RE: WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BRING NEW CUSTOMERS TO THE ISERIES

> From: John Earl
> 
> TV Ads for the iSeries?  Let's think this one through.

John, I used to think much the same way you do, but lately I've been
living more in the non-IBM world and it's become clear that LOTS of
technical purchasing decisions are being made without a lot of technical
input.  Many times the iSeries doesn't make the first cut because nobody
knows what one is.  The fact that iSeries has ZERO name recognition
actually puts it in an immediate catchup position against Dell, fer
goshsakes.

I'm not saying this is right, I'm just saying it's real.

Now, this may be the strategy behind the eServer thing, which means at
least getting the eServer to have as much mindshare as Dell or
Microsoft.  Then once you've gotten in the door you can argue the finer
points of iSeries vs. pSeries.  But personally, I think IBM is missing a
HUGE marketing capability by not having the iSeries name plastered all
over America as "the box that just runs".

"It will save us $10,000,000 in support costs."

"No downtime.  Big savings."

"It practically takes care of itself."

Why do you think Microsoft is pushing their SMB stuff on TV?  It's all
about mindshare.  There's a chunk of the market that won't but something
if they didn't see at least hear about it on TV.

Joe