Organizations are looking to cloud computing solutions to improve the flexibility of their IT. But in today’s marketplace you still need to control operating expense, improve performance and maintain reliability. You need a cloud infrastructure solution that can help you manage costs and risk. As information technology evolves, your data center faces a range of pressures from growing complexity. Energy usage and costs are rising; keeping your systems reliable is becoming more difficult; managing the whole system is time-consuming and expensive. You need your IT environment to be simple to manage, responsive to changing needs and cost effective.

1. IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
Comprehensive virtualization with converged networking and
easy-to-manage scaling to cloud
Executive summary
Our understanding of your goals
Organizations are looking to cloud computing solutions to improve the flexibility of their IT. But in today’s
marketplace you still need to control operating expense, improve performance and maintain reliability. You
need a cloud infrastructure solution that can help you manage costs and risk.
As information technology evolves, your data center faces a range of pressures from growing complexity.
Energy usage and costs are rising; keeping your systems reliable is becoming more difficult; managing
the whole system is time-consuming and expensive. You need your IT environment to be simple to
manage, responsive to changing needs and cost effective.
We have identified the following key shifts that drive today’s reality.
● Continued economic pressure is driving the need to cut costs in every part of an organization. IT
budgets are under pressure, while demands on IT systems continue to grow as new solutions are
needed to business problems.
● Consolidation of simple compute platforms has become a proven IT strategy to help reduce costs and
improve efficiency over the past several years.
● The pace of change in many industries demands frequent addition or adaptation of applications—and
the supporting IT infrastructure.
● As a result, many businesses have more complex environments, depending on heterogeneous
platforms to address a range of business challenges.
This new reality brings with it new challenges.
● As complexity rises, organizations are challenged to maintain data security, application
responsiveness and system reliability. Adding capacity or features makes these problems worse.
● Building an infrastructure that provides the flexibility to grow and change in order to address changing
business demands while also providing the reliability of an enterprise-class solution can be difficult.
● Organizations must reduce operating costs—skilled labor for provisioning and management, energy
costs and the cost of downtime—while continuing to provide new application functionality and improve
performance.
Because of these shifts and challenges, companies like **CUSTOMER** need to
think and work differently.
They need to plan differently.
Companies can reduce complexity beginning in the design stage, by planning a solution that integrates
servers, storage and networking into an easy to manage system.
They need to buy differently.

2. Buying a system that is capable of the performance and reliability demanded by the business but is still
simple and efficient to implement and manage is key.
They need to deploy differently.
Companies need to deploy a system that is ready for your applications now, but designed for flexibility
and ready to grow and adapt with your business—without constant, extensive infrastructure changes.
The IBM solution
The IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is a complete, converged architecture that brings leading
technologies together so you can implement a complete, responsive, virtualized environment that is
cloud-ready.
Solution capabilities
Built on the BladeCenter platform, the BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is available in three standard
configurations, from small (four blade servers) to large (28 blade servers), to give you the flexibility to
choose the size of your solution while minimizing deployment time and risk.
Key features include:
● Built-in management of both the virtualized and physical environments using IBM Systems Director
and VMware’s vCenter Server
● Built-in virtualization based on VMware’s vSphere Enterprise Edition
● Fully tested and performance optimized hardware and software configurations that include networking
and storage for fast time to value
● Channel enabled solutions with customer configurations integrated by certified IBM Business Partners
Section: Solution overview
Solution benefits
● Designed to give you quick payback on your IT investment in a challenging economic environment
with an IT solution that can dynamically and rapidly respond to changing requirements and workloads.
● Complete, converged solution with integrated management server controlled by IBM Systems Director
software designed to provide a cloud-ready, virtualized environment that is easy to deploy, easy to
manage and highly reliable.
● Designed to reduce ongoing costs by lowering space requirements and associated cost per square
foot—up to 36 percent less rack space than competitive systems—and lowering the cost of power and
cooling—up to 23 percent less than competitive systems.i
● Integrated 10GbE Virtual Fabric technology can reduce networking CAPEX by up to 54 percent by
providing the converged networking infrastructure to eliminate up to 75 percent of the traditionally
required switches and adapters.ii
Offers exceptional network bandwidth with 200 Gbps aggregate uplink per chassis and 14.3 Gbps per
blade, providing up to seven times the bandwidth of competitive systems to dynamically migrate virtual
machines by as much as 18 times faster improving utilization and optimizing performance
Why IBM?
IBM is a proven leader in cloud computing solutions

