IT Weekly story -- AS/400-iSeries

Just merely FYI.

-----Original Message-----
From: as400@th.ibm.com [mailto:as400@th.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 9:15 AM
To: as4usergroup@th.ibm.com
Subject: IT Weekly story -- AS/400-iSeries

Dear AS/400 customers;

Here are two interesting news pieces about our product.  It may be usefule
for some of you.

This story run in a UK publication -- IT Weekly.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/itweek/brief/2001/05/enterprise/

February 5, 2001

AS/400 gains in flexibility

The AS/400 has been relaunched as the iSeries 400, as part of IBM's server
overhaul. Beneath the new-look casing the range has gained features
borrowed from mainframes, writes David Norfolk

The AS/400 is a mid-sized enterprise server platform comparable in cost to
large fault-tolerant Intel models. As well as providing simple Web
services, the AS/400 can be purchased pre-configured for applications that
previously were hosted only on PC systems, such as Lotus Domino. The AS/400
offers good scalability, with the top end of the range approaching
traditional mainframe territory.

Recently restructured, the entire IBM server range has now been re-named
under the eServers brand. The eServer zSeries is what was the S/390
mainframe; the eServer pSeries was previously called the RS/6000; the
eServer iSeries used to be called the AS/400; and the eServer xSeries is
the Netfinity Intel platform.

Partitioning

So what is new, apart from the names? Well, IBM is moving its mainframe
technologies downmarket. Most interesting, in the latest iSeries 400
offerings, is the availability of logical partitioning, a feature
originally found only on mainframe systems. Logical partitions let
administrators effectively divide a server up into many independent
servers, each with its own processors, memory and disks. For example, it
lets an organisation run many Web servers on a  single piece of hardware.
If necessary, each can have its own language and currency rules, and so on.
This approach makes scaling up simple - the administrator  just starts
another logical server. Several copies of the OS/400 operating system  can
be run. Logical partitioning is supported on model AS/400e and iSeries 400
servers under a single license for an entire server. Soon, all of IBM's
servers will be able to run the Linux operating system.

Even so, the iSeries 400 offers something that is still a little different
- a high-performance, extremely reliable server that provides business
functions without fuss. It does not provide the almost limitless choice of
applications that the Intel-based pSeries does, but those applications that
most firms  really need are available, and run reliably. If necessary,
Windows NT applications can be run using an adapter board fitted to the
iSeries 400 that houses an Intel PC - or an iSeries 400 can be linked to
Intel-based servers via a high-performance interface.

All of which is to the credit of the design team that originally put the
systems together. The AS/400 was developed by Frank Soulis from his IBM
System/38 design, in Rochester, Minnesota, half a continent away from the
traditional IBM technology centres on the US East Coast.

The people who designed the AS/400 architecture and operating system,
starting in 1971, were not tied to existing designs such as IBM/370, Unix
or Digital's VMS. Those architectures tended to be used by people from the
universities on the East Coast of the US, many of whom had worked on the
Multics defence computer project in the 1960s. Those East Coast
architectures are the ancestor of today's PC designs - and even Windows NT
is ultimately derived from VMS. The AS/400 is different.

The AS/400, with its OS/400 operating system, is an inherently object-based
design. This is subtly different from being object-oriented, because the
object-based design does not use inheritance and does not allow application
programmers to create new object types. This is fundamental to the design
and  to its object encapsulation, which gives software on the AS/400 true
independence from the hardware. In effect, this is similar to the Windows
NT Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), but Microsoft's HAL has compromises.
For example, upgrading to the 64bit version of Windows will require a new
set of device drivers.

Security

Moreover, OS/400 offers an improvement in integrity, compared with
operating systems such as DOS and Windows, thanks to its strict use of
objects. In Windows, a program file and a data file are essentially the
same thing. If the CPU is executing a program and an error, or a malicious
attack such as a buffer overflow, causes execution to jump to a data file,
the CPU will continue to execute the data as if it were actually a program.
Usually, this will cause the process, or possibly the computer, to crash.
At the very least this is  obviously a nuisance, and the effects of such a
crash could be far more serious if the operating system allowed the CPU to
accidentally change data. In this way, attackers run their own programs,
imported as data, on 'secure' systems. This  is simply not possible on the
AS/400 because program object types are different to data object types -
trying to execute a data object just does not make sense. The net effect is
to deny the antivirus and security companies an otherwise profitable
business protecting OS/400 systems.

