WHITE PAPER

Intel Xeon
Processor-based Servers
Data Center Modernization

Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on

Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers
A technical discussion of methodology, design, and benefits based
on a successful migration by one of the worlds largest banks

Table of Contents Executive Summary

Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Business Growth and
Mainframe Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Proven Methodology
for Mainframe Migration. . . . . . . . . . . 2
Establishing Business
and Technical Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Assessing the
Current Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Creating the Proposal
and Developing the
Solution Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The HSBC Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Solution Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Migration Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Results and Business Benefits. . . . . . 8
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Appendix: Mainframe
Migration Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Many enterprises rely on mainframes to support core business operations, yet the cost
and complexity of these monolithic systems can become roadblocks to innovation in
todays increasingly fast-paced business environment. Such was the case for HSBC,
one of the worlds largest banks. When heavy workloads from a new suite of loan
applications created performance and reliability issues for the HSBC mainframe in
Mexico City, the company had a choice to make: either upgrade the mainframe or
migrate existing workloads onto an alternative platform.
After a thorough review of alternatives and consultation with Intel, HSBC Mexico chose
to re-host the applications on Intel Xeon processor-based servers running Linux. The
resulting migration met or exceeded all of HSBCs goals. Performance and uptime were
improved, delivering a better experience to customers and branch office personnel.
Mainframe workloads were reduced by 2,000 MIPS and monthly service charges by
70 percent.1, The migration also improved business flexibility, making it easier to scale
and adapt applications as business requirements continue to grow.
Two factors were particularly important to the success of the HSBC mainframe migration.
The latest two-, four-, and eight-socket Intel Xeon processor-based servers
provide major advances in scalability and reliability for mission-critical workloads, while
retaining the high value and interoperability of standards-based computing platforms.
HSBC had considerable flexibility in designing its solution, and was able to meet all
requirements using a small number of powerful, cost-effective servers.

HSBC took advantage of experienced vendors and a proven methodology to

Authors: accelerate the migration and reduce risk. The company followed a step-by-step
Martin Guttmann
approach to setting goals, assessing the current environment, and designing, testing,
Principal Engineer rolling-out, and integrating its new solution. The result was a smooth migration with
Data Center Solutions, Worldwide predictable costs, timelines, and benefits.
Intel Corporation
Although every mainframe migration is unique, the basic principles required for
Rafael Daz Barriga
success are well established. This paper describes the overall migration approach and
Senior Enterprise Technology Specialist
Intel Mexico methodology employed by HSBC. It outlines a practical strategy that other companies
can use to plan and implement a high-value, low-risk mainframe migration that improves
business agility, while significantly reducing total costs.
Solution provided by:
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Business Growth A Proven Methodology for

and Mainframe Constraints
HSBC has more than 7,500 offices in
87 countries and territories around the
globe. For many years, the company
relied on a mainframe in Mexico City to
support its end-to-end banking solutions
throughout Latin America. Recently,
HSBC Mexico added a suite of 12 internally
developed, Java-based solutions to support
loan application, processing, workflow
management, business modeling, and
related services for its online customers
and branch offices.
The new applications were a huge success,
fueling more demand for loans and related
banking services. Transaction rates rose
to an average of approximately 10 million
per day, with up to 600,000 transactions
per hour during peak periods. This added
significantly to mainframe workloads,
creating performance bottlenecks and
reliability issues not only for the new
loan applications, but also for other core
banking services.
HSBC needed to resolve these issues
to maintain the quality of the customer
experience and enable additional growth.
However, decision-makers were concerned
about the costs of upgrading the
mainframe environment and wanted to
explore options for migrating workloads to
a more cost-effective computing platform.
Since moving mission-critical applications
off the mainframe represented a
fundamental shift in HSBCs strategy, a
comprehensive and systematic approach
was needed to ensure the chosen solution
would fully address both current and
future needs.
Mainframe Migration
Mainframe migrations have increased
substantially in recent years, and there
are now many experienced regional and
global system integrators, independent
software vendors (ISV), and hardware
suppliers with proven methodologies,
tools, and professional services to
assist with migrating workloads to Intel
processor-based servers. HSBC worked
with experienced vendors and took
advantage of a well-established migration
methodology throughout its assessment,
planning, and deployment efforts (Figure 1).
To ensure business and technical
issues were thoroughly explored, an
interdisciplinary team of managers,
business analysts, system and application
architects, and IT operational staff
was formed. As a first step, the team
participated in an in-depth migration
planning and technical workshop to
make certain all participants had a clear
understanding of how to conduct an
efficient and effective migration
(see the sidebar, Understanding
Mainframe Migration).
Methodology
Workshop Approach
Evaluate &
Assessment
Analyze
Understanding Mainframe
Migration
Most IT organizations will benefit from
an in-depth technical workshop provided
by a vendor with extensive experience in
mainframe migration. The entire life cycle
should be discussed, including best practices
for each of the following steps.
Reviewing the current system,
solutions, and business requirements
Developing and documenting the
proposed solutions and designs
Evaluating and testing the proposed
system architectures and infrastructure
Developing plans for proof of concept
(PoC) testing
Migrating business applications
and solutions
Upgrading the core software
infrastructure as required
Developing detailed migration plans,
schedules, and contingencies
Integrating IT operations and management
tools with migrated applications
Managing the project to ensure
milestones and deadlines are met
Solutions Business &
Overview Financial Overview
1
Plan Solution
2
Definition Design

