V5R2 Console Recommendations

["Urbanek, Marty" <Marty_Urbanek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have always preferred dumb 5250 twinax devices as consoles because when
the chips are down, they work. However, they do take a lot of space, are no
longer sold by IBM, are not the "modern" way of doing things, etc, etc, etc.
I had a model 150 with an async ops console one time and it was terrible -
the thing would fail to reconnect half the time in the middle of touchy
procedures like IPLs for PTFs, storage dumps, etc. I am hoping the new
console technologies have come a long way since then and maybe it is time to
try again.

Which of IBM's current console approaches do you guys recommend (or not)? We
are hoping to get a new system (maybe 870) that will run several LPARs
(about 5, all OS/400). It would be great to be able to use the same device
for all the partitions and to be able to connect remotely to perform
functions like IPL, maybe even DST, etc. I guess I am asking for control
panel functions beyond initiating an IPL such as viewing SRCs, change modes,
etc. 

What about just as a multi-system console, without the control-panel
functions? Any difference in opinion without that requirement?

What have you had good results with? Any horror stories?

THANKS EVERYBODY,
-Marty