Re: What is an AS/400?

Thanks Scott

This was a dynamite report, which will take a while for me to digest all the 
points.  It is a bit technical in places, assuming that readers know 
significance of this or that, when some of us will not ... it needs to have 
links from each section to some kind of glossary or explanation of what is 
the significance of N-way processors for example.  Without such cross-linking 
from each comparison to a fuller definition, this presentation may not be 
suitable for ordinary employees who need data served to them with zero tools 
or zero tool training, in another contemporary thread.

Rob, if you want a high level summary of
http://www.as400.ibm.com/conslt/nt.htm

It is a D.H. BROWN white paper defining where OS/400 vs. NT are similar & 
different, their respective strengths with lovely comparative charts.  The 
results were pretty much what I expected, with a few surprises.

Each ranking, that I share here, has a large body of text going into the 
details.

Reliability, Availability, Serviceability
400 V4R3 Good with 99% uptime & no viruses
NT 4 EE   Average

Reliability
400 V4R3 Above Average - maturity, performance instrumentation
NT 4 EE   Below Average - no methodical release level tracking

Serviceability
400 V4R3 Good
NT 4 EE   Average

Scalability
400 V4R3 Above Average 64 bit with 128 bit design
NT 4 EE   Below Average 32 bit fundamentally

64-Bit Capability & Support
400 V4R3 Very Good
NT 4 EE   Average

SMP Range
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Average

Auxiliary Processor
400 V4R3 Good
NT 4 EE   Average

Internet Capabilities
400 V4R3 Average
NT 4 EE   Good

Internet Protocol Support
Both Average

Web Hosting Services
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Good

Messaging
Both Good

e-commerce
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Very Good

Java Support
400 V4R3 Good
NT 4 EE   Average
This is a surprise to me, that MS does not support portability, while IBM's 
JVM beats MS

PC Client Support
400 V4R3 Average
NT 4 EE   Good

Internet Security
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Good

Directory Services
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Below Average

Data Base Integration
400 V4R3 Very Good
NT 4 EE   Above Average

Transaction Processing Reliability
400 V4R3 Very Good
NT 4 EE   Average

Enterprise Middleware
400 V4R3 Above Average
NT 4 EE   Below Average

A summary of the report is available to their subscribers free of charge.

I'd like to see UNIX & LINUX added to this chart of which is best at what 
functions.

> From: Smildenber@Washcorp.com (Scott Mildenberger)

>  Rob,
>  
>  Although this isn't exactly what you asked for, it may help.  It is a good
>  thorough comparison of AS/400 and NT.
>  
>  http://www.as400.ibm.com/conslt/nt.htm
>  
>  Scott Mildenberger
>  
>  > -----Original Message-----
>  > From:  Rob Dixon [SMTP:rob.dixon@erros.co.uk]
>  > Sent:  Tuesday, August 08, 2000 4:21 AM
>  > To:    midrange-L@midrange.com
>  > Subject:   What is an AS/400?
>  > 
>  > I have only recently put the URL of my site on DNS, and now there is
>  > public access to it, I was thinking about what AS/400 links I might
>  > provide. 
>  > 
>  > I thought that the first AS/400 link on my own site should be to a site 
that can
>  > answer the question "What is an AS/400?".  I am looking for an 
unprejudiced
>  > factual comparison of the AS/400 with its competition. 
>  > 
>  > IBM provides  IBM AS/400e Brand Overview Guided Tour
>  > <http://www.as400.ibm.com/overview/tourindex.htm> (what a mouthfull!).
>  > Whilst it provides many excellent points, I do not think that it provides
>  > an overview that will inspire NT or Unix users to jump ship. Unless they
>  > get something positive from the top level, they may not be bothered to
>  > navigate through the links.  If, like most of the rest of the world, you
>  > knew nothing about the AS/400, would this opening page compel you to
>  > investigate further? 
>  > 
>  > If you have large numbers of small servers in your company and do not 
realise
>  > that one AS/400 might replace the lot, then you may not be impressed. You
>  > might well dismiss IBM's claim that the AS/400 is the world's most 
popular
>  > multiuser busines computer out of hand and read no further.  
>  > 
>  > What do others think?  Is there a better link? 
>  > 
>  > If there is no other link and, like me, you think the IBM link above is
>  > less than perfect, should we together create a document that we can all
>  > use?  If this is the only choice, and people post their bullet points -
>  > not essays - on the list (or send them to me direct), I would be willing
>  > to pull them together into a finished document which can be further
>  > refined over time.  I am thinking of a two or three page summary that
>  > would explain what makes the AS/400 stand out in a crowd. Since we are 
all
>  > bursting with ideas about why the AS/400 is so good, it may not be easy 
to
>  > distill these into a succinct synopsis. 
>  > 
>  > If people think that there is also a need for something more detailed,
>  > then this might be done as a second stage. 
>  > 
>  > It might also be good to provide some links to AS/400 successes - such as
>  > the reported migration from 23 AS/400's to 1600 NT Servers at Microsoft
>  > and then back again to 23 AS/400's.   I would be willing to put up links
>  > to such stories or the stories themsleves provided that they can be
>  > substantiated fully. 
>  > 
>  > Rob Dixon 

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
MIS Manager Green Screen Programmer & Computer Janitor of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 
running on AS/400 V4R3 http://www.cen-elec.com Central Industries of 
Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and electrical 
sub-assemblies
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