3. Built on technologies deployed at thousands of customer sites across the globe, the BladeCenter
Foundation for Cloud can help you simplify and accelerate your virtualized data center acquisition and
deployment. Time-tested virtualization implementation methods and best practices gained from IBM’s own
experiences have already helped clients plan, develop, test and optimize their IT environments for
successful virtualized computing deployments. We offer multiple, scalable configurations to meet specific
business and IT requirements.
Customer quotes
[NOTE TO SELLER: Add appropriate quotes if available]
Analyst quotes
[NOTE TO SELLER: Add appropriate quotes if available]
IBM offers tailored financing solutions to credit-qualified clients that can be customized to address your
specific IT needs from great rates to flexible payment plans and loans. Our asset management services
include certified used equipment, online asset management, buyback, asset disposal, and disk overwrite.
IBM is committed to supporting eco-friendly practices. You can join us in this effort by considering
softcopy or DVD/CD response submissions for future proposals.
How to move forward
NOTE to sellers: provide next steps based on the needs of your customer these steps might include:
briefings, workshops, planning services, implementation services, financing, etc.
Implementation Plan by Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
ASSESS NEEDS CREATE A ROADMAP MANAGE THE RISKS
3 - 6 weeks 5 - 8 weeks 2 - 4 weeks
IBM Perform technology needs Collaborative roadmap Implement and monitor
assessment writing
Partner N/A Provision of roadmap Support
software
**CUSTOMER** Fill out needs assessment Collaborative roadmap Test and report
questionnaire writing
IBM Maintenance and Technical Support solutions can help you get the most out of your IT investment by
reducing support costs, increasing availability and simplifying management with integrated support for
your multiproduct, multivendor hardware and software environment. For more information on hardware
maintenance, software support, solution support and managed support, visit:
ibm.com/services/maintenance
IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the IT solutions that your business needs in the most cost-
effective and strategic way possible. We'll partner with credit-qualified clients to customize an IT financing
solution to suit your business goals, enable effective cash management, and improve your total cost of
ownership. For more information, visit: ibm.com/financing

4. i
IBM comparison between a 9U IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud solution and an equivalent performing Cisco UCS configuration as of February
2012.
ii
Versus typical IBM BladeCenter 1Gb networking configurations
Data Sheet content
Highlights
● Comprehensive virtualization platform with converged networking, servers, storage and management
● High return on Investment platform, large virtual machine capacity in a simple-to-manage package
● Fast and easy to order and deploy with tested configurations
● Reduce complexity and risk with best practices high availability designed in
● Energizes new performance and technology into existing datacenters and opens easy pathway to
cloud
Fast and reliable path to virtualization
Virtualizing your data center offers many potential benefits including reduced upfront capital and operating
costs. Yet the challenges of installing and configuring a virtual environment can sometimes be
overwhelming. Reduce complexity and risk with IBM BladeCenter® Foundation for Cloud. It provides the
flexibility needed to make this easy with preintegrated systems and a preloaded management system.
Comprehensively designed with everything needed to deploy a high-performance, reliable and scalable
fully virtualized data center, it comes with, converged networking, virtualized servers, storage and
available start-up services to help you take the guesswork out of establishing a virtualized data center
environment. BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud can help you get up and running in days, not weeks. This
solution is built by combining the strength of the IBM System x® platform and the advantages of the latest
BladeCenter capabilities in the virtualized environment—including great performance, unmatched
reliability, rapid scaling, high resiliency and leading network bandwidth capacity as well as industry-
leading virtualization technology from VMware. BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is available in multiple
configuration sizes to meet your organization’s specific needs.
Maximize capital usage for greater savings
Virtualized data centers built upon the BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud can help drive down your total
cost of ownership by enabling you to more effectively manage and leverage your capital investments in IT
assets. Based on BladeCenter systems, it provides a large network bandwidth capacity that exceeds
competitor offerings and enables the rapid movement of virtual machine images, combined with a
reduced cost of connectivity by up to 44 percent compared to traditional rack servers.1 Energy-smart
design and integrated power management capabilities help drive optimal utilization of valuable power and

