Re: Casino switches to AIX

Eric,

I agree wholeheartedly. When it comes to technical selling, and TCO selling,
then IBM and its business partners should be working their bums off.
Besides, I don't consider myself a salesperson, either. But I do consider
myself an iVangelist.

If the quiet minority of the iWorld were to make a lot of noise out in the
ITWorld, wouldn't more people be asking about IBM i? We have so many success
stories, and we talk amongst ourselves. And we talk about AS/400, iSeries,
System i, etc.. How much impact would we have if we all talked about the
platform with one loud voice?

Trevor



On 11/19/08 12:19 PM, "DeLong, Eric" <EDeLong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Trevor,

I really don't want to spend time on this thread, but I'll just say that
I have been a vocal proponent of IBM midrange for 25 years, and I'm
frankly getting tired of feeling like I'm doing IBM's job for them. On
one hand, it is in my best interest to try to prolong the use of this
platform, but the other hand I do not feel qualified to "sell" this
system to my employers.

I'm a technical guy, well versed in development, operations, and
administration. I understand the technology behind this system, and am
capable of designing and implementing a variety of solutions for my
employer. I AM NOT A SALESMAN! I do not know all the factors to use to
calculate TCO comparisons (POWER6 vs Intel, backup/recovery costs,
maintenance costs, etc.) and all the other "stuff" needed to convince a
business manager to adopt this platform. I don't want to be a salesman.
Isn't this what IBM's sales division and/or business partner is supposed
to do?

Please, don't misunderstand, I will always promote this platform when I
get the opportunity. However, the decision is rarely made based on a
list of esoteric technologies like SLS, or hardware independence, or
object based security... How do these factors get evaluated in a TCO
analysis? Would these factors even be included in a TCO assessment?
How do managers assess the relative merits of these technologies?

Frustrated i-guy,
Eric DeLong