(InfoWorld) - IBM unveiled its System z9 mainframe, the first in a new generation of machines focused on easing security and systems management, company executives said Tuesday.

At a wide-ranging event in New York, under the three themes of openness, virtualization and collaboration, Big Blue also debuted Virtualization Engine 2.0 and talked up the company's plans to establish an industry community based on BladeCenter, dubbed Blade.org.

The z9 represents a $1.2 billion IBM development investment involving the work of 5,000 company engineers over a three-year period, according to Erich Clementi, general manager of IBM Systems.

"The mainframe has joined the mainstream and is ready to collaborate," Clementi said.

The new z9 machine can process 1 billion transactions per day, more than doubling the maximum capability of IBM's previous high-end z990 mainframe. The new machine also has twice the memory of the z990 and is a fully configured 54-way system compared to the z990's 32-way system.

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