I/O Enhancements for IBM Power System

New SSD 6- and 4-packs, IBM i 6.1.1 native I/O support, high-performance PCIe Gen2 adapters, a new multifunction card, LTO-6, RDX, and other enhancements expand IBM Power System I/O capabilities.

Two new SSD packages offer ordering convenience and price savings for new servers. One 6-pack SSD feature #ESR2/ESR4 orders the equivalent of six #ES02/ES04 387 GB SSDs for the EXP30 Ultra SSD I/O Drawer, but has a lower price. Multiple 6-pack features can be ordered with a new server. One 4-pack SSD features orders the equivalent of four 387GB SSDs for SAS bays in a system unit or in an I/O drawer, but has a lower price compared to ordering four #ES0A/ES0B/ES0C/ES0D features. A maximum of one 4-pack feature (#ESRA/ESRB/ESRC/ESRD) can be ordered with a new server.

IBM i 6.1.1 native I/O support is available for the POWER7+ 710/720/730/740 and POWER7+ 770/780. By ordering the chargeable #EB34 hardware feature, you can natively support I/O with i 6.1. The capability of virtually attaching I/O for i 6.1 through VIOS or through IBM i 7.1 is available without feature #EB34.

Support for the existing #EDR1 EXP30 Ultra SSD I/O Drawer is expanded to include the POWER7+ 710/720/730/740/750/760. For additional model support refer to the Statement of general direction. Software support is also expanded to include IBM i 7.1 TR6 native support.

The two-port PCIe2 16 GbFC Adapter provides twice the bandwidth per port of an 8Gb FC adapter. Both a full high (#EN0A) and a low profile (#EN0B) adapter are offered for the POWER7+ 710/720/730/740/750/760.

The four-port PCIe2 CN) provides two 10Gb FCoE/CNA optical SR ports plus two 1Gb RJ45 Ethernet ports. Both a full high (#EN0H) and a low profile (#EN0J) adapter are offered for the POWER7+ 710/720/730/740/750/760.

The new integrated multifunction card for the Power 750/760 includes four Ethernet, two USB, and one serial port without using a PCIe slot. With feature #EN10, two of the four Ethernet ports are 10Gb copper twinax ports with CNA capability and two are 10Gb RJ45 with Ethernet capability. With feature #EN11, two of the four Ethernet ports are 10Gb optical SR ports with CNA capability and two are 10Gb RJ45 with Ethernet capability. CNA means that both Ethernet NIC and FCoE protocols are simultaneously supported. Features #EN10 and #EN11 are similar to the previously announced integrated multifunction cards #1768 and #1769 on the Power 770/780 that offer the same total number of ports, but there are two key enhancements. First, CNA capability may help reduce the overall number of adapters and PCIe slots required on the server, lowering the total cost. Second, the feature #EN10/EN11 RJ45 ports are capable of 10GbE or 1GbE instead of just 1 GbE.

A half-high LTO-6 tape drive feature #EU11 delivers increased capacity of up to 2.5TB (uncompressed) or 6.25TB (typical compression) and enables increased performance of up to 240MB/s. It is supported in the Power 720/740 C and D model system units and in the Power 750 B model system unit and in the Power 795 1U storage drawer (#5724).

A 1.5TB RDX cartridge feature #EU15 delivers 50% more capacity than the largest cartridge previously available. It is supported in the #EU03/EU04/EU23 and #1103/1104/1123 RDX docking stations.

A new no-charge specify feature #ERLR can enhance rack PDU power cord cabling and redundancy in 7014 racks. The specify code instructs IBM configurator tools and Manufacturing that an even number of PDUs should be provided and that equipment with two power supplies should have one power supply/power cord plugged into a PDU on the left and the other power supply/power cord plugged into a PDU on the right.

Planned availability date

February 15, 2013, for features #EB28, #EB2B, #EB2H, #EB2J, #EB2K, #ECB8, and #ECB9
February 20, 2013, for features #EB34, #EHSS, #EL2Z, #ESR2, #ESRA, #ESRB, #ESRC, #ESRD, #EU11, #EU15, #EU17, and #EU18
March 15, 2013, for features #1883, #1884, #EQ52, and #ERLR
March 29, 2013, for features #ER0B and #ER0C
April 12, 2013, for feature #EU11 on Power 795 server (9119-FHB)
July 19, 2013, for feature #ESR2 on machine type-models 9117-MMC and 9179-MHC