Re: Number of installed AS/400s - (Plain Text)

"Emilio Padilla T." wrote:

> I don't know why IBM don't give the actual number of operating AS/400.

More than likely they feel no need to inform the competition as to how well IBM
is/is not doing vs. them.

> They DO have the number, I tell you why:
>
> 1. Every time you do an Upgrade, they know that is an Upgrade (They take the
> old box with them)

> 2. Every time you loose an Load disk, a control panel or a main processor
> you have to revalidate your System password (They are the only one's who can
> give it to you).
> 3. They have data on every system installed and their respective license.
>

Well, uh, yes, they do have this information. And it isn't always correct. Even
the IRS keeps better records (and I don't trust THEIRS!) In my past life as an 
IS
Manager I spent a year hounding IBM to get its AS/400 asset registration records
corrected. We had 25 machines at one time. Seems that in the early 90's the 
sales
force got a bigger bonus for selling into "new" accounts rather than existing
ones. So, instead of registering our machines all to one IBM account number they
set up new account numbers for each of our sites. IBM kept lousy records of what
software was licensed to each machine. That was a nightmare at V3 upgrade time. 
I
had to dig through invoices in "cold" storage for days to prove we had paid for
various software and features because IBM had no record of it. (Now, why 
couldn't
they have dug through THEIR copies of the invoices. I'm generally very 
satisified
w/IBM but the Accounts Payable people really SUCK big time! They are rude and
unhelpful at all times!!)

Anyway RANTMODE(*OFF). Just wanted to make the point that it isn't even certain
that IBM knows the exact number if the records aren't entered correctly in the
asset registration system and in my experience that's highly doubtful.

It IS gratifying to hear from the AS/400 division that  25% of unit shipments
last year were into new accounts (way up from 9% a few years ago). I don't know
if 25% of the $ were from new accounts. I doubt IBM would ever say. It would be
nice to know if the new sales were lots of small 170's running Domino or larger
boxes running SAP, etc.

Randy Mangham
Pacific Crest Consulting
San Diego, CA

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