IBM Z vs. Ubuntu

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Z
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
IBM Z is the company's mainframe enterprise server solution product line.N/A
Ubuntu
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Ubuntu Linux is a Linux-based operating system for personal computers, tablets and smartphones. There is also a Server version which is used on physical or virtual servers in the data center.N/A
Pricing
IBM ZUbuntu
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM ZUbuntu
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
IBM ZUbuntu
Small Businesses
Dell PowerEdge R
Dell PowerEdge R
Score 8.6 out of 10
Android
Android
Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
HPE ProLiant DL
HPE ProLiant DL
Score 7.3 out of 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Power servers
IBM Power servers
Score 9.1 out of 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM ZUbuntu
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(42 ratings)
8.3
(44 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
4.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(3 ratings)
8.6
(6 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM ZUbuntu
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
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.
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Canonical Ltd
If somebody whishes to be an IT professional, learning the basics of Linux is amust. Ubuntu [Linux] is one of the most beginner-friendly, widely supported, easy-to-use-relative-to-the-fact-that-its-still-linux OS on the market. As somebody who learned the basics of UNIX/LINUX on Ubuntu, it was a very good experience. It is customizable, has a lot of improvements over the years, and live up to be a viable alternative to any modern OS in 2021 as well.
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Pros
IBM
  • 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
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Canonical Ltd
  • PACKAGE MANAGEMENT. You can update everything - OS installed software, you name it with either a few clicks in a GUI or a single command.
  • No bloatware.
  • No need for antivirus software.
  • Certainly the price is right.
  • My 83 year old grandmother has been using it - and because of this I rarely need to provide tech support. But I still visit my grandmother.
  • You can choose from a variety of user interfaces or rock it in the terminal.
  • Generally speaking, Ubuntu is as polished an OS as any you might pay for.
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Cons
IBM
  • 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.
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Canonical Ltd
  • The repository system could be a little better, as some of the software needed is not easily available there.
  • Ubuntu sometimes does not play nicely or easily with some modern firmwares.
  • Some people report slow responses with newer versions of Ubuntu, although we have not experienced any.
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Likelihood to Renew
IBM
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.
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Canonical Ltd
Experience with other Distributions.
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Usability
IBM
Once you learn how, it easy. It's different than most other systems
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
IBM
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
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Performance
IBM
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
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
IBM
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.
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Canonical Ltd
We did not use the managed commercial support, but instead relied on community forums and official documentation. Ubuntu is very well documented across both instructional documentation from the developers themselves as well as informal support forums [ServerFault, YCombinator, Reddit]. It's easy enough to find an answer to any question you may have
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In-Person Training
IBM
Over my 33 years on this platform, I attended many in person courses, conferences, and other training opportunities.
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Online Training
IBM
There are many online courses from both IBM and other vendors. Most are great. All of the documentation is available online.
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
IBM
I do not personally have any key insights regarding implementation of IBM Z Enterprise Servers as that is what our mainframe architects do.
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
IBM
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.
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Canonical Ltd
Windows 10: Expensive, with more security problems, more difficult to keep updated and less variety of free / open source applications. Its use encourages bad information security practices. OpenSuse Linux: A different distribution at source (Suse Linux), use of rpm packages (with fewer repositories and incompatible with Ubuntu Linux dpkg packages), and whose main objective is to be a "testing ground" for its paid version / professional, SUSE enterprise Linux.
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Scalability
IBM
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
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
IBM
  • 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.
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Canonical Ltd
  • Systems administration with Ubuntu is easy with little deep knowledge about it. Docs and community publications are great resources for any task you need to perform on any Ubuntu server and the organization can save several salaries of specialized sys admins in favor of more active roles.
  • Having been an Ubuntu user for many years personally, setting up new Ubuntu servers on my organization came with zero cost for me. I just deployed one instance from my hosting/cloud provider and started working right after it was running, no need to ask support or hire new staff for these tasks.
  • Replacing paid options with Ubuntu have also saved thousands of dollars on Windows Server licenses. I've migrated Windows/SQL Server based systems to Ubuntu/MySQL/PostgreSQL several times during my career and saved about USD 5000/year in licenses to many of them.
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ScreenShots