IBM RAID + HBA in UAE — 405 SKUs stocked for legacy System x, POWER and Storage

The Emirates IBM RAID installed base is concentrated where cloud-migration chose not to go: Aramco-style air-gapped ADNOC refineries, SAMA-equivalent CBUAE Tier-IV banking cages, and government on-prem compliance stacks. x3850 X6 I/O Books (44X4051 full-length, 44X4049 half-length), 12Gb SAS Backplanes (44X4106, 44X4104), Brocade-OEM’d 16Gb FC HBAs (81Y1675, 95Y2389) and CN4054 10Gb virtual fabric adapters (88Y5922) are ICD’s moving SKUs into Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Aramex CAI → DXB consolidation next morning, GCC origin paperwork included.

Top 5 IBM FRU part numbers stocked for UAE

Technical anchor: the IBM raid detail customers trip on

ServeRAID M5210 (pre-Lenovo) vs M5015 legacy: the ServeRAID brand belonged to IBM through 2014 and transferred to Lenovo on 01-Oct-2014. That means ServeRAID M5015 and M5016 cards in an x3650 M4 are technically IBM-era; the ServeRAID M5210 shipped primarily post-transition under Lenovo ThinkSystem branding. Customers with a 5-to-7-year-old install base often have both generations mixed in one data center. Firmware paths for the IBM-era cards closed on the IBM Support portal after EOSL; Lenovo continues firmware support for M5210. Cache battery (BBU) replacement on both generations is the most common field action ICD handles, followed by M5100 Flash Kit V2 (47C8808) upgrades that convert BBU-protected cache to flash-backed cache for longer hold times.

IBM server models ICD supports against this category

Every SKU listed on this page is stocked against a specific host model. These are the IBM System x and POWER families that drive most of the inbound quote traffic from MENA and West African banking, government and telco procurement:

• System x3850 X6 (gen X6, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3950 X6 (gen X6, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3250 M6 (gen M6, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3500 M5 (gen M5, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3550 M5 (gen M5, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3650 M5 (gen M5, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3550 M4 (gen M4, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3630 M4 (gen M4, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical
• System x3650 M4 (gen M4, EOSL 2020-10-01) — legacy but production-critical

Delivery across the UAE

IBM raid spares ship from Cairo to Dubai via Aramex Premium or DHL Express on the CAI → DXB daily direct, landed next morning at Dubai Airport Freezone or routed through the ICD Aramex consolidation mailbox DXB for re-export across the wider Gulf. Clearance runs on Mirsal 2 electronic declaration — paper clearance is not accepted. A Certificate of Origin attested by the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce combined with the GCC Common Certificate holds duty at 0% under GCC-origin rules; non-GCC-origin lines attract the 5% Common External Tariff on CIF unless bonded at Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) for re-export within 12 months. Last-mile delivery covers Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah; Khazna, Moro Hub, Equinix DX1/DX2, Injazat and Etisalat Smart Hub are the active racks.

Why UAE enterprises source IBM RAID + HBA through ICD

Cairo-to-Dubai logistics on Aramex CAI → DXB run next-morning on the daily direct, and JAFZA bonded storage lets ICD pre-position stock duty-free for tenants re-exporting across the GCC. The practical comparison is against a Singapore or London refurb channel shipping into DXB in 5-10 days with USD invoicing and a 1-2% currency spread. ICD supplies the same IBM FRU pool at the same or lower landed cost with a half-day transit advantage and Arabic-desk support out of Cairo. Target customers: FAB, Emirates NBD, ADCB, DIB, Mashreq, ADNOC, ENOC, Emirates/Etihad MRO, DMCC and JAFZA tenants, Khazna/Moro Hub colocation cages.

Honest framing: what is really “IBM” in 2026

IBM sold the System x x86 server business to Lenovo on 01-Oct-2014. Everything branded IBM System x from 2014 forward is technically a Lenovo product inheriting the IBM lineage. ICD is explicit about this: our IBM inventory focuses on the legacy System x (M4, M5 and X6 generations), POWER Systems (POWER7, POWER8, POWER9, POWER10), and IBM Storage (DS3500, DS5100, Storwize V3700/V5000/V7000, FlashSystem 5000/9000) fleets that are end-of-manufacturer-sale but remain in mission-critical production across MENA and African banking, petrochemical, government and telecom workloads. We do not conflate these with current Lenovo ThinkSystem generations — separate catalog, separate part numbers, separate warranty path. ServeRAID as a brand belonged to IBM through 2014 and transferred to Lenovo; pre-2014 ServeRAID cards (M5015, M5016) are supported under the IBM path; M5210 is typically under the Lenovo path, and both are stocked.