RE: Justification to upgrade -- MIDRANGE-L


Ken,

Without a technical case based on capacity or performance, you're
probably left with dollars as a rationale.  I'm assuming that your
management doesn't get the same warm and fuzzy feeling about new
technology that many of us on this list get.  If you are considering
using LPAR with fractional processors, you may have a technical case as
well.

Here are some thoughts:

I'm basing the below on the assumption that you would upgrade to an i825
with the Enterprise feature and no additional processors.

- Your software will transfer.  Even though the new machine is a P30,
maintain your license at P40 in case you ever upgrade back into a P40.
When you renew your software subscription, you can do so at the P30 rate,
which may be lower than you are currently paying (even with Software
Support thrown in).

- Your existing software subscription should migrate to the new box with
the upgrade, so you will get hit with the new support agreement at the
same time whether you upgrade or not.

- If you use the higher capacity drives and the faster DASD controllers,
you can get away with fewer enclosures, thus potentially a smaller
footprint and lower maintenance costs.

- An MES upgrade does not come with a warrantee (even if you throw out
all of the old hardware), so there will be no period in which you are not
paying maintenance.  Maintenance costs are generally lower on new
hardware.

- There may be some software in the Enterprise package which is of value
to your company.

- If I read the documentation correctly, there is no upgrade path to an
i810, even though your workload would probably fit.

- Your existing hardware is worth the difference between a system
purchased new and the equivalent upgrade.  I would have your business
partner configure an upgrade of your existing system and compare the
price with the same system new.  This is the value you will lose if you
don't upgrade before October.  You will need to decide what of the
existing PCI hardware you intend to keep.

- I know of at least one major iSeries customer which is really ripped
that they are losing their upgrade path on short notice in the middle of
a budget cycle.  I know that they are pleading their case with IBM,
perhaps IBM will relent.

Those are some thoughts anyway.  Your payback, if any, will probably come
from maintenance costs, potentially lower software support, and avoiding
the loss of trade-in value.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse



> On Behalf Of Graap, Ken
> Subject: Justification to upgrade
> 
> I went to the IBM announcement yesterday and learned about the
> impressive
> new iSeries line.
> 
> Our business is still being run on our old Model 730 8-way with a 1510
> interactive feature. 1/2 our disk is PCI, 1/2 is still the older SPD
> technology.
> 
> I was shocked to hear that the upgrade path from a 7XX to an 8XX system
> goes
> away in October 2003!
> 
> My task is to convince management that it makes business sense to spend
> money and upgrade to the new product line.
> 
> We don't really have a performance case either. Our current system is
> actually a little under utilized because we bought the largest machine
> we
> could afford a few years ago to prepare for the migration of our
> mainframe
> applications to the iSeries along with a new implementation of Lawson.
> This
> additional load didn't turn out to be as much as we thought it might
> be.
> 
> In fact, we only use about 25-30% of the available CPU processing power
> on a
> regular basis. It is nice to have an average interactive transaction
> response time of .20 seconds though, but it doesn't help my case!
> 
> Anyway, I was wondering if any of you would like to share some thoughts
> on
> some advantages for upgrading to new iSeries technology as it becomes
> available. I have a feeling that it will be a hard sell convincing
> management that it makes business sense to spend money in this tight
> economy, for an upgrade when system capacity isn't an issue.
> 
> thanx in advance for all your input.
> 
> Kenneth
> --
> ********************************
> Kenneth  E.  Graap
> IBM Certified Specialist
> AS/400 Professional
> System Administrator
> NW Natural - Information Services
> System Services
> Phone 503 226 4211 X5537
> FAX   603 849 0591
> keg@nwnatural.com
> ********************************
> 
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