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2004 

IBM launches the Center for Business Optimization, combining management consulting,  

advanced mathematical research, business performance management software capabilities and 

deep computing power to help solve some of the most complex problems facing businesses and 

government agencies around the world. The Center will draw on the analytical resources of IBM 

Research, which hosts the largest population of management scientists, mathematicians and 

computer scientists in the industry. It also will work closely with IBM's business strategy and 

business intelligence consultants of IBM Business Consulting Services, and the business 

performance management experts of the IBM Software Group. In addition, the Center for 

Business Optimization will use the computing power of IBM's global network of on demand 

supercomputing centers, including those in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Houston, Tex.; and Montpellier, 

France.  

LGIBM PC Co. announces that the joint venture will be dissolved into its separate parent 

companies, LGE and IBM Korea, effective January 1, 2005. LGIBM PC Co. was established in 

November 1996 and had become a leader in the Korean computer marketplace.  

Products & Services

The company announces the IBM eServer zSeries 890, a powerful mainframe for medium sized 

enterprise customers. It extends the capabilities of the company's flagship IBM eServer zSeries 

990 mainframe to mid sized companies at a lower entry cost and size.  

In February, an IBM eServer p690 server system with 32 POWER4+ microprocessors running 

on DB2 Universal Database v8.1 shatters the world record for computing processing power using 

half the number of chips of the competition to process 1,025,486 transactions per minute.  

On October 5, IBM announces the IBM eServer p5 520 and p5 550 Express models. Based on 

the IBM POWER5 microprocessor, these Express servers introduce mainframe inspired 

technology and performance to clients at prices and configurations that fit the budgets of even 

the smallest midsize firms. Ten days later, the company rolls out the IBM eServer p5 595 and 

eServer i5 595 to provide powerful capacity, virtualization capabilities and performance, along 

with the new 32 way IBM eServer p5 590    up to 45 percent faster and costing 45 percent less 

than its predecessor, the highly successful eServer pSeries p690. The three new systems 

introduce new economics to the IT industry by providing the ability to run over 250 virtual 

servers on a single machine. The next month, an IBM eServer p5 595 running DB2 attains a 

milestone in computing history, soaring past the barrier of three million transactions per minute 

on the TPC C benchmark and setting a new world record for computing speed.  

IBM unveils in November a pre release version of a new sleek, high density POWER5 

processor based server system    the p5 575     that can be easily clustered for high performance 

supercomputing.   

The company in May introduces the eServer i5, the first systems to be powered by the much 

anticipated POWER5 microprocessors. Running i5/OS, the next generation of OS/400, the new  

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