Proof of Solution System

Migration 3
Concept Test Optimization

Infrastructure Application Operations &

Deployment 4
Deployment Roll-Out Monitoring

Figure 1. A migration methodology based on documented best practices helps to reduce cost and risk
and accelerate time to benefits.
2
 Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Establishing Business
and Technical Goals
Following the initial workshop, the team
determined the goals of the migration
based on business and technical priorities.
Defining and documenting goals early
in the project is important to provide a
framework for weighing alternatives
throughout the planning process. The
goals included:
Providing a better foundation for
business growth. A key objective
was to enable cost-effective scaling of
performance and capacity to handle
projected increases in user volumes and
application requirements, while matching
or exceeding the reliability, security,
and responsiveness of the existing
mainframe solution.
Decreasing total IT costs. Reducing
overall IT capital and operational
expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX) would
free up capital to accelerate growth and
innovation. It was clear that moving key
workloads off the mainframe onto lower-
cost systems would reduce hardware,
maintenance, and software licensing
costs. The team would work to maximize
the savings without sacrificing other key
requirements.
Improving IT efficiency and agility.
Assessing the Current Environment
Once goals were established, the HSBC
team began a comprehensive assessment
of its current business, technical, and
operational environments, including:
Physical, logical, and solution
architectures across production, staging,
disaster recovery, quality assurance (QA),
and development systems (Figure 2).
All key software applications,
middleware, and utilities including the
product versions, releases, and updates.
In many cases, migrating applications
from one platform to another will require
upgrading the base software for the
targeted environment to the latest or
supported versions.
Performance, functionality, and
interoperability across the full hardware
and software solution stack. This
included identifying bottlenecks that
were impacting transaction performance.
Key mainframe interfaces, including
solution and systems interdependencies.
Integrated Assessment
Business Solutions & Applications
Integrated System Assessment
Future performance requirements based
on growth in workloads, transactions, the
number of users, and the integration of
new services.
The IT industry has developed a number
of infrastructure assessment and
inventory tools, utilities, and programs
to help with hardware and application
migrations. These tools range from simple
spreadsheets to advanced programs
that may include automated data center
discovery. Depending on the selected
tool, it may measure system workloads,
resource utilization, and dependency
mapping. It may also discover physical
and virtual IT assets, applications, and the
relationships between them. The resulting
assessment typically includes detailed
reports and graphs, and can be useful
for system design and for identifying
opportunities to virtualize infrastructure
and reduce overall costs.
Enterprise System
Infrastructure Performance

The flexibility of open system computing Staging & Development Systems

IT Operations & Management

solutions would simplify growth. However,

IT Management Framework
Infrastructure Performance

Backup Systems
excessive variability in a distributed
IT Operational Tools

Hardware Devices,
Software Utilities,

Software Drivers

Storage Devices
environment can offset this advantage
by increasing complexity. To maximize Network I/O
efficiency and agility, it would be Database
important to establish standards and Application Services
define and implement IT operational
Commercial and Custom Applications
best practices.
Operating System
Maintaining global governance. Designs
would need to meet company-wide policies, Integrated Solution and Infrastructure Assessment
including IT requirements for reliability,
availability, serviceability, and security.
They would also need to be compliant Figure 2. A comprehensive and integrated assessment of the existing infrastructure provides a foundation for
planning an efficient, low-risk migration.
with internal and external regulatory and
operational standards, including local,
national, and worldwide requirements.

