IBM Malaysia’s latest expansion of its iconic Power server range of products exemplifies the company’s commitment both to its customers and the nation.
“IBM has been here since 1961, and now we are helping with nation-building, being involved with smart manufacturing and IR4.0, to smart cities running through hybrid cloud, and building skillsets for tomorrow’s talent together with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), which is very focussed on the digital economy, and also the Ministry of Higher Learning (MOHE) especially with regards to the digital skills shortage faced globally,” said IBM Malaysia managing director and technology leader Catherine Lian (centre in pic).
The current Power server product range is based on an architecture that has found uses in systems that range from game consoles such the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to the Power Macintosh to server-grade hardware.
IBM has designed the Power server range to cater to mission-critical applications that require high availability and absolute data integrity.
Additionally, according to IBM’s AZK (ASEAN, ANZ and Korea) POWER business unit executive Francis Ong (left in pic), the Power system line is a platform engineered for reliability and comfort.
“It has been powering financial institutions – 80% of financial transactions in Malaysia run on Power systems; governments services; and manufacturing systems.”
Ong also stated that the expanded server line, featuring the 7nm Power10 processor, is IBM pivoting to customer requirements post-COVID-19, such as the rise of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
“This is so that they can leverage some of these new technologies to address some of the challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Many of the technologies introduced in IBM’s higher-class products have been included in the more entry-level products, so clients do not have to pay a big premium for these capabilities,” he said.
IBM has also worked hard on ensuring sustainable compute power, with the new Power10 devices consuming up to a third less energy as compared to previous Power models and x86 servers running equivalent workloads.
In addition, IBM has reorganised its pricing structure, with clients now able to choose from purchasing outright, a subscription model, or a consumption-based model, depending on the clients’ own individual requirements. This is made available whether the clients are using private cloud/on-premise infrastructure or public cloud infrastructure. Ong notes that this provides IBM’s clients with the choice and flexibility to consume how and where they please.
The Power10 line supports a plethora of new features that cater to security from “core to data”, including Transparent Memory Encryption. Ransomware, which is a constant cybersecurity threat, is almost unheard of on Power systems.
Ong reiterated that IBM continues to deliver incremental security enhancements, as cybersecurity is an ongoing process.
Addressing the needs of clients for AI workloads, IBM has developed AI accelerators called MMA, which have been placed on the Power10 processors, allowing clients to dispense with running AI models on separate data lakes and instead using AI on operational data in real time.
One particular use case that IBM has highlighted for Power is in the financial services industry.
“All 33 banks present in Malaysia, regardless of tier, are running on IBM infrastructure in one way or another. The top 5 tiering banks are running IBM’s core banking systems, and 80% of IBM’s enterprise bank clients are running on Power systems,” Catherine said.
Silverlake Axis, a company best known for its suite of financial technology products used in many of ASEAN’s top financial institutions, is one of IBM Malaysia’s strategic industry partners.
Its senior solutions director Tan Soo Eng (right in pic), meanwhile, said that Silverlake Axis is working to ensure that its clients can make full use of the new Power10 capabilities.
“Our partnerships play a key role in our success. Our long-term partnership with IBM is because IBM exemplifies technology made simple. We have grown from 80-odd people to a team of thousands because IBM made it easy to do so; we worked with experts who helped us grow our expertise.
“The stronger your partnership and foundation, the easier it is for us to move forwards. Silverlake has become a global enterprise, but we couldn’t have done it without good partnerships and good customers. For example, the 2 out of the 3 top regional banks in Singapore who are our clients really keep us on our toes due to our heavy responsibilities towards them.”
According to Tan, Silverlake Axis has shown that aside from its partnership with IBM, the company is able to provide product differentiation and sustain its business based on its platform and products.
“We have a solid platform with IBM’s Power architecture, where we are able to put in new technology while preserving skillsets and software compatibility, and at the same time work closely with IBM to ensure we are always taking full advantage of new capabilities.
“Our products, especially our core banking product SIBS (Silverlake Integrated Banking System), are also very configurable; they’re rule-oriented and parameterised, enabling our products and solutions to be used across multiple regions and markets,” Tan said.
