Today IBM sent out an announcement letter detailing a number of enhancements as well as a statement of direction for System z.

Statement of general direction

The System z10 will be the last server to support connections to the Sysplex Timer® (9037). Servers that require time synchronization, such as to support a base or Parallel Sysplex, will require Server Time Protocol (STP). STP has been available since January 2007 and is offered on the System z10, System z9, and zSeries® 990 and 890 servers.

The System z10 will be the last server to support Dynamic ICF expansion. This is consistent with the Statement of Direction in Hardware Announcement 107-190, dated April 18, 2007: “IBM intends to remove the Dynamic ICF expansion function from future System z servers.”

The System z10 will be the last server to support ICB-4 links. IBM intends to not offer Integrated Cluster Bus-4 (ICB-4) links on future servers. IBM intends for System z10 to be the last server to support ICB-4 links as originally stated in Hardware Announcement 108-154, dated February 26, 2008.

ESCON® channels will be phased out. It is IBM’s intent for ESCON channels to be phased out. System z10 EC and System z10 BC will be the last servers to support greater than 240 ESCON channels.

IBM intends to support optional water cooling on future high-end System z servers. This cooling technology will tap into building chilled water that typically exists within the data center for computer room air conditioning systems. External chillers or special water conditioning will typically not be required. Water cooling technology for high-end System z servers will be designed to deliver improved energy efficiency.

IBM intends to support the ability to operate from High Voltage DC power on future System z servers. This will be in addition to the wide range of AC power already supported. A direct HV DC data center power design can improve data center energy efficiency by removing the need for an additional DC to AC inversion step.

All statements regarding IBM’s plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. Any reliance on these statements of general direction is at the relying party’s sole risk and will not create liability or obligation for IBM.

The complete announcement can be found here.