3
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

The new HSBC loan solution is a suite of 12 Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition* (J2EE) applications running on IBM WebSphere*
Application Server. This solution, along with a number of other banking solutions and the IBM DB2* database, was running in two
logical partitions (LPAR) on the mainframe (Figure 3). The workloads for the loan applications were balanced across the LPARs based
on user groups. Transactions for the loan applications, as well as access to other banking solutions, were managed using a customer
information control system (CICS) transaction server.

Original System and Solution Architecture

Physical Architecture

Mainframe

Network (Redundant Connections)

Z LPAR

IBM WebSphere* Application Server

http http http http http

Loan App 1 Loan App 2 Loan App 3 Loan App 4 Loan App N

JDBC CTG

Loan Database
(IBM DB2*) Loan App TOR: TOR

Loan App AOR 1: AOR Loan App AOR 2: AOR

Mainframe
Mainframe
Logical
Logical Architecture
Architecture

Figure 3. Physical and logical architecture for the HSBC mainframe environment prior to migration. The suite of 12 loan applications was running in
two LPARs on the mainframe. The IBM DB2* database was also running on the mainframe.

4

Creating the Proposal and Developing
the Solution Architecture
Following the initial analysis, the team
reviewed options for meeting current
and future needs including upgrading
the existing mainframe and offloading
selected applications. Technical feasibility
was evaluated for each option, and
detailed return on investment (ROI) and
total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses
were developed.
The result of the analyses was a detailed
recommendation to re-host the suite of 12
loan applications on Intel Xeon processor-
based servers running Linux, while leaving
the database and other core applications
running on the mainframe. This would
eliminate the current performance
bottlenecks, reduce CAPEX and OPEX, and
make it easier to scale and adapt HSBCs
loan solutions going forward. It would
also preserve the value of the companys
mainframe investments while avoiding
both the high costs of upgrading the
mainframe and the risks associated with a
more extensive migration.
The plan included a phased migration,
which further reduced risk and increased
overall IT operational flexibility and
efficiency. The plan also included specific
recommendations to address scalability
and redundancy requirements, support
efficient integration with the existing
IT operational environment, and ensure
adherence to security and governance
requirements.
The team took advantage of the migration
project to upgrade to the latest version
of IBM WebSphere Application Server, so
technical staff would have access to the
latest features and functionality.2 They
also moved the remaining mainframe
applications into a SYSPLEX* environment
with data sharing to provide better overall
resilience for the mainframe solution.
The detailed solution architecture and
migration plan were developed by a
technical team that included a project
manager, system and application
architects, data center IT operations
personnel, database administrators,
and quality assurance staff. Business
unit stakeholders were also included to
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers
ensure the proposed architecture was Selecting the Servers
well aligned with current and projected The team reviewed the performance
business needs. and functional capabilities of a variety
This team was responsible for ensuring: of Intel Xeon processor-based servers to
ensure the proposed design and solution
Integration with the existing mainframe
architecture could fully address business
and IT operational environments
and technical needs including compute
Selection of mission-critical systems to performance; reliability, availability,
support current and planned growth and serviceability (RAS); and overall
Adherence to security and systems scalability.
compliance requirements Two-socket servers based on the Intel
Migration, testing, and deployment, Xeon processor 5600 series were selected
including PoC testing for the Web serving tier. As demonstrated
by published SPECweb2005* benchmark
Identification and mitigation of potential
scores (Figure 4), these servers can
risks to the success of the project
support up to 104,422 simultaneous user
Detailed business and financial analyses sessions in a modern web environment.
to estimate costs and determine the ROI That is more than 20 times the capacity
of older servers based on single-core
Alignment of development and testing
processors. By balancing Web server
resources between the system
workloads across two or more servers,
stabilization and platform migration
initiatives. (It was important for HSBC customers can meet the most extreme
to share the knowledge and resources performance and availability requirements
among teams while doing the migration.) simply and at relatively low cost.
Score
(Higher is better)
120,000
104422
83198
90,000
60,000
29591
30,000
15193
4555
0
SPECweb*2005
Intel Xeon processor 3.80 GHz (2 MB L2, 800 MHz FSB, single core)
Intel Xeon processor 5160 (3.0 GHz, 4 MB L2, 1333 MHz FSB, dual core)
Intel Xeon processor X5460 (3.16 GHz, 2x6 MB L2, 1333 MHz FSB, quad core)
Intel Xeon processor X5570 (2.93 GHz, 8 MB L3, 6.4 GT/s, quad core)
Intel Xeon processor X5680 (3.33 GHz, 12 MB L3 cache, 6.4 GT/s, six core)
Figure 4. Web server performance has increased substantially for two-socket Intel Xeon
processor-based servers. The latest systems based on the Intel Xeon processor 5600 series are
ideal for processing large numbers of concurrent user requests.2, (The SPECweb*2005 benchmark
score of 104422 is the geometric mean of the following results: SPECweb2005_Banking =
162000, SPECweb2005_Ecommerce = 177000, SPECweb2005_Support = 88000). 5
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Four-socket servers based on the Intel
Xeon processor 7500 series were
selected for hosting HSBCs suite of 12
Java-based loan applications, the workflow
solutions, and the IBM WebSphere
Application Server. These larger servers
deliver scalable performance for heavy,
compute-intensive workloads. With
increased memory capacity and a high-
speed, point-to-point interconnect system,
these servers support exceptionally fast
processing for high-volume transaction
workloads. The tightly-integrated
interconnect system also provides
RAS for mission-critical environments
through features such as advanced error
correction and automated link recovery.
Published benchmarks for
SPECjAppServer*2004 and
SPECjbb*2005 demonstrate the ability
of these servers to support demanding
enterprise workloads (Figure 5). Both
benchmarks measure performance for
Java application servers in a typical three-
tier environment. The first provides a
comprehensive, full-fledged, multi-tier
benchmark. The second simplifies the
Java environment to focus more intensely
on the application tier (it does not stress
the database or network).
Results for both benchmarks show
that servers based on the Intel Xeon
processor 7500 series delivered
a major leap in scalability versus
previous-generation servers, increasing
performance by 2.5 to 3.5 times. They
also demonstrate excellent scalability in
large server configurations. Eight-socket
systems supported 1.8 to 1.9 times
the workload of four-socket systems,
indicating that IT organizations can
scale up or out efficiently, depending on
their workloads and preferred strategy.
Customers can expect to see even higher
performance using the more recent Intel
Xeon processor E7 family, which provides
significantly more computing resources
and is pin-compatible with the Intel Xeon
processor 7500 series. (To view the
latest performance benchmarks as they
become available, visit http://www.intel.
com/performance/server/index.htm.)

