1. Pg. 1, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
Independent Assessment
by Alan Radding
IBM System z case study: TELUS
Linux on z enables new business opportunities
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2. Pg. 2, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
Executive Summary
TELUS, a large telecommunications provider in Canada and the operator
of what it considers the largest System z implementation in western Canada,
turned to Linux on System z to boost the efficiency and flexibility of its own IT
operations. Linux on z did, indeed, enable the company to streamline its own IT
operations, lower licensing costs (25:1 savings), reduce operational resource
requirements by as much as 75%, and speed provisioning of services (just 30
minutes in some cases).
That alone would have been enough to justify the investment. TELUS,
however, decided to use its System z with Linux to develop a new business
opportunity as an IT services provider. Today, it offers IT services to customers
in Canada, the UK, the US, and Asia. These services encompass the
mainframe, desktops, servers, databases, network components, and disk storage
and automated tape. In the process it supports about 200 production databases
and 125TB of online data storage.
To deliver the efficiency required to compete as a global IT services
provider TELUS also automated its z-based IT operations with tools from BMC
and middleware from IBM. We have actually become a profit center, says Brad
Palmer, TELUS director of western Canada IT services.
This case study describes how TELUS used the mainframe and Linux on
the System z to expand a traditional telco business model into that of a
successful global IT services provider.
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3. Pg. 3, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
Challenge leverage the System z for greater efficiency
For years TELUS had been a mainframe shop doing the classic telco
things. It used the System z to run its billing and business operations and to
support numerous operational functions all the way down to telephone pole
management. The mainframe also supported the company s multiple call
centers. In terms of applications, TELUS runs CICS, DB2, IMS, and WebSphere
MQ as well as Adabase and Datacom.
In 2004 the IT group became interested in Linux on z, feeling that it had
matured into a stable product that it could use to drive efficiency.
The telco world had become intensely competitive by then. New service
opportunities were popping up seemingly everywhere for companies that could
deliver reliable and efficient IT services and were flexible enough to respond to
rapidly changing market opportunities and customer demands.
The IT group felt TELUS could be a player in this new environment if it
could leverage its in-house resources and expertise. To succeed, it also needed
to tap the benefits of virtualization to drive down the cost of delivering service.
This called for Linux and virtualization. Having both the highly virtualized
System z and distributed systems, and with Linux and virtualization available
both on the z and distributed platforms the company had reached a crossroads; it
would have to make a choice.
Background TELUS
TELUS has been delivering telecommunications services to Canadians for
over 100 years. Through acquisitions, especially in recent years, the company
has expanded beyond its roots in British Columbia and Alberta to become the
country s second largest telecommunications company.
Today the company has added the Internet, IP, wireless communications,
data communications, entertainment, and video to its offerings.
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4. Pg. 4, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
In 2009, the company reported $9.7 billion in revenue. It manages: over
11 million customer connections, more than 6 million wireless subscribers, over 4
million wired network access lines, and over 1 million Internet subscribers. In
Vancouver, it has a System z9 BC and a System z10 BC with 5000 MIPS, and 2
IFLs. It also manages 40TB of mainframe storage capacity for itself.
Linux comes to the System z
Linux on z started about 10 years ago when IBM published a series of
patches to the Linux kernel for the zSeries, the mainframe at that time. The next
year IBM introduced the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL), a specialty processor
that would give Linux on z the power needed to virtualize large numbers of Linux
machines cost effectively.
About the same time SUSE, now owned by Novell, introduced the first
commercial Linux distribution for the mainframe. Several years later, Red Hat
introduced its distribution of Enterprise Linux for the System z.
Linux on z is fueling the expansion of workloads on the System z. For
decades the mainframe delivered highly regarded large scale core processing for
large enterprises and rarely did companies look beyond those core production
workloads that benefited from the mainframe s reliability, scalability, security, and
manageability.
With the advent of Linux on z, however, organizations could leverage their
existing mainframe investment for other workloads. Initially, companies began to
consolidate distributed databases, mainly Oracle, on Linux on z. Since then they
have looked to Linux on z for web application serving, business intelligence,
SOA-based applications, and even Web 2.0-type applications. With the
introduction of SUSE Linux s Mono, a .NET application server on Linux on z,
organizations can even consolidate and run Microsoft .NET applications on their
System z. Linux effectively increases the ROI organizations can get from their
initial investments in the System z.
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Although Linux can run directly on the System z, organizations generally
find it is most economical to run Linux under z/VM, which is a hypervisor for the
mainframe. z/VM virtualizes processors and memory as well as disk storage,
networking, cryptographic accelerators, and other mainframe resources, making
it economical to virtualize many Linux instances as virtual machines on the
System z. while adding very little overhead to the System z.
The IFL is a specialized processor for running Linux on the System z.
Along with z/VM, it is the key to the economic savings resulting from running
Linux on z. Although a company could run Linux on the System z s central
processor it hardly makes sense. IFLs are much less expensive than the central
processors and the use of the IFL avoids many software charges. And to make
the deal even sweeter, IBM has been drastically reducing the cost of IFLs as well
as bundling them into various already discounted System z Solution Editions.
Between the expansion of workloads on the z and the cost savings
associated with Linux on z, it made great sense for TELUS to turn to Linux on z
as it expanded it service offerings while seeking internal cost savings and
increased efficiency.
