IBM said it has improved the speed and security of its z900 mainframes by nearly doubling their ability to process secure web transactions.

Big Blue also introduced new mainframe software enhancements designed to improve enterprises' ability to run multiple Linux partitions on a single mainframe.

IBM claims a new expansion card that sets up encrypted communications with the Secure Sockets Layer standard, used to set up secure web pages for tasks, can handle 3850 transactions per second - nearly twice that of its predecessor.

It also now works with Linux partitions.

"While our competitors are just now offering features invented by IBM decades ago, customers are turning to the z900 for the performance only it can deliver today," said John Morris, vice president, IBM eServer zSeries.

IBM also introduced the latest release of z/OS, the operating system for the z900, extending its Intelligent Resource Director (IRD) to customers running Linux and z/VM on the mainframe.

IRD is designed to automatically reallocate system resources to the work that need them the most.

In addition, the new z/OS technology includes Intrusion Detection Services for z/OS, which scan incoming data for threats and provide protection against denial-of-service attacks.

The company unveiled an advanced server-to-server networking technology, called HiperSockets, which allows high-speed information transfers among mainframe partitions.

Previously, external network connections were the only way to handle such communication.

Mainframes have been sold by many companies such as Hitachi Data Systems, Amdahl and Unisys, yet few, like IBM, report 30 per cent growth in the company's most recent quarter.

IBM claims that customer interest in the eServer z900 for its performance, reliability and security, along with its ability to consolidate football fields full of Sun and HP servers, has been responsible, in part, for the past four consecutive quarters of double digital growth of the mainframe.