That's a "green" mainframe? To quote my IM compadres, ROFLMAO!

Actually, gargantuan mainframes can be very green, if you take into account the massive amount of server consolidation each of these nifty, though pricey, machines can make happen. According to IBM's estimates, one of the company's new System z10 (so long z9, we hardly knew you...) can offer the performance of "1,500 PC-style servers" yet occupy just 15 percent of the floor space and consume 85 percent less electricity.

You can just hear the electrical grid sigh in relief.

InternetNews was there in NYC today (me too, but I was mostly there for moral support) when IBM officially (and literally) unveiled the z10, the latest mainframe in a long line of big boxes for big corporations. If you've been following the company's Big Green initiatives, you know that no product line is being spared, least of all this one.

Rod Atkins, Vice President, IBM Systems and Technology took the stage and described how z10 fits into what he calls a looming "IT energy crisis." He reminded the crowd that "most data centers have been actually built over seven years ago." Consider then, that since 2000, IT energy requirements have roughly doubled. When those then-new data centers first swallowed those servers, the energy required to keep them humming sat at 35 to 70 watts per square foot. Currently, that figure sits at 150 - 200 watts. By 2011, projections point to 300 watts per square foot.

"We are about to hit a wall, in terms of companies, and their abilities, to deploy and deliver IT based capabilities," added Atkins.

That's where IBM's quad-core (a first!) z10 comes in. Performance-wise, four 4.4 GHz processors offer the equivalent of those aforementioned 1,500 x86 boxes, minus the huge electric bill, and in many cases, budget-busting software licensing costs. In light of these savings, plus those derived from streamlined administration, springing for a million-dollar-plus mainframe becomes easier to swallow.

Or so I'm told, because the last time that I made or authorized such an expenditure was, well, NEVER. Though one look at that swank monolith (catch a glimpse here) makes me want to run around peeling off couch cushions in hopes of finding a billionaire's billfold.

Head over to InternetNews for full coverage.