Fujitsu Siemens Computers has raised the performance ceiling on its proprietary BS2000 mainframe, introducing a new S170 series which it claims is 60% faster than the old high-end S160, and adding support for fiber channel standard storage interconnect standard.
The new power for the old Siemens mainframe range stems from adoption of the S/390 CMOS copper processors of IBM, which also offer 25% better power performance than the old aluminium processors they replace. When the new range ships in March next year, it will be offered in seven model variants, ranging from three to 14 processors, an supporting up to 32GB of main memory. Siemens rates its mainframes according to its own relative performance factor, a scale where 1 RPF is roughly equivalent to 1.5MIPS. The high end S170s will stretch to 1,650 RPF, or about 2,475MIPS.
By any normal industry measure the BS2000 mainframe must now be considered one of the most arcane systems architectures in commercial use, but while it is still largely restricted to Siemens’ traditional German and north European finance and public sector markets, in those regions it sales remain strong. Early this year, International Data Corp said that the BS2000 now has 41% of the German, and 18.1% of the Western European mainframe market, putting it ahead of IBM in the German market for the first time (CI No 3,691).
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