Re: Is AS/400 is dead ? You control the answer to that question!

Chris,

I never wish to shut anyone out of a conversation ... the thread seemed to 
be winding down & I am sensitive to the concern that many feel that this 
should be a technical forum.  But, with the passion of your posting, I feel 
that it is appropriate to respond.  My perspective may be different than 
yours and many others on the list.  The first thing that I learned in 
business school was that product-driven strategies are usually defeated by 
market-driven strategies.

While I initially advocated "grass roots" actions when I added "you control 
the answer ..." to this thread's subject,  IBM also has a role ...

Many folks on this list have expressed concerns that the AS/400 is a mature 
product.  It seems to be "old News" to many in the media and "legacy iron" 
to many IT professionals who are aware of it in the first place.  It is not 
even known by most individuals entering the IT profession.  On the first 
night each semester of my AS/400 class, I ask my students what an AS/400 is 
... about 2 in 24 have ever heard of it.

It is clear that what we refer to as the "AS/400" or "iSeries" must be 
re-energized in the marketplace.  What we referred to in 1988 as the 
"System/38" was re-energized as the "AS/400".  What was the difference 
between the two machines ... very little.  OS/400 V1.0 was really CPF 8.0 
(CPF was the System/38's operating system ... release 7 was the last CPF 
release).  The hardware was repackaged into a rack.  While you could 
emulate System/36 applications on the machine, it was years before many 
System/36 folks moved to the AS/400.  While the media referred to the 
System/38 as "a curious machine", IBM was able to position the "AS/400" as 
a "growth architecture".  This is when the architecture took off.

This is done by the COMPETENT SPENDING of advertising dollars.  Go outside 
of this list and ask "computing professionals" what an IBM AS/400 (or 
iSeries) server is and what differentiates it from its competition?  At 
least 60% will not recognize the name and at least 90% will not understand 
the current differentiation of the AS/400 from other server families.  I 
have validated these numbers yearly over the past five years.

The AS/400 is not a commodity product (like PC's).  There has to be clear 
differentiation in the marketplace for the potential customer to understand 
what the features of the AS/400 are and what makes it special!  You get 
product differentiation through marketing.  IT IS CLEAR THAT THE AS/400 IS 
NOT CLEARLY DIFFERENTIATED IN THE MARKETPLACE.

Your remarks about advertising on soda cans and comparing the AS/400 to a 
desktop work processor were either uninformed or just unreasonably 
cynical.  I will leave it at that ...

The reason that I chose Linux in my argument is that it is the most 
strategic product enhancement that IBM has implemented after WebSphere.  To 
me, active marketing of the AS/400 is that important.  If the AS/400 
division spent the same amount on product differentiation marketing (in 
appropriate placements) as Dell does to market their commodity products, 
the topic of the AS/400 being dead would never see the light of day.

Unfortunately, higher level management within IBM might not be letting this 
happen ... it would "cannibalize" sales from the other IBM server 
families.  So we end up with the "grey" in the marketplace that is a sign 
of death!

BTW:  I "bought" the System/38 from an IBM ad & article that appeared in 
Datamation in 1978.  I was a mainframer that went to business school to 
exit the data processing profession ... the concepts behind the 
architecture were so eloquent that I chose to "re-enter" the systems 
business after I completed my degree.  I have "owned" this architecture 
since then and built my companies around it.  With both my professional 
career and my teaching career, I have done whatever I could to promote this 
architecture.

John Myers
President
Strategic Business Systems, Inc.
17 S. Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey, NJ 07446  USA
E-mail: mailto:jmyers@sbsusa.com   Phone: +1 (201) EASY 400   x131
Web:    http://www.sbsusa.com      Fax:   +1 (201) 327-6984

Free Sports League Management - Powered by AS/400
      http://www.ScoreBook.com

Get and route intelligence from your IBM AS/400 web site - WebSurvey/400
      http://www.WebSurvey400.com

Systems supporting the distribution operations of Motor Vehicle manufacturers
     http://www.VehicleSystem.com

  >    - If ANYONE FROM IBM IS LISTENING ... PLEASE MOVE MONEY INTO THE
> > MARKETING BUDGET ... EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF NEW SOFTWARE FEATURES!!!
> >
> > I would rather spend $10,000,000 telling the computing world about the
> > benefits of the AS/400 than spend $10,000,000 enabling the AS/400 to run
> > Linux.
>
>You know what, I couldn't disagree with you more. I don't think you are even
>in the ballpark of reality.
>
>There are so many things wrong with what you've said, I don't know where to
>start.
>
>Sure, we know the AS/400 is by far the best machine for what we are doing.
>But that is FOR WHAT WE ARE DOING. If you want others to look at the AS/400
>as a solution, you should consider whether or not they are doing the same
>type of computing. You wouldn't sell it as a desktop word processor, would
>you?
>
>Well, unless IBM continues to fit it with new technologies to match what the
>marketplace is interested it, the AS/400 will no more fit into the enterprise
>server market than it does the desktop word processor market.
>
>How far would your $10 million in ads go? How insane is that? You'd go around
>advertising AS/400s? To who? Why would someone go out shopping for a
>platform?
>
>Business looks to solve business needs. If you have a solution for those
>needs, then buyers might be interested. It astounds me that people think
>execs and directors are sitting around a table somewhere saying, "People, we
>need a new computing platform!"
>
>They might be saying, "We need a more reliable web site." or "We need to be
>able to tie our existing operations to the new e-business operations we are
>developing." or plain old "we need a way of getting the general ledger info
>from the company we just bought onto the desktops of the execs responsible
>for managing it."
>
>So, you'd spend $10 million to put coupons on soda cans? I hear that works
>good for advertising. And some soda drinker somewhere would suddenly say,
>"Man, I can get $5 off my next AS/400 so I'll run out and buy one!"
>
>When you think of marketing a product, try to envision the buyer you are
>trying to reach. How many ads did you see for the AS/400 (S/3x) before you
>bought your first one? When you bought it, did you buy the platform and then
>go around the company asking people if they had an application they wanted
>implemented?
>
> > On that note, let's take this conversation off line (if you want to
> > continue it) ...
>
>Does that mean that only your opinion is suitable for public forum?
>
>If David has asked us to not have conversations about this, I am sorry that I
>have missed it. I know there has been talk about opening a different list for
>such discussions, but I don't recall seeing anything that told us to shut it
>down. I am truely sorry if I missed such a post.
>
>--
>Chris Rehm
>javadisciple@earthlink.net
>If you believe that the best technology wins the
>marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.
>+---

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