5. cooling resources. With greater visibility into key energy metrics across your IT assets, you can identify
areas where energy consumption can be reduced. Built-in virtualization helps create a simplified, flexible
IT environment that can save up to half of your valuable data center space while allowing you to more
effectively use fewer resources. Storage virtualization is supported via the optional addition of IBM
System Storage® SAN Volume Controller, which also helps to increase management efficiency and
resource utilization of heterogeneous storage assets.
Improve business resiliency
BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud offers a highly resilient environment with no single point of failure and
advanced virtualization capabilities designed to simplify management with a combination of IBM Systems
Director and VMware vCenter server. It includes IBM BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager, which
automates network and storage address virtualization for faster failover recovery and easier expansion.
Best-in-class systems management tools like predictive failure analysis and light path diagnostics can
minimize downtime, while remote access capabilities let you control both physical and virtual IT resources
through a single interface. Integration with VMware vCenter lets you easily move virtual machines
between servers to help decrease downtime and protect against unplanned outages.
Reduce complexity
In addition to improving business resiliency, the BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud environment can
reduce complexity and risk by offering configurations that have been through rigorous design,
performance analysis and support for architectures based on leading technologies such as convergence
and management centralization. The solution comes from the IBM or from certified business partners,
with all the parts fully integrated, including racks, servers, storage, networking, software, PDUs, KVM,
cables, SFPs, etc. This helps reduce the common errors that can occur with onsite integration and
configuration.
Scale easily to cloud
The BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud offers a high degree of flexibility, enabling you to deploy now and
scale as your business requirements change. Standard configurations offer the ability to scale up to 2,000
virtual machines, and additional server blades can be added as needed. In addition, the systems can be
scaled by adding more memory. The BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud can easily extend to a cloud
environment with the addition of software functionality, such as SmartCloud Entry, IBM Service Delivery
Manager or similar offerings, and it can be done without having to rip-and-replace the installed
infrastructure. Whether to match growing business needs or to add the latest in features in Cloud
technology, BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud enables easy scalability.
Why IBM?
Built on technologies deployed at thousands of customer sites across the globe, the BladeCenter
Foundation for Cloud can help you simplify and accelerate your virtualized data center acquisition and
deployment. Time-tested virtualization implementation methods and best practices gained from IBM’s own
experiences have already helped clients plan, develop, test and optimize their IT environments for
successful virtualized computing deployments. We offer multiple, scalable configurations to meet specific
business and IT requirements.
IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud at a glance

6. Systems
Virtualization management and compute nodes IBM BladeCenter H chassis
● HS23 blades with dual-socket Intel Xeon E5-2620
6C 2.0 GHz processors, 128 GB memory or Intel
Xeon E5-2650 8C 2.0 GHz processors
● HS22V* blades with dual socket Intel Xeon E5659
6C 2.53 GHz processors, 96 GB memory
● HS22 blades with dual-socket Intel Xeon E5645 6C
2.4 GHz processors, 48 GB memory
● HX5 blades with dual-socket Intel Xeon E7-2830 8C
2.13 GHz processors, 128 GB memory
● HX5 + MAX5 blades with dual-socket Intel Xeon
E7-8867L 10C 2.13 GHz processors, 320 GB
memory
Interconnects
Ethernet switch options ● IBM Virtual Fabric 10 Gb Switch Module* with
QLogic Virtual Fabric Extension Module*
● Brocade FCoE Switch Module
● Cisco Nexus 4001i FCoE Switch Module
Converged network adapter options ● HS23 only: Onboard 10 Gigabit Ethernet with
Emulex BE3 controller; IBM Virtual Fabric Advanced
Software Upgrade (LOM) providing support for
FCoE
● Emulex Virtual Fabric Adapter II with FCoE*
● QLogic 2-port CNA
External storage
Storage servers IBM System Storage DS3524* or IBM Storwize® v7000
Storage expansion EXP3000 storage expansion units or IBM Storwize
v7000 expansion units
Software
Blade operating system VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0 or 4.1*
Server management node IBM System x3550 M3
Server management node software Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Standard Edition 64-bit;
IBM Systems Director including Active Energy
Manager; BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager†
Virtualization management software VMware vCenter Server
Scalability Examples of predefined configurations
Small 4 compute blade servers
Medium 14 compute blade servers
Large 28 compute blade servers
Expansion nodes Additional compute blade servers or chassis with
converged networking can be added after installation
Services Additional optional setup and other services from IBM
Lab Services or Business Partner provide the initial
setup in customer environment and provide on-site
training

7. Warranty 3-year parts, customer replaceable unit or onsite labor,
limited warranty with individual nodes retaining the
warranty and service upgrade offerings for that IBM
machine type; optional warranty service upgrades
For more information
To learn more about BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud, visit:
ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/solutions/infrastructure/virtualization/integratedcloudplatform/index.html , or
contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012
IBM Systems and Technology Group
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Somers, New York 10589
Produced in the United States of America
June 2012
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, BladeCenter, System Storage, and System x are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in
many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is
available at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in
which IBM operates.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-
INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.
1
Based on IBM comparisons of 14-server connectivity costs of IBM BladeCenter
servers to 14-server connectivity costs of Hewlett-Packard rack servers from
price information available on ibm.com and hp.com as of February 1, 2011.
* Included in predefined configurations that can be easily ordered directly from
IBM.
† BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager runs in the BladeCenter Advanced
Management Module.
BL403044-USEN-04