While IBM has been spending billions on software companies, it hasn't ignored the hardware side of its business. The company last week unveiled a large number of new storage products and introduced servers based on its quad-core Power 5+ processors.

Quad-core is hot. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices plan to add quad-core processors to their product lines over the next year, and computer makers are expected to quickly introduce servers using the more powerful CPUs. IBM is getting a jump on those chip vendors by expanding its System p5 servers and cutting prices for the entry-level markets as well as its traditional midrange and high-end customers.

Turbo Power

IBM added several platforms and enhanced products to its storage line. At the high end, the company introduced the IBM System Storage DS8000 Turbo models. The DS8100 Turbo and DS8300 Turbo are based on IBM's Power 5+ processor and provide a performance improvement of up to 15% for transaction processing workload environments compared with the previous DS8000 platform.

The enhancements include the use of a 4-Gbytes-per-second Fibre Channel Fiber Connection that allows for the reduction of the number of network resources needed to simplify management and reduce infrastructure costs, says Charlie Andrews, director of product marketing for IBM systems storage.

The overall cost of the new system, Andrews says, includes a 25% lower base system list price than was available on previous comparable systems.