JOPS@Standard BOPS
(Higher is better) (Higher is better)
3816799
4,000,000
24,000
20092 3,500,000
3,000,000
16,000 2,500,000
2021535
11057
2,000,000
1,500,000
8,000
4410 1,000,000
3340
537116 633897
500,000 217334
0 0
4-Socket 8-Socket 4-Socket 8-Socket
SPECjAppServer*2004 SPECjbb*2005

Intel Xeon processor X7350 Intel Xeon processor X714OM

(8 M cache, 2.9 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) (16 M cache, 3.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)

Intel Xeon processor X7460 Intel Xeon processor X7350

(16 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB (8 M cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

Intel Xeon processor X7560 Intel Xeon processor X7460

(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI) (16 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

Intel Xeon processor X7560 Intel Xeon processor X7560

(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI) (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI)

Intel Xeon processor X7560

Intel QPI - Intel QuickPath Interconnect
(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI)

Intel Xeon processor X7560

(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI)

Figure 5. Four-socket, eight-socket, and larger Intel Xeon processor-based servers deliver scalable performance for demanding Java* applications,
as demonstrated by published results on the SPECjAppServer*2004 and SPECjbb*2005 benchmarks. Based on workload requirements, HSBC selected
four-socket servers for hosting its suite of 12 Java-based loan applications.
6

