IBM Z vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem SR Series

Most of the time, server utilization is reliable and stable during peak times. Truly amazing, this product offers a lot and gets it done in no time without any confusion.It is reliable, too accurate and the performance is top-notch. It seems to be competitive in all virtual energy systems and its connectivity is also good. It's available at a low cost, but it's enough to have as many low-cost, more efficient systems as possible. It's a minor thing, but very rarely, it can cause work interruptions while it can get stuck due to more frequent use such as restless work. These power servers are very efficient and really help when things go wrong. I am using this product to retrieve data much faster.

I believe all businesses would benefit from Lenovo's series of products - as they can be custom-built to meet your needs. We have been utilizing Lenovo servers for the past seven or eight years now, and have had get success with their hardware builds. We had one issue with a bad SD card that was in a RAID0 - they replaced both SD cards free of charge, and I had them the next business day (this, obviously, is contingent on the level of warranty protection that you purchase with your hardware - but support was fantastic to work with!)

Incentivized

• Virtualization for Scale-Out and Scale-Up in the same footprint
• Security for different workloads: Large Confidential Computing and lightweight Secure Execution
• Performance is a true game changer: extreme throughput powered by amazingly huge caches.
• The one and only FIPS 140-2 Level 4 HSM on this planet
• Quantum Safe Encryption NOW!
• AI infusion to every transaction

Incentivized

• Affordability
• Flexibility with custom builds
• SATA/SSD/M2/SD support for front-end caching or for an entire storage solution
• Allow x2 SD cards to be installed in a RAID0 setup, so that the host can run ESXi without any internal hard drives whatsoever. Also came with an internal battery for the RAID controller.
• Lenovo Support is very quick to respond to issues - either by phone or by email.

Incentivized

• It would be good if IBM could demonstrate more use cases for Z to potential clients
• A migration strategy from Open Systems to Z would be helpful
• Any additional marketing to could explain the benefits of Z/Linux, especially now that RedHat is in the mix.

Incentivized

• A video tutorial on upgrading built-in firmware on their systems would be fantastic. As it was a bit difficult to navigate to find the download, and also the install process the last time I did so.
• The remote BIOS utility through the XClarity controller is difficult to reset a password on - if it's forgotten. I have yet to find a way to reset it on a host that has a password not working.

Incentivized

The IBM Z mainframe capabilities are unmatched for cloud readiness and optimization the learning capabilities are matched perfectly with Watson and the expandability of the cloud makes it a perfect choice.

Incentivized

Once you learn how, it easy. It's different than most other systems

Incentivized

The Z in IBM Z is for zero down time. If you configure your system according to IBM's best practices, you can achieve zero downtime

Incentivized

Performance is a major part when you configure your system. IBM has many tools to study your system and suggest the appropriate configuration. With the right contract, you can add processing power dynamically and remove it when no longer needed

Incentivized

Support is usually superb, only occasionally dropping to very good. We participate in some of the CD (Continuous Delivery) aspects of z/OS, IMS, MQ, and DB2.

Incentivized

Over my 33 years on this platform, I attended many in person courses, conferences, and other training opportunities.

Incentivized

There are many online courses from both IBM and other vendors. Most are great. All of the documentation is available online.

Incentivized

I do not personally have any key insights regarding implementation of IBM Z Enterprise Servers as that is what our mainframe architects do.

Incentivized

IBM Z is the best storage solution as it provides the best in class data protection with the cryptographic hardware keys, no loss in data while migration, and a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for develops to understand and has less of a learning curve. This makes it well above the competition.

Incentivized

The initial selection of Lenovo for servers was provided to us as a recommendation from a reseller. I was skeptical, initially, as I am not a fan of Lenovo's consumer-grade laptops. I was very intrigued by the price of these devices though, so we purchased two for a location to see how they worked. The recommendation panned-out, and all of our needs were met (and exceeded) by this new line of products brought to our attention. I'm sure there are countless other stories like mine with dozens of other manufacturers - but we are more than pleased with our fleet of Thinksystem servers at our district

Incentivized

If you need more processing power, just add more CPU's or memory. The largest system can have close to 200 CPU's and 40 TB of memory. If that is not enough, you can add more physical computers, and connect them using a sysplex

Incentivized

• With IBM Z we really feel a different positive impact on our company. A trustworthy and the most powerful place we have ever.
• A unique computing platform that helps a lot for the progress of our company.
• It keeps our data save, encrypted.

Incentivized

• Our uptime has increased from our old HP ProLiant servers from 8+ years ago.
• These servers are also cheaper than previous models we have deployed in the past
• XClarity controller allows for remote BIOS functionality - which we hadn't been able to utilize, previously.

Incentivized