IBM Introduces Servers for E-Businesses That Never Close; Industry Leaders Support IBM Clustering Technology.

SOMERS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 1998--IBM today introduced the first packaged "clustered" servers that make big-company "high-availability" simple and affordable for small and mid-size businesses.

Together, the RS/6000 HA50 (High-Availability Cluster Server) and the AS/400e custom server ensure that e-business means "open for business."

The server solutions reduce complexity and lower the cost-of-entry for "clustered systems" while providing IBM's famous enterprise-class reliability and availability.

"Clustering" technology allows more than one computer to be linked together to provide superior reliability and availability for computer systems that must be available nearly every moment of the day and night.

The high-availability servers announced today address the growing demand for "99.999 percent" availability among small and mid-size customers and departments of larger enterprises. These servers support enterprise resource planning (ERP), collaborative computing, e-commerce, and other leading e-business applications.

"On the Net, if your server is down you're out of business," said Bill Zeitler, general manager, IBM Server Brand Marketing. "As more and more businesses move to e-business, highly available, scalable enterprise servers are no longer a luxury, they are an imperative."

The RS/6000 and AS/400 solutions include services and support from IBM Global Services and IBM Business Partners and attractive financing options from IBM Credit Corporation and IBM Global Financing. Customers can finance the servers through IBM Global Financing's Preferred Rate Financing with rates as low as 6.5 percent. Attractive financing is also available on S/390, Netfinity, and other IBM hardware and software.

High availability solutions for the AS/400e custom server are purchased from Business Partners DataMirror Corp., Lakeview Technology, and Vision Solutions, Inc. The RS/6000 solutions are available from IBM and its Business Partners.

In addition, IBM today announced that the following database and software application providers are supporting its new servers and using IBM clustering technology to make their applications more highly available:

- IBM DB2 Universal Database - Lotus Domino - IBM Net.Commerce - IBM TXSeries - Baan - Oracle - BEA Systems 

IBM also unveiled a series of enhancements to its enterprise cluster systems. These enhancements reflect IBM's strategy of using its industry-leading clustering technology across its server lines to provide superior application and system availability:

- S/390 -- Earlier this month, IBM announced the S/390 Parallel

Enterprise Server, Generation 5 (S/390 Server). IBM continues to

enhance S/390 Parallel Sysplex clustering technology performance,

scale, and flexibility with each new S/390 generation. At the

same time, IBM is reducing the cost and complexity of Parallel

Sysplex clustering technology. New enhancements include a more

powerful Coupling Facility, more powerful and flexible coupling

links, and the GEOPLEX Service Offering which allows Parallel

Sysplex clusters to be geographically dispersed up to 40

kilometers. - RS/6000 -- Announced plans to support Netfinity nodes on the

RS/6000 SP cluster and HACMP support for 32 nodes on the SP. - Netfinity -- Announced plans to support DB2 Universal Database

and Oracle Parallel Server on NT using IBM clustering technology

for high-availability. - Storage -- IBM's 7133 Disk System features failover technology

optimized for clustered server environments. - Networking Hardware -- IBM's routers support clustering for

improved network availability and reliability.

Additional information is available at www.ibm.com/Servers/.

See separate fact sheets, available on request, for more detail on IBM's clustered solutions.

CONTACT: Glen Brandow

IBM

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