures. In his 30+ years with IBM, he has held a variety of technical positions, mainly providing support for mainframe clients. Previously, he was on assignment to the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) System z Technical Support group, working full-time on complex solutions for e-business. His job included, and still does, presenting and consulting in architectures and infrastructures, and providing strategic guidance to System z clients regarding the establishment and enablement of advanced technologies on System z, including the z/OS, IBM z/VM, and Linux environments. He is a zChampion and a member of the System z Business Leaders Council. An accomplished writer, he has authored and co-authored over 30 IBM Redbooks publications and several technical papers.

Frank Packheiser is a Senior z IT Specialist at the Field Technical Sales Support office in Germany. He has 20 years of experience in zEnterprise, System z, IBM zSeries®, and predecessor mainframe servers. He has worked for 10 years for the IBM education center in Germany, developing and providing professional training. He also provides professional services to System z and mainframe clients. In 2008 and 2009, he supported clients in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) as a zIT Architect. Besides co-authoring several Redbooks publications since 1999, he has been an ITSO guest speaker on ITSO workshops for the last two years.

Ewerson Palacio is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and a Certified Consulting IT Specialist for Large Systems in Brazil. He has more than 40 years of experience in IBM Large Systems. Ewerson holds a Computer Science degree from Sao Paulo University. His areas of expertise include System z Servers Technical and Client Support, Mainframe architecture, infrastructure implementation and design. He is an International Technical Support Organization (ITSO) System z Hardware official speaker and has presented technical ITSO seminars, workshops, and private sessions to IBM clients, IBM IT Architects, IT Specialists, and Business Partners around the globe. He has also been a System z Hardware Top Gun training designer, developer, and instructor for the last generations of the IBM high-end servers. Ewerson leads the Mainframe Specialty Services Area (MF-SSA), part of GTS - Delivery, Technology, and Engineering (GTS - DT&E) and he is an IBM Academy of Technology Member.

Martijn Raave is a certified System z Client Technical Specialist for the IBM Systems and Technology Group (STG) in the Netherlands. Over a period of 15 years, his professional career has revolved around the mainframe platform. Before joining IBM through a strategic outsourcing deal in 2005, he worked for a large Dutch customer as a systems programmer with expertise in the areas of z/OS, (Globally Dispersed) Parallel Sysplex and hardware. Four years ago, he decided to explore the other aspects of the mainframe ecosystem within IBM and joined STG in his current role. As a Client Technical Specialist, he supports several Dutch System z customers, IBM Business Partners, and IBM Sales Representatives on technical topics and in sales engagements. He is also a board member of Guide Share Europe (GSE) Netherlands.

Vicente Ranieri Jr. is an Executive IT Specialist and the Lead Architect at the High End Design Center in Latin America. He has more than 30 years of experience working for IBM. Ranieri used to be a member of the Advanced Technical Skills (ATS) team in Latin America and his areas of expertise include System z security, IBM Parallel Sysplex®, System z hardware, and z/OS. Vicente has co-authored several Redbooks publications and has been an ITSO guest speaker since 2001, teaching System z security update workshops worldwide. Ranieri is certified as a Distinguished IT Specialist by the Open group and he is a member of the zChampions team, of the Technology Leadership Council – Brazil, and of the IBM Academy of Technology.

André Spahni is a Senior Support Center Representative working for IBM Global Technology Services® in Switzerland. He has 11 years of experience working with and supporting System z clients. André has been working for the Technical Support Competence Center (TSCC) Hardware FE System z for Switzerland, Germany, and Austria since 2008. His areas of expertise include System z hardware, Parallel Sysplex, and connectivity.

Chen Zhu is a Consulting System Service Representative at the IBM Global Technology Services® in Shanghai, China. He joined IBM in 1998 to support and maintain System z products for clients throughout China. Chen has been working in the Technical Support Group (TSG) providing second-level support to System z clients since 2005. His areas of expertise include System z hardware, IBM Parallel Sysplex®, Tape Library, and IBM FICON® connectivity.

A special thanks is due to the authors of the first version of this IBM Redbooks publication for their efforts in creating the groundwork for this edition. Those authors include: Parwez Hamid, Gerard Laumay, Swee Seng Ng, Karan Singh, Esra Ufacik, Hans Wijngaard, and Zhaoxu Zhang.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Debbie Beatrice, James Caffrey, Ellen Carbarnes, Edward Chencinski, Doris Conti, Jim Coon, Kathleen Fadden, Leslie Geer, Susan Greenlee, Christian Jacobi, Paul Jones, Kenneth Kerr, Georgette Kurdt, Amy Lander, Patrick Rausch, Peter Relson, Robert Rogers, Donald M. Smith, James Sweeny, Elpida Tzortzatos, Romney White, and Doug Zobre
IBM US

Marcel Mitran
IBM Canada

Jia Lei Ma
IBM China

Juergen Kuhn and Horst Sinram
IBM Germany

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