IBM's OS/400 virtual memory design is different too. Instead of supporting
a two-level system, where the file system and virtual memory are separate,
the OS/400 has single-level virtual storage, with correspondingly fewer
overheads. Everything is run in virtual memory, which extends to
accommodate all the attached storage - in effect, memory caches the entire
disk storage.

Another way in which the AS/400 is different is that it has an integrated
database, which brings advantages in throughput and performance.

These are just a few of the ways in which the AS/400 architecture is
different, but one of the effects of these differences is that the AS/400
is still an up-to-date architecture. It has been based on a 64bit Risc
architecture for  some time. Because of its absolute hardware independence,
when this new 64bit processor arrived, all its existing applications became
64bit after a simple re-compile, with no code changes necessary. Compare
this with the troubled history of 32bit - and soon 64bit - Windows
migrations.

SETTING UP THE iSERIES IS NO LONGER A SPECIALIST TASK

Until recent advances, people used to working with a PC server could find
AS/400s somewhat intimidating. Even in the smaller sizes, they are black
slabs with a few cryptic numbers on a front configuration panel, often
running from a green-screen console. IBM admits that if an AS/400 was given
to a non-specialist to install, even  with  full instructions they would
probably never get it running. In contrast, PC servers are so similar to
desktop systems that it is possible to install Microsoft Office on a PC
server and use it like a desktop PC.

Fortunately, the AS/400e  now rebranded as the iSeries 400  is
friendlier.  IBM  now supplies a graphical installation utility on CD-ROM
that can be used with a desktop PC. In much the same way as an ordinary
Windows installation utility supports configuration of remote devices, the
iSeries 400 utility runs on the PC and walks the administrator through the
steps needed to configure the system.

IT Week Labs test results indicate that IBM has taken a lot of trouble with
this  software, and that it works well. Consequently, users should be able
to take a small iSeries 400 from its box and take it to  the  stage where
it is a functioning Intranet Web server. This should take no more than half
a day, working at a relaxed pace. Perhaps the hardest part of the
installation process is interpreting IBM's pictorial instructions for
dismantling the packaging and extracting the computer.

We did experience one glitch. Our console failed to communicate with our
iSeries  400 immediately after configuration. IBM told us that this occurs
only in a small number of cases, and that the problem will soon be fixed.
Nevertheless, we had to use the front panel to reset the iSeries 400
communications port. In fact, this was remarkably easy, in conjunction with
full instructions from the CD-ROM. We simply used buttons alongside the
panel to locate the correct menu, and changed a couple of values. This
diversion made it clear that doing the whole configuration from the front
panel would not be easy.

Making the iSeries 400 less intimidating to new users is another advance
for IBM's integration of its server products. Even for small businesses it
makes the iSeries 400 a credible alternative to  the big Intel-based
servers that IBM sells at roughly equivalent prices.

SUMMARY

The AS/400 is a mid-sized server. It offers good scalability, and the top
end  of the range approaches traditional mainframe territory. The AS/400
has now been rebranded as the iSeries 400  part of the eServer  range
spanning PC servers to mainframes. The iSeries 400 is now a 64bit Risc
architecture. Because of the iSeries 400's object-based software design,
when the new 64bit processor arrived, all its existing applications became
64bit after a simple re-compile, with no code changes necessary. New models
in the range are easy to install. IBM now supplies a graphical installation
utility on CD-ROM that can be used with a PC.

The following story is in today's Investor's Business Daily.  It's a very
positive piece that speaks to the virtues of the AS/400 and bridges to
eServer iSeries.

