Re: uServer combo box

Marty,

I agree with your analysis, with one notable exception. You mentioned that
you think IBM will be able to retain current MF & 400 customers with this
strategy. I think this is certainly true at the high end, but from where I
sit on the totem poll ( with a $100K 170), it doesn't seem to be the case.

The component prices at this level of the market are forcing workloads off
of the 400 *right now*. If uServer pricing is comparable to iSeries --and
there is nothing to indicate otherwise-- then it will end up being an
enterprise class server exclusively.

What then of the small server market? Will IBM abandon it altogther? Or will
the xSeries live on to be targeted at that market?


John Taylor
Canada

----- Original Message -----
From: "Urbanek, Marty" <Marty_Urbanek@stercomm.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 10:10
Subject: RE: uServer combo box (was NT vs AS/400)


> I heard Dr. Soltis speak and he said that the PowerPC instruction set was
> stored on a ROM and that a 390 instruction set could be put there.
>
> Based on this kind of info and the IBM marketing direction of eServer (not
> nSeries) I foresee a single hardware base that encompasses all the major
> computing environments (IMHO *nix, OS/390, OS/400, NT). Perhaps some
though
> LPAR, maybe some through runtime environments, such as PASE. We know
AS/400
> and RS/6000 are mostly the same, and that PASE works by switching modes on
> the same CPU. We know Linux is supposed to be supported in iSeries LPAR
this
> year. We know that NT is architected with Hardware Abstraction Layer like
MI
> to allow use on different processors, which was proven with the Alpha, so
> therefore could be done for PowerPC. We have reason to believe OS/390
could
> run there, and we know any kind of DASD can be emulated like the Sharks
and
> Iceburgs, and that iSeries is already being positioned as a possible SAN
for
> PCs with the IXS support.
>
> So it's really not too big a jump for the high-dollar IBM camp to run
> everything on one machine. I don't think the $10,000 PC is ever going to
> have the guts to do this. What I mean is the PC vendors will never have
the
> financial incentive to make the investment that would be necessary to
> support a bunch of environments that they don't care about anyway.
>
> Is it worth enough to the big corporation to have this big expensive IBM
box
> that can run everything, rather than just use a bunch of inexpensive NT
and
> Linux boxes? It seems IBM is betting that it is with their "server
> consolidation" push. I think IBM will retain current MF and 400 customers
by
> doing this, but still not pick up any of the new guys that started out
with
> NT or Linux and have all their applications there. I don't see these guys
> ever wanting to add some CICS apps to their mix. Perhaps they can win some
> new customers with the high availability argument and centralized
management
> tools.
>
> It seems iSeries is ahead in many of these areas, but I don't think that
> means OS/400 would necessarily end up on top.
>
> -Marty


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