Other Design Considerations
The technical team identified and
evaluated a number of design options
for the new infrastructure and worked
closely with all participants to ensure
the chosen solution would meet business
and technical requirements. This close
collaboration was fundamental to the
success of the project, enabling the team
to make better decisions faster by taking
advantage of their combined expertise.
Four of the most important design
decisions were focused on ensuring:
Scalable performance. The IBM Redbook
entitled WebSphere Application
Server V6 Scalability and Performance
Handbook provides a number of detailed
and proven design options for deploying
both horizontally- and vertically-scaled
solutions on Intel Xeon processor-based
servers. After examining several options,
the technical team chose an intelligent
load balancing solution to distribute
requests among Web servers running on
multiple physical servers. This strategy
delivers the required performance,
scalability, and security and allows
applications to scale readily as business
requirements change.
Efficient transaction management. The
new solution would have to support fast,
reliable, and secure interactions among
the loan applications and the mainframe
environment. The team reviewed a
number of design, deployment, and
configuration options based on IBM CICS*
Transaction Gateway* (CICS TG) and IBM
WebSphere MQ*. An MQ solution was
selected because it provided a better
fit with HSBC IT standards. The chosen
configuration includes MQ clients and
clustered MQ servers. Applications can
access MQ running on one server and the
queue manager running on a different
server. This design has the benefit of
reducing the number of required servers
because there is no need to implement a
full version of MQ. Accessing CICS using
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers
MQ was also found to be a good fit for
IBM WebSphere Application Server and
HSBC security requirements.
High-speed data access. The IBM
WebSphere Application Server instances
running on the Intel Xeon processor-
based servers require Java database
connectivity (JDBC) drivers to support
interactions among the loan applications
and to provide access to the DB2
database running on the mainframe.
Using the appropriate type of driver is
important to optimize performance and
security. The team reviewed and tested
Type 2 and Type 4 JDBC drivers and
ultimately selected the Type 4 driver.
Availability. IBM WebSphere Application
Server Cluster was used to support JVM
failover so transactions are guaranteed
to complete successfully in the event of
a server failure.
Using commercially available applications
can simplify mainframe migrations, since
they can typically be deployed in far
less time than custom application code
that must be developed from the ground
up. HSBC technical teams found Linux
versions of all key software components
were available for Intel Xeon processor-
based servers, including IBM WebSphere
Application Server, IBM WebSphere MQ
Client, and IBM WebSphere MQ Server.
PoC Testing
HSBC technical teams conducted PoC
testing to explore crucial design options,
address potential issues, test components,
and ensure that the proposed solutions
met business and IT requirements. The
QA mainframe system was used to access
and test the DB2 database and MQ
connectivity. PoC testing included:
Testing Java-based deployment utilities
on a subset of loan applications to
estimate the time and effort required
to deploy the full suite.
Testing the proposed architecture for
end-to-end performance, throughput,
and scalability. System performance
and load-testing measurements were
performed with Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) enabled. Metrics included average
response time, number of transactions,
number of sessions, Web server
requests, database connections and pool
size, JVM memory, CPU and I/O utilization,
system paging, and base memory
configuration. The team used CA Wily
Application Performance Management*,
Introscope*, and Customer Experience
Manager* to monitor application and
transaction performance. These and
similar applications are valuable for
monitoring performance and determining
root causes for bottlenecks in distributed
and heterogeneous environments.
Testing all critical components related
to connectivity, configuration, and
interoperability between the new
distributed platforms and the mainframe.
Especially close attention was paid to
the JDBC and to the MQ environment
(WebSphere MQ client, WebSphere MQ
server, and WebSphere MQ manager).
The testing confirmed that 64 GB of
memory per server was an optimum
configuration.
The PoC results demonstrated that the
proposed solutions met or exceeded all
current and projected requirements. Such
targeted PoC testing can be extremely
valuable, even essential, when migrating
custom applications. Testing allows technical
teams to discover and address potential
performance and operational issues early
in the design process. PoCs may not be
necessary when migrating commercial
applications to Intel Xeon processor-based
servers, since ISVs can often provide
reference designs and sizing guides as
well as best practice recommendations
that have been proven across numerous
customer implementations.
7
