RE: Offload from the AS/400

["Kahn, David" <KAHN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Art,

You have a problem. If your client is prepared to go for such a high
risk strategy as opposed to a simple low risk one it sounds as if
they've already made their minds up for whatever reason.

Maybe you can get them to look at this way. During the last 5 years the
company's business has grown. That growth is due obviously to their
business skills, but part of it must be attributable to their
trouble-free system. The system that they wisely selected you to install
for them. In fact the system has been so successful that it is still
running in spite of transactions doubling from their previous volume.
It's creaking a bit of course - that's because you got them the right
size machine for the time. You didn't over-sell them. Again it shows
what a good partner you were for them.

Now supposing they go the PC route and it's successful. Will business
double again in another 5 years? Let's hope so. So what will happen to
their PC system? Will they expect that over the 5 years they won't need
to expand the hardware? Give me a break. And they'll still think the
system has been successful, and they'll be right.

Naturally as the business grows the system will have to grow with it.
But they won't be planning to scrap the entire PC system because it has
been successful. With PCs hardware growth is insidious because it's so
easy just to add a system here, a server there. And it won't be one big
highly visible expediture but a continuous drain. How will they control
it? Upgrade the AS/400, however, and not only will the system go like
lightning, but they'll be done with hardware growth for the next 5
years.

Dave Kahn, TCO, Kazakstan
=========

kahn@tengizchevroil.com   (to November 25)
dkahn@cix.compulink.co.uk (from November 26)


>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Art Tostaine, Jr. [SMTP:atostain@crecomp.com]
>Sent:  Wednesday, November 05, 1997 7:25 AM
>To:    MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
>Subject:       Offload from the AS/400
>
>During the next 5 years,  they have run their business with zero downtime due
>to
>hardware or software, and everything is going swell.
>
>Recently, their computer transactions doubled due to a new customer.  The
>revenue
>from this new customer did not double, but the amount of "data entry" did.
>
> <etc> 
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