Re: i5....continues... -- MIDRANGE-L

I was at the common presentations on the announcement.  The following text
is my personal take on that.

The center of this announcement is the Power 5 Chip.  The future of the
Power chip is virtually guarenteed, IBM has finally found a product line,
that they are selling everywhere (Sony using Power technology in many
products, T.V. game boxes run on Power technology, Motorola uses Power
technology as does Apple, and soon to be announced a 64 bit MS Windows
server version running "native" on a 9406 partition).

The new model 570, in a 4-way configuration, is nearly as powerful as a
12-way 840.  And with the fall announcement, there should be a 16-way 570,
that blows away the needs of most companies.  I've heard comments that this
new i5 will out work the largest mainframe currently available, when IBM is
done with it.

The second largest aspect of this announcement (my opinion) is that it comes
with a name change from eserver iSeries to eserver i5.  Like Windows naming
going from NT to 2000 to 2003, the i5 will go to i6 and beyond.  Those
selling to new accounts for the 9406's, are on the same footing as MS in a
naming convention sort of way.

The third is the new pricing scheme.  They are FINALLY pricing the 9406 at
the same price point as the eserver pSeries (as it's called today).  Another
great sell for new potential customers.

With the rename of iSeries to i5, and the pricing adjustment, we no longer
have the look and feel of a "legacy" or "proprietary" platform.  We are
effectively a completely "new" platform.  Now if we could only get rid of
the "mini" or "midrange" moniker!

Watch out Intel, Power 5 may be your downfall, we are on our 9th generation
of 64 bit, you are still trying.  Imagine if MS Windows desktop versions
(i.e. 98, XP) also progresses to use Power technology......  I'd bet IBM
marketing wants you to!  And oh by the way, that desktop, might also be able
to run i5/OS or AIX "natively".  I'm thinking also that 128 bit has to be
just around the corner, what then?

This is truly ground breaking and there is a lot of "meat" that I haven't
even mentioned, such as the mass improvements to CL, and the rich new set of
tools that I have only been able to scratch the surface of.

I too have been around for many IBM AS/400 announcements, but this time I
have to say WOW.

mikeh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
i5 biggot at large

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Barber" <mboceanside@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: i5....continues...


> It sounds like a 9406-8xx with different "wording"...
>
> I'm sure this is a big deal, but I must be missing
> the "silver bullet" that you get when you order one.
>
> Like the old lady used to say in the commercial,
> "Where's the meat ?"
>
> After having seen more "ground breaking" annoucements
> from IBM than I can remember, this doesn't appear to
> "break any new ground".
>
> It is "newer" and it is "faster" and it is "cheaper",
> other than that, it sounds like a Intel annoucement.
>
>
> Don wrote:
>
>
> >
> > I'm hearing that the announcement wasn't really overly exuberantly
> > recieved at COMMON...perhaps the folks there just didn't understand what
> > all they were getting....
>
>
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