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers
The HSBC Solution
Solution Architecture
The high-level solution architecture for
the HSBC loan application infrastructure
is shown in Figure 6. Transaction requests
from customers and more than a thousand
branch office personnel are received and
distributed across a pair of two-socket
Web servers based on the Intel Xeon
processor 5600 series. This load-balanced
architecture provides primary failover for
high availability and can be scaled through
the addition of servers as workloads grow.
Transactions from the Web tier are
distributed across four Intel Xeon
processor 7500 series-based servers
running IBM WebSphere Application Server
on the Linux operating system (OS). Each
of these servers is configured with four
processors and 64 GB of memory. Any
transaction can be received by any Web
server and handled by any application
server. With this architecture, a failed
server or network link will not cause
service disruption, and the solution can be
scaled horizontally with additional servers
to increase scalability and availability.
Integration with the mainframe
environment is provided via the MQ clients,
which enables an application to connect
remotely or locally to an MQ queue
manager in the MQ cluster. The MQ cluster
allows multiple instances of the same
service to be hosted through multiple
queues to provide high availability,
failover, and scalability for the messaging
connections between the mainframe and
client systems.
Security was a key requirement in re-
hosting the loan applications. The SSL
protocol supports secure communication
for MQ message passing, and the
combined use of Java, IBM WebSphere
Application Server, and IBM WebSphere MQ
was crucial for enabling a quick migration
while maintaining strong security.
8
Migration Experience
Once the internal migration and initial
system testing were complete, the
new solution was integrated into
the production environment using a
phased deployment strategy. Two HSBC
branch offices were selected for pilot
deployments using a subset of the 12 loan
applications. When these deployments
were shown to meet performance
and business criteria, additional loan
applications were released to a larger
number of branch offices.
During the pilot implementations, the IT
operational tools, scripts, and utilities
were integrated into the existing IT
management and operational framework
to seamlessly manage and support the
new infrastructure and environment.
The mainframe QA test environment,
deployment, and staging systems were
extended to account for the new systems.
The success of this phase of the project
can be attributed to the very close
collaboration among multiple groups,
including the mainframe (UNIX*)
and server (Linux) teams and the IT
operational team; in particular, the
direct support and participation of the
application software engineering teams
proved to be invaluable.
Results and Business Benefits
To date, the migration and re-hosting of
the HSBC loan application suite has proven
highly successful. Mainframe workloads
were reduced by 2,000 MIPS and all of
the goals established at the outset were
achieved, including:
Higher performance. Throughput and
average response times have improved,
providing a better user experience for
customers and branch office staff.
Higher availability. Since the
migration, HSBC has experienced
no unplanned downtime.
Cost-effective scalability. The
solution has been successfully scaled
to accommodate increasing workloads
by adding Intel Xeon processor-based
servers to the application tier of the
distributed architecture. The upgrades
were performed without interruption to
application users.
Lower TCO. Maintenance fees have been
reduced by approximately 70 percent,
from USD 420,000 to USD 80,000 per
month, delivering annual savings of
more than USD 4 million.1,
Flexibility. The new architecture
allows business units, application
development teams, and IT operational
teams to enhance the loan applications
as needed, with little or no impact on
the performance and availability of the
mainframe production environment. In
addition, the new systems have enabled
business units to do online modeling
without slowing the performance of
production systems.
Increased resilience. Migrating and
re-hosting the loan applications helped
to improve both the solution design and
end-to-end operations. Workloads are
balanced with intelligent and robust
load balancing, which does not depend
on predefined user groups. This
enhanced design provides for greater
scalability and increased system and
application availability.
The value of the new solution extends
beyond the immediate technical, business,
and financial benefits of the re-hosted
loan applications. The success of the
project has further solidified HSBCs
intention to standardize on Intel Xeon
processor-based servers and the Linux
OS. The company has started migrating
other applications off the mainframe in
Mexico City and will use the re-hosting
architecture in other regions to provide
similar benefits throughout the companys
global operations. The experience gained in
the initial migration is helping to accelerate
timelines, improve ROI, and reduce related
risks for these additional projects.
 Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Final Solution Architecture

