RE: Fast400 Value to iSeries community is less than zero -- MIDRANGE-L

Don, Brad, Chris, Ian, Leif, Nathan, Tom, James, Dave, Scott (et al...;-)

Don you wrote: "It's also a easy way to be thought an idiot and laughed out
of someone's office!"

Being somewhat of an expert at this, it doesn't bother me if people think
that about me.  LOL...!  So maybe this will make sense, maybe not...


I would think that the questions which are being raised can only be
definitively answered by "it's strictly a POV".


>From one POV, there's just one bit that separates a $100,000 machine from a
$1M machine.  Is it fair to have the same machine (except for that one bit)
but two different prices...?

>From another POV, the customer knows how much he's paying for what size
machine.  So how's he getting gipped...?


True:  the price/performance of Wintel drops a lot faster than iSeries.
False: the price/performance of the processor has a lot of bearing on the
TCO and effectiveness of the machine.
True:  IBM has delivered around 40% price/performance gains, which is
traditional in the iSeries market.

True:  iSeries has no competition.
False: Customers can't move to another platform.
True:  zSeries no longer has competition within the platform.
True:  IBM has two golden eggs.


IBM has 4 markets that compete within IBM, and overlap.  Two of those
markets have real cut-throat competition, right now, and two don't.  IBM
does all the following:  they created these 4 markets, both lead and follow
the industry trends in these markets, and are (in a sense) captive to these
markets.


For obvious reasons, IBM is attempting to merge these 4 markets:  through
marketing (eServer brand name) and software (WebSphere) and design (shared
design across the platforms, like Power4 and Project eLiza, I think it's
called).  This is a gradual process.  It's a complicated balancing act.

IBM props up the two golden eggs to the extent that customers leave these
platforms.  But mainly, IBM props up the two with the most competition.  It
may appear that IBM may decide to kill the golden geese.  They may...  But
it is more likely that they will continue to enhance those platforms, and
continue to try to merge all 4.  It's a given that all businesses have
constraints on resources.  IMV, IBM will enhance those platforms that don't
have competition to the extent that these platforms lose customers and
profits.

Again, it's a complicated balancing act.  IBM is over 300,000 individuals.
They neither march in lock-step like Hitler's army, nor operate in small
tight-knit cells as bin Laden's terrorists do.  They have conflicting goals
for these 4 markets.

That explains, to me anyway, why IBM takes a lot of actions that appear to
be contradictory.  For example, it supports OSS development, although in the
long-run the goal of OSS development is to take all of IBM's software market
away from them.  It explains why IBM charges two prices for the iSeries,
because the iSeries addresses two totally different markets.  IMV, that is
actually GOOD news, as it shows the versatility of the iSeries.


It's a fine line between what is ethical/moral/legal and what is protecting
the company's employees and shareholders.  Such a fine line that most
companies cross back-and-forth.  A company doesn't survive long, if it
doesn't aggressively pusue the market.  What is acceptable or not...  Tough
questions...  But some companies are clearly more aggressive than others.
Some companies have no compunction about pushing the limits, at every
opportunity.  To quote Joey from Friends, some companies behave like
Chandler when Joey said to him, "You are so far from the line, you can't
even SEE the line..."

"The line is a DOT to you"...  LOL...!

Companies definitely have different corporate cultures..  That's for sure.


I don't consider IBM to be extremely aggressive, when compared to M$ and the
OSS Community.

So I think it is less useful to discuss whether IBM is screwing the iSeries
Community, and more useful to discuss what the iSeries Community can do
about it.  I've already stated my opinions on this subject.  I don't want to
blow your question off, Chris, about what the iNation could do to help the
situation..  But it takes a lot of time to explain my views.

In a nutshell, the iNation has the POTENTIAL to be a direct link between IBM
and the iSeries market.  If you look at these lists, you see all the
contradictory views that are expressed about what IBM should do...  Should
OS/4i be put on Wintel...?  Should IBM develop the low-end more
aggressively...?  Should IBM put a lot more resources into support...?
Should IBM lower prices...?  Should IBM make the iSeries more
industry-standard...?  Should IBM concentrate on it's proprietary strengths
(DDS and RPG)...?  Should IBM spin off the iSeries as it's own company...?
Would the iSeries survive, if IBM did...?  I haven't seen clear answers to
these multitude of questions.  And thay don't even begin to scratch the
surface...

