3488 End of Marketing - Update/Actions

[Neil Palmer <neilp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

End of an era - IBM discontinues manufacture of twinax terminals.  (Though
anyone who actually tried to buy one from IBM in the last few years may
have thought they stopped making them years ago).  Here's an announcement
from IBM.

...Neil

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I would like to update AS/400 (i-Series) Servers regarding end of
marketing
of the 3488 InfoWindow Terminal.


New Customer Orders:
IBM RTP and IBM Greenock are not scheduling any new orders of 3488
InfoWindow Terminals.
Any new orders will not be scheduled.
Remaining supply at IBM RTP and IBM Greenock is needed for service parts.


End of Marketing Announce:
IBM PCD will announce end of marketing on February 26 (RFA 36462), as soon
as possible given when the announcement letter process was started.


Customer Options:
Customers have the following options:
    - acquire a used 5250-twinax terminal
    - purchase a PC workstation and add a 5250-twinax communications
adapter.
    - purchase a 5250-twinax terminal from another company

End of a Era:
IBM has been offering 5250-twinax terminals for AS/400 for many years, but
customer demand has slowed to a trickle in the recent time period as
people
switched to other alternatives.  It no longer makes sense for IBM to offer
this stable product, especially given that several of the 3488 components
are no longer available from our suppliers.  There was not sufficient
volume to put engineering resource into redesigning with newer components.