Re: NT vs AS/400 -- MIDRANGE-L

Not that it justifies the entire price difference, but you are not 
comparing apples with apples here.  There's more to the disk unit than the 
base disk enclosure.  Rochester adds the controller & microcode to those 
drives (what gives it better reliability, predictive failure analysis 
capabilities, and ability to work with the IO processors).  There is 
obviously some overhead costs associated with that work that are added to 
the price of the disk unit.  (And when you buy 3rd party disk like BCC you 
don't get those controllers or microcode, which is why some disk related 
PTF's won't work with non-IBM disk, and in fact could cause problems).

...Neil





"Avi Hecht" <avi_hecht@hotmail.com>
Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
2001/05/31 15:14
Please respond to MIDRANGE-L

 
        To:     <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
        cc: 
        Subject:        Re: NT vs AS/400


IBM is shooting themselves in the foot ...

Today you can buy a PC with 1000 MHZ speed and 20GB disk for a fracture 
what
costs an AS/400 and set it up to do the job ...
and most pci cards are accepted and there are drivers on the internet ...

We are working on a great machine, BUT ...

Avi

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Richter" <srichter@AutoCoder.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: ??? ????? 31 ??? 2001 21:37
Subject: Re: NT vs AS/400


> I hope lou and the rest of the gang in somers or armonk thinks the same
way
> as the majority that have responded on this thread.
>
> Keep in mind that our new expanded iseries is incredibly complex.  ( any
> estimate on the nbr of manuals/pages there are now ) The system requires
an
> army of people in rochester to support and enhance it. That costs a lot 
of
> money.
>
> Rochester insists on limiting the opportunity for 3rd party hardware and
> software vendors. Maybe it has to be that way. But the result is no 3rd
> party languages, no cheap hard drives, cheap io cards, or cheap main
memory.
> Very similar to the apple strategy. ( any odds on how long apple will be
in
> business ).
>
> Sales have to increase to justify the expense.  Otherwise the one who
comes
> after lou may decide to stop enhancing and start milking the existing
> business.
>
> This platform is technically outstanding. But you have to be concerned
that
> ibm with its high expenses, due to its go it alone strategy, has to 
price
> the system out of the mainstream market.  ( if you say the $12,000 270 
is
> well priced, I would agree, but you have to explain how you can make a
> profit on such a system. )
>
> suggestion: release all the hardware specs and os source code for older
> model as400s, the ones that you cant give away on ebay. maybe in a few
years
> time a whole new market for low cost, innovative as400 offshoots could
come
> to be. One that ibm can compete in and make money in just as others 
could.
>
> Steve Richter
>



+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---