Hogan and Core

Banking Applications
LPAR
MQ*

LPAR
Load IBM DB2*
DB2
MQ
Balancer for z/OS

J
JDBC
Physical Architecture

IBM MQ
Servers
Mainframe
2-socket servers 4-socket servers
Running Linux* Running Linux
(Intel Xeon (Intel Xeon
Processor 5600 Series) Processor 7500 Series)
Logical Architecture

IBM WebSphere* Application Server Cluster

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server N

http Loan App 1 http Loan App 2 http Loan App 3 http Loan App N

MQ JDBC MQ

IBM Mainframe Logical Architecture (database and applicators)

SYSPLEX* Z LPAR 1 Database and SYSPLEX Z LPAR 2

Applications
Loan App 1: AOR Loan App 1: AOR

GSI: CICS* GSI: CICS

Loan App 2: AOR Loan App 2: AOR
Database
(IBM DB2 Z)

Loan App N: AOR Loan App N: AOR

GSI: CICS GSI: CICS

Loan App Batch Loan App Batch

(Cobol) (Cobol)

Figure 6. The new, load-balanced Intel Xeon processor-based infrastructure integrates seamlessly with the mainframe environment and will scale
easily and cost-effectively to handle future growth.

9
Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Conclusion
Migrating modern workloads from a mainframe to Intel Xeon processor-based servers can deliver fundamental
advantages, including better performance and scalability, improved business and IT agility, and lower capital
and operating costs. HSBC has realized all of these advantages in re-hosting its suite of mission-critical loan
applications. Online customers and branch office personnel are enjoying a better experience, and the company
can now scale and adapt its mission-critical loan applications more easily and without disrupting its production
environment. Since the migration, HSBC has experienced no downtime and monthly service fees have been
reduced by 70 percent, delivering annual savings of approximately USD 4 million.1
Todays Intel Xeon processor-based servers deliver the scalable performance and advanced reliability needed
to support a broad range of workloads currently running in mainframe environments. A successful migration
requires detailed planning, commitment, a team effort by multiple business and technical teams, and direct
support from senior management. A proven migration methodology, such as the one used by HSBC, can help
IT organizations deliver desired benefits quickly, while minimizing cost and risk. Professional support from an
experienced vendor is also recommended, and is available from leading system integrators, ISVs, and hardware
suppliers around the world.

10
 Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications on Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

Appendix: Mainframe Migration Checklist

ASSESSING THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
Perform a comprehensive evaluation and documentation of:
Physical, logical, and solution architectures
Performance and functionality across operational, development, staging, disaster recovery, and quality assurance infrastructure
System interfaces, interdependencies, networking, and storage
Software solution compatibility, business applications and solutions, operating system (OS), middleware, Java* Virtual machine (JVM),
database and database connections
Application, database, and transaction performance, including current bottlenecks
Future performance requirements with projected growth in workloads, transactions, and new services
Security, compliance, and IT management and operational framework
DESIGNING THE NEW SOLUTION AND SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Develop the solution architecture, including physical and logical systems that account for:
Software stack, including business applications and solutions, enterprise service bus (ESB), application server and JVM, database systems, and OS
Compute, network, and storage systems, including topology for load balancing and for horizontal and vertical scaling
Performance and scalability for current and projected workloads
System availability and maintainability
Security, compliance, and integration with IT management framework
Establish solutions for connecting to the mainframe environment, including:
Java database connectivity (JDBC) between the application server (in this case, IBM WebSphere* Application Server) and mainframe databases
Transaction management (in this case, IBM CICS* Client Gateway)
Message passing connectivity (in this case, WebSphere MQ* Client and WebSphere MQ Server)
PLANNING FOR MIGRATION, DEPLOYMENT, AND IT OPERATIONS
Develop detailed plans for migration, including:
A comprehensive functional design
Systems and solutions for production, development, test, and staging environments
Detailed migration timelines, schedules, and resources
Disaster recovery and failover solutions
Proof of concept and testing
Application migration, including tools and utilities
Final deployment and go-live
Establish testing tools and procedures for:
Performance testing and infrastructure validation
Stress and end-to-end system functionality testing
Create plans for deployment and operations, including:
On-going support and maintenance
Integration with IT management, operational tools, and procedures
Security and governance
ASSESSING AND MITIGATING RISK
Identify essential resources and potential risks to the success of the project, including:
Key stakeholders, collaborators, and resources
Internal and external team dependencies and requirements, roll-back plan
QUANTIFYING COSTS AND BENEFITS
Create detailed reports of benefits, costs, and risks, including:
Business and cost benefits, including license, systems, maintenance, and operational costs
Analyses of total cost of ownership, return on investment, capital expenses, and operational expenses, including projected cost savings