And lists like this one, and groups like COMMON, only reflect a very small
portion of the actual market...  It represents the most vocal, who are but
the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the total market...  Still, IBM is
charged with delivering what the market needs, and the market can't even
clearly express what it wants, let alone what it needs.


The iNation could help break this logjam, IMV.  I've written on it before,
many times...  I get so "high" thinking about the potential, that it
fatigues me to write about it...;-)  Problem is primarily that it's all
potential.. and that's all it is at this point.

The are several core problems which hold back the iNation  It will work best
if:
a) it's a 50/50 collaboration between IBM and the Community
b) it's leaders are not concentrated on consolidating their power bases
c) it's a grassroots organization
d) it's funded 50/50
e) it's run under the auspices of groups that already exist in the Community

IMV, it will only work if it's a 501(c) with a for-profit "feeder
corporation".

I don't see these as insurmountable obstacles, but I sure don't minimize
them either.


IBM is asking the Community for it's views...  Make no mistake about that.
The Consult-L thread this week was an opportunity missed.  There were some
great thoughts, but it broke down into a p*ssing-contest and the thread was
short-lived.  A gentleman from iSeries University requested comments early
this year, over on IGNITe.  Maybe he got some useful comments off-list, but
what I saw posted was less than useful.  In fact, it was quite
contradictory.

The iNation would be quite useful if there were two things:  1)  Some
filtering mechanism so the best ideas rise to the top.  2) Follow-up on
results, and adjustments made.  These are two relatively simple problems.
Or rather, these are problems that everyone connected with the iSeries deals
with each day at work.


JMHO, and as always, ICBW...


James Jay Toran (jjt)
Columbus, OH  USA
E-mail:  jt@ee.net



"Have a GREAT day...!  And a BETTER ONE TOMORROW~~~:-)" (sm)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
> [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Don
> Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 5:55 AM
> To: midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: Fast400 Value to iSeries community is less than zero
>
>
>
>
> Nathan,
>
> That's in effect what's going on now.  You buy a config of say 600 CPW,
> but are constrained to only using 45 for interactive until you "BUY" more
> interactive...
>
> Well, from a person that used to using ALL of the 1.7ghz of their servers
> on the intel platforms to look at a proposal and realize that they're
> paying $110,000USD for a machine that they can only use 45/600th of, is a
> bit of an annoyance and one helluva SOB to sell!
>
> Nathan, would you pay $110,000 for a system you were only allowed to use
> 7.5% of!?  These numbers are approximate, but close enough to what I was
> faced with this week in trying to talk a Fortune 100 client to upgrade...
>
> OH, BTW, the Intel servers would only could a couple grand....FAR from teh
> $110,000 +/- so we're faced with the same kinda scenerio Borts was down at
> JC Penney....
>
> It's also a easy way to be thought an idiot and laughed out of someone's
> office!
>
> Don in DC
>
> ------------
>
> On Thu, 8 Nov 2001, Nathan M. Andelin wrote:
>
> > From: "Don" <dr2@cssas400.com>
> > > The NON-IBM world is of the mentality that if they buy
> > > a machine that runs at 1.7ghz that they should be able to use
> > > ALL OF IT FOR THEIR APPLICATIONS...NOT have some
> > > bullshit cycle killer like CFINTxx come in and creat a forced
> > > cap on performance.
> >
> > I tend to agree that CFINT must be a public relations nightmare
> for IBM and
> > its Business Partners.  The idea of a program that does little more than
> > burn cycles sounds like a virus.  No wonder people get offended.
> >
> > Maybe the way to solve this negative perception is to remove
> the governor,
> > and license "Interactive Features" (the software) separately
> from OS/400.
> > Base the Interactive Features price on the number of active sessions the
> > software must support.  IBM may get the same revenue while avoiding the
> > consequences of installing a program that acts like a virus.
> >
> > Of course, that may not solve the problem of iSeries poor
> price/performance
> > perception.
> >
> > Nathan M. Andelin
> > www.relational-data.com