Linux on z comes to TELUS
TELUS started working with Linux on z in 2004. It purchased an IFL in
2005. The company s initial interest revolved around using Linux to reduce
licensing costs and lower support costs through virtualization and expedited
provisioning as well as save money by consolidating physical Linux servers.
Today, it has consolidated 50 physical servers as Linux instances on the System
z and is looking for opportunities to consolidate more.
A key objective was to increase the utilization and efficiency of its System
z hardware resources. It wanted to join the flexibility of Linux with the reliability
and scalability of the System z.
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6. Pg. 6, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
A proof-of-concept (POC) demonstrated the viability of Linux on z for
business critical enterprise work and showed the value the company could
achieve. Managers whose applications ran on the distributed systems could see
how they would perform in the virtualized Linux on z environment.
It still turned out to be a hard sell with a number of managers resisting. At
that time virtualization was not the hot concept it is today. There was no
bandwagon effect, and the tools were rudimentary. The POC, however, enabled
the IT group to introduce Linux on z and begin proving its value.
Implementing Linux on z at TELUS
As noted, the TELUS IT team began with Linux on z by developing a POC
that would show the kinds of things possible
and the performance managers could expect. Key TELUS System z
Components
The work began when the company had only
z9 BC
the z9, which lacked the CPU horsepower the z10 BC
team would have preferred but had ample IO z/OS
z/VM
bandwidth. As a result, the early efforts focused IFL (2)
zIIP
on workloads needing large amounts of IO but DB2
with light CPU demands. CICS
SUSE Enterprise Linux
The addition of a z10 changed things. As WebSphere MQ
DB2 Connect
the IT team saw it, the z10 delivered processing
IMS Connect
power to applications equal to the very high end CICS Gateway
BMC Mainview
distributed processors. Now the team could set
up almost any Linux application as a service
through Linux on the z. The big limitation, especially at first, was the limited
number of Linux applications certified for use with the z, although that situation
has rapidly improved. As this occurs it greatly expands the application service
offerings TELUS can offer its customers.
To facilitate its transition to the service provider role, the IT team
developed Linux on z templates, which can be used to deploy new services on z
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in minutes, rather than days or weeks. With the templates, TELUS can promise
customers the flexibility to change fast and deliver on that promise.
To manage its z environment the company standardized on the BMC
Mainview toolset for the System z as its core management suite. It relies on the
BMC tools to automate its operating and reporting capabilities that support its
z/OS and z/Linux systems. This, in turn, allows the company to reduce labor
costs even as it delivers better services to internal and external customers. It also
uses the tools to control MIPS growth, according to Palmer, who headed up the
effort at TELUS.
Along with the management tools, TELUS also deployed a set of
mainframe middleware to facilitate connectivity and integration. This included
WebSphere MQ, DB2 Connect, IMS Connect, and CICS Gateway
TELUS Results
The TELUS effort has produced measurable results as reported by
Palmer:
Consolidation of 50 physical servers into 50 Linux on z instances
used for production, development, Web infrastructure, and
databases
Expedited and automated provisioning to meet SLA of under one
business day, often less than 30 minutes
Reduced licensing costs due to reduction in software licenses 25:1
Operational resource requirements reduced by as much as 75%
Added efficiencies through the elimination of physical hardware
Simplified and centralized management saves money and boosts
reliability
In the process TELUS was able to take advantage of the hardware and
operating system reliability of the System z platform, with its well defined backup
and disaster recovery processes. Finally, the company was able to effectively
define, execute, and support the capacity-on-demand pricing and cost models
necessary for a successful service provider business.
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8. Pg. 8, copyright 2009 Alan Radding
The Future of z and Linux at TELUS
The company s successful push into hosted services, particularly IP
services and external hosting, suggests a strong future for the System z and
Linux on z at TELUS. In addition, Palmer notes other areas where the company
will rely on z technology support:
Internal databases
Additional service offerings, internal and external
SaaS offerings
Carbon footprint reduction
With regard to its carbon footprint reduction initiative, the company aims to
become the greenest data center in North America.
Lessons Learned
Palmer identifies what it found works best with Linux on z and what
doesn t. The best candidates for migration to Linux on z are:
Linux web infrastructure
Small and/or lightly utilized Linux/Unix servers
Large databases and other ISV supported critical servers (Oracle,
Siebel)
The workloads that have proven most challenging are Windows-based
applications and non-supported ISV applications. However, an increasing
number of ISVs, TELUS found, are adding Linux on z support. The software
maintenance cost savings alone, typically, are enough to justify a Linux on z
conversion, Palmer adds.
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Independent Assessment analysis
Many organizations look at Linux on z as a nifty idea but don t really know
what to do with it. Others see it as an opportunity to consolidate Linux workloads
that previously had been running on distributed platforms, especially Oracle
workloads. Here the savings from server consolidation and reduced software
licensing costs are immediately compelling. In addition, the applications gain the
reliability and security inherent in a System z environment.
TELUS looked beyond these immediate Linux on z use cases and saw a
way to tap new business opportunities, namely external hosting and services by
leveraging IT resources the System z it already had. Linux on the System z
has enabled the telecom to develop and deliver SaaS and cloud offerings that
allow it to grow its revenue and expand its customer base.
About Independent Assessment
Independent Assessment.com is the IT and business assessment,
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and IT analyst/writer for over 20 years. It provides independent ROI and
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studies, white papers, and Web content.
Independent Assessment publishes dancingdinosaur, the independent
blog covering the System z,
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