RE: Thank for your correspondence - The letter I got from the folks at FAST400

Al,

I'm on the fence on this one.  On one hand, sure, IBM says it will void your
contract or whatever.  Sure they can sue.  I can sue you for sending this
email to me.  Doesn't mean myself or IBM will win the lawsuit.  So, I
applaude Fast400 for venturing where few dare to tread.

On the other hand, without this type of "competition" every company would be
an IBM or Microsoft.  If IBM sold AS/400's at a lower price to more people
they'd make more money in the long run.  Maybe the best thing that will come
of this is IBM offering interactive features at a much lower cost, or a
lower base cost of the box itself.  That's what competition is for.  The
only problem is, if your opponent is already too big, you'll have little or
no luck even getting out of the starting gate.  ie... Bill Gates... he has
no competition.  He's too darned big.  No, I don't consider Linux
competition.  Not even close.

IBM wants the iSeries to be everyone's box.  By offering Linux, Apache,
etc... they are proving that.  But, until they let the rest of the core go
the route of the PC server world, they'll just be another big bully taking
their ball and going home when someone thinks outside the big blue box.

Anyhow, just felt like sharing.  This subject is not black and white...

Brad




> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
> [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Al Barsa
> Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 5:34 PM
> To: cwells
> Cc: midrange-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Thank for your correspondence - The letter I got from the folks
> at FAST400
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Last week, I gave an interview to Newswire, the Internet
> newsletter put out
> by Penton Publishing.  This promoted Colin Wells to write me the following
> correspondence.  My public reply also follows:
>
>
>  Mr. Barsa, in response to your statement from the newswire ("IBM
> will ultimately beat up Fast400"), you sure are putting a lot of
> faith in IBM.  IBM has already failed several times to defeat
> FAST400.
>
>  The response to FAST400 has been tremendous!  We have hundreds of
> customers, some with hundreds of boxes, and some with large
> multi-processors.
>
>
>  We understand that your opinion is biased.  After all, you make
> money from selling those expensive interactive cards. Please
> mention us in your next Sound-Off speech at COMMON.
>
>
> Colin Wells
> The Storage Solutions Group
>
>
>
>
> Below is my response, in the public domain:
>
>
>
> Mr. Wells,
>
> I agree that the response to FAST400 has likely been tremendous.
> (Regardless if it has or not, if I were selling it, I would be claiming
> that!)  However what you are doing threatens the entire AS/400 community.
> The interactive pricing scheme is integral to IBM's pricing strategy for
> the product line.  Whether you (or IBM) likes it or not, the ease of green
> screen programming is one of the reasons why customers pick this platform
> every day.   IBM makes this platform as the very best in the
> world, even if
> that choose not to market it effectively.  (You notice that no
> one calls it
> the iSeries, it's still the AS/400.)
>
> My opinions regarding AS/400 technology are simply my opinions, based on
> years working in this architecture.  Customers hire me (and my firm) every
> day, and groups hire me to speak frequently because they respect those
> opinions.  Privately, I speak to IBM regarding many of my thoughts about
> the product line almost every day  They are free not to take my calls, and
> not to follow my opinions, yet they take the calls and usually  take my
> opinions.  My opinions are not clouded by profit incentives, as hardware
> profit is a very small component of my business.  If my opinions get you
> mad, I am sorry.  I frequently piss-off IBM, and they are free to
> terminate
> my business partner relationships anytime they please.
>
> I recognize that many customers (including you) are mad at IBM for levying
> a premium for interactive processing power, but you need to
> understand what
> your actions will ultimately cause.  IBM is in the business of making
> money, and if IBM management doesn't make enough money, the IBM Board
> (representing the stockholders) will fire them and get new management that
> can make money.  This is a simple business proposition.
>
> You are absolutely correct that I am putting a lot of faith in
> IBM, and IBM
> will ultimately prevail.  (Their long-term track record for this is very
> good.)  In the short term, they will continue to defy your product with
> fixes that render your FAST400 impotent.  In the longer term, they will
> re-engineer OS/400 so as to not be thwartable by products like yours.
> Ultimately you will lose by one of two venues:
>
> o     IBM will change the product architecturally to put you out of
> business.
>       or
> o     If IBM fails (at thwarting your product), they will do away with the
> premium for interactive.  I understand that this is what you want, however
> this will have two consequences:
>       1).   The one you will not like:  this will put you out of business.
>       2).   The one that all AS/400 customers will not like, IBM will have
>       to raise the price of systems high enough to keep the
> iSeries portion
>       of the company viable, which will have a significant (upward) effect
>       on the price of systems.
>
> Your long term outlook is bleak.  In my opinion, any customer that
> purchases your product might be buying a fast high, but ultimately they
> will have to pay the piper.  IBM states that FAST400 will invalidate
> customer contracts for OS/400 support and service, but in reality
> I suspect
> that:
> 1).   If you have done any way near as good a job that you claim, IBM will
> have a hard time detecting this.
> 2).   IBM states that they could sue customers,. and I agree that
> they have
> that right, if they can figure out who's using it.  In reality I suspect
> that they will not do this.
>
> With reference to your last comment, I had not considered mentioning
> FAST400 at Soundoff next COMMON, but now I will consider it.  You probably
> wouldn't like what I have to say.
>
> I trust that you had a Happy Fourth of July.
>
> Regards
>
> Al
>
> Al Barsa, Jr.
> Barsa Consulting Group, LLC
>
> 400>390
>
> 914-251-1234
> 914-251-9406 fax
>
> http://www.barsaconsulting.com
> http://www.taatool.com
>
>
>
>
>
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