Investor's Business Daily: IBM's 1980s-Era AS/400 Boasts Cult-Like
Following
By Sheila Riley
Investor's Business Daily
February 16, 2001

A workhorse server developed by IBM Corp. in the 1980s -- an eternity ago
in tech years -- has managed to not only avoid the glue factory but to find
a huge following of loyal fans.  It's called the AS/400, and there are
230,000 small to midsize businesses in 150 countries that still use it,
says IBM product manager, Drew Flaada.   Indeed, the AS/400 and its
successors -- the Eserver Iseries servers -- are used in 95% of Fortune 100
companies and 85% of Fortune 500 companies, he says.

The server inspires a passion that is unexpected in computer hardware
circles.  "People who use this product are more fervent than Apple users,"
said IBM spokesman Tim Dallman.

Ex-IBM employee Randy Lakner, who worked with the AS/400, is one true
believer.  "If you want to buy something that runs your business and
doesn't drive you out of business, this is the platform," said Lakner, now
Vice President of Business Integrators Inc., a Houston software and
hardware service company.  He belongs to a surprisingly large unofficial
AS/400 community.  "Worldwide, there are probably 200,000 to 300,000
'loyalists'," he said. "It's somewhat cultish or cliquish."

Lakner and the server's other vocal supporters have good reason for their
devotion, says Tom Bittman, a Stamford, Conn., analyst with research firm
Gartner Group. The server is both reliable and easy to use.  "It's very
easy to administer," he said. "It absolutely takes fewer skills to
administer an AS/400 than any other system out there doing the same
workload."  This makes it a good bet for companies focused more on the
bottom line than on having the latest and greatest technology, Bittman
says.  It's also easy to upgrade -- and it handles older applications
smoothly, he says.

Unique Capabilities

And although Microsoft Corp. and makers of UNIX software are investing
heavily in getting servers to handle "mixed workloads" -- running multiple
applications -- the AS/400 already does it, he says.  "There are some
unique capabilities in the AS/400," he said.

The AS/400 is the Lear Jet of servers, and it makes everything else look
like wheelbarrows, says another ardent supporter, Skip Marchesani, a
Newton, N.J., information technology consultant specializing in server
databases.   Marchesani, who retired after 30 years at IBM and also worked
with the AS/400, has nothing but good things to say about it.   "The AS/400
happens to be the best IT system in the industry today," he said. "Anyone
who approaches it with an open mind is amazed."

Sue Aldrich, an analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group, has unique insights
into the server. She was an IBM system programmer when she came up with the
product concept and organized a group to prove that it was technically
viable.

Varied Reasons

Why does she think her brainchild has done so well?   "The reasons are
somewhat muddled," she said. " They're partly economic and partly
emotional."  Of course, inertia may be contributing to the AS/400's staying
power.  It's tough to persuade people to look at a new system, she says.
They've invested time and money in the old one and feel they have it under
control.  What's more, the idea of moving billions of bytes of data to the
new system is daunting, Aldrich says.  AS/400's famed reliability makes
users even more nervous about upgrading, she says.  One AS/400 user has not
rebooted their server in a year and a half, Aldrich says.  And it was a
server that thousands were using every day.  "The basic architecture of
that machine was obviously well-designed. And, you can keep adding to it.
There's no incentive to move," Aldrich said.

Surviving Disasters

AS/400s also have a Calamity Jane role in server lore of surviving every
disaster and coming up smiling.  A tornado tore through an office housing
AS/400s at a Fort Worth, Texas application service provider last year.  It
forced the company to temporary digs, but workers were able to quickly
reboot the server and resume business, says IBM's Flaada.

The original, low-end AS/400 sold for $24,500. It retails today for
$10,000.   Now IBM is doing its best not to rest on its laurels.  The
AS/400 evolved into the Eserver Iseries in October. And IBM is eager to
show that, though the basics are the same, its a horse of a different
color.  "The current Iseries product line is very different from the
AS/400," Dallman said. "We've introduced new technology, but the reasons
that customers love the AS/400 are still there."

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You see only obstacles when you take your
eyes off your goals
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AS/400 User Info Club Coordinator, IBM Thailand
E-mail : as400@th.ibm.com