Re: First time buying System i5

On 10/4/06, albartell <albartell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Now I am getting closer to a purchase/lease and have some questions about
what I will need once the box gets to the office.  Note that this is the
first System i5 we have hosted in our office so that is why the elementary
questions.


Summary:
 9406 520 0975 7350 600/30 CPW Value Edition with 2G memory
 2x 35.16GB drives; embedded ethernet; DVD; VXA internal cartridge tape
 V5.4 with one year Software Maintenance;

Full config:  <http://mowyourlawn.com/temp/Krengel_Technology_Value2_3_.pdf>
http://mowyourlawn.com/temp/Krengel_Technology_Value2_3_.pdf

Note that ISV's get software "at no addtl charge" so in the end my lease
price is on the $12,904 number which should put me at $129.04 per month (not
too shabby!).

Aaron,

the problem with this config is you are locking yourself into 600 CPW
for the next 3 years.  By this time next year quad core will be
establishing itself on the desktop. Servers will be 8 cores. You will
be running something that is 1/8th of one core. You cant run decent
programming languages and runtime frameworks on such limited CPW. Not
good for the long term. Yes, you can afford to have a worse case
scenario $150 a month boat anchor for the next 3 yrs. But your time is
valuable also. IBM mgmt has to show us all that it knows how to run a
computer company.

I am working with AIX lately as a possible exit strategy. Kind of
shocking that there is so little there in terms of value add compared
to Linux. All the software I see on the system p are recompiles of GNU
packages from Linux/Unix. Which leaves other Linux stuff behind and
not runnable on the p. Up to now the rs6000 - system p has done well
because it ran faster than other servers. That is no longer the case.
Since IBM has neglected the software side of the system p and i for so
long a case can be made that they will cut and run from PowerPC
servers. How ironic that the only place where the PowerPC remains will
be the XBox - because of MSFT software.

You are right. The price is right and yours is a good system to get.
Just a note of caution as to staying too close to IBM.

-Steve