11

Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel microprocessors. Performance tests, such as SYSmark and MobileMark,
are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult
other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products.
For more information go to www.intel.com/performance.
1
Source: HSBC
2
Server configurations for application server performance on the SPECjAppServer*2004 benchmark. SPECjAppServer is a trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp.
(SPEC). Competitive numbers shown reflect results published on www.spec.org as of September 21, 2010. The comparison presented is based on the best single-node four-socket
results. For the latest SPECjAppServer2004 results, visit www.spec.org/osg/jAppServer2004.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7350 (8 M cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB): HP ProLiant* DL580 G5 platform with four Intel Xeon processors X7350 (8 M cache, 2.93 GHz,
1066 MHz FSB), 65,536 MB memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 5 Update 1 IA32 PAE, Oracle WebLogic* Server Standard Edition Release 10.3. Referenced as published at
3,339.94 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jAppServer2004/results/res2008q3/jAppServer2004-20080715-00105.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7460 (16 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB): HP ProLiant DL580 G5 platform with four Intel Xeon processors X7460 (16 M cache, 2.66 GHz,
1066 MHz FSB), 65,536 MB memory, Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 Update 2 x86_64, Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition Release 10.3. Referenced as published at 4,410.07
SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jAppServer2004/results/res2008q3/jAppServer2004-20080826-00112.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QuickPath Interconnect (Intel QPI)). Dell PowerEdge* R910 server platform with four Intel
Xeon processors X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.4GT/s Intel QPI), Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enabled, Intel Turbo Boost Technology enabled, 131,072 MB memory,
2-disk SAS 72 GB 15K RAID-0 array, Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4 x86_64. Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition Release 10.3.3. Referenced as published at 11,057
SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@standard. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jAppServer2004/results/res2010q1/jAppServer2004-20100310-00140.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI). Hewlett-Packard ProLiant DL980 G7 server platform with eight Intel Xeon processors X7560
(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI), Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition Release 10.3.3. Referenced as published at 20,092 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@
standard. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jAppServer2004/results/res2010q3/jAppServer2004-20100825-00145.html.

Server configurations for Java* performance on the SPECjbb*2005 benchmark. SPECjbb is a trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). Comparison based on
best published/submitted results on www.spec.org as of September 21, 2010.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor 7140M (16 M cache, 3.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB): HP ProLiant ML570 G4 platform with four Intel Xeon processors 7140M (16 M cache, 3.40 GHz,
1066 MHz FSB), 32 GB memory PC2-3200, Microsoft Windows Server* 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition with SP1, Oracle JRockit* 5 P27.1.0. Referenced as published at 217,334
bops. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2006q4/jbb2005-20061121-00222.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7350 (8M cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB): Dell PowerEdge* R900 server platform with four Intel Xeon processor X7350 (8M cache, 2.93GHz,
1066 MHz FSB), 64 GB memory, Microsoft Windows Server* 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition SP1, Oracle JRockit 6 P28.0.0. Referenced as published at 537,116 bops. Source:
www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2009q1/jbb2005-20090224-00592.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7460 (16 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB): Fujitsu PRIMERGY* RX600 S4 server platform with four Intel Xeon processors X7460 (16 M
cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB), 64 GB memory, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition, Oracle JRockit 6 P28.0.0. Referenced as published at 633,897
bops. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2009q1/jbb2005-20090305-00663.html.
 Four-socket Intel Xeon processor X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI): Cisco UCS* C460 M1 server platform with four Intel Xeon processors X7560 (24 M cache,
2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI), Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enabled, Intel Turbo Boost Technology enabled, 256 GB memory, 1x 73 GB disk drive, Microsoft Windows Server
2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition, IBM J9* JVM (build 2.4, JRE 1.6.0, SR5). Referenced as published at 2,021,535 SPECjbb2005 bops and 126,345 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM.
Source: www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2010q2/jbb2005-20100331-00838.html.
 Eight-socket Intel Xeon processor X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI): Hewlett-Packard ProLiant DL980 G7 server platform with eight Intel Xeon processors X7560
(24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel QPI), IBM J9 VM, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise SP1. Referenced as published score of 3,816,799 SPECjbb2005 bops and 119,275 bops/
JVM. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2010q3/jbb2005-20100816-00914.html.
 32-socket Intel Xeon processor X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel QPI): SGI Altix UV* 1000 server platform with 32x Intel Xeon processors X7560 (24 M cache, 2.26
GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel QPI), 1,048,576MB memory, SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, Oracle JRockit P28.0.0. Referenced as published score of 12,665,917 SPECjbb2005
bops and 98,952 bops/JVM. Source: www.spec.org/osg/jbb2005/results/res2010q3/jbb2005-20100616-00867.html.
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