IBM Preps Big Data, Cloud “Project Sparta” Announcements For October 9

October 8, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

April was a busy month for IBM with a slew of Power Systems and IBM i announcements, and October is shaping up to be a busy time, too.

IBM has sent out the invitations to an online event that it is hosting on October 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern that will talk about “the new PureSystems Family Member,” to quote Big Blue, that will “accelerate big data and cloud with Expert Integrated Systems.”

A story last week in the Wall Street Journal‘s All Things D column said that IBM was fixing to launch some new iron that was developed under the code-name “Project Sparta” and would be a member of the PureSystems family, and didn’t know any more about it than that. I don’t either. But I would not be surprised to see IBM do something interesting with its Flex System modular systems, Storwize V7000 disk arrays, flash drives, and Hadoop data-munching software. The Flex System iron was, of course, developed under the code-name “Project Troy,” and perhaps that means Helen is IBM chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty?

As for the cloudy side of these announcements, it is anybody’s guess. IBM could be tuning up its homegrown SmartCloud cloud control freak, which it uses to run its own SmartCloud public cloud and which it also bundles on its PureSystems infrastructure setups based on the Flex System iron, in some new fashion with other wares. But as I say, PureSystems are already cloudy.

You might be thinking that IBM will be putting its new Power7+ chips into Flex System iron, but I got the strong impression from Steve Sibley, director of worldwide product management for IBM’s Power Systems division, when I spoke to him about the Power770+ and Power 780+ machines that these were the only two boxes that were going to get the new Power7+ chips this year and that the other machines in the lineup would not get the new chip until 2013 as part of a “rolling thunder” upgrade that cascades down the line of rack and blade servers.