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It may be just a little step in the right direction, but I am going into
each of my user's desktop icons (which is their Mochasoft icon
connection to the System i5), and RENAMING it from the "AS400" to the
"System_i5". No one has questioned me on this yet. It will take a
while, but I know this will EVENTUALLY change their way of referring to
our fine system!

Don

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Trevor Perry
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 6:39 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: MSFT video demos Host Integration Server

David,

I agree with you 100% that there is a strong connection to the name
"AS/400"
and our platform. It is what many people know it by. It is what many
people call it. However, there are a lot of people who call it iSeries.
And soon, there will be a lot of people who call it an i5. And, there
are already a LOT of people who call it System i - the actual brand
name.

In any circumstance, IBM calls it System i. And they are not changing it
back. Listen to all the IBMers who are directing this platform, and you
will hear System i all the time. Even Frank Soltis has begun that name
transition!

While we need to sort out ways to find all the information about the
System i (er, SystemiPortal.com? midrange.com?) without having to type
all variations of the name, we also need to understand that the family
of servers on which we work are branded System i. Recruiters will be the
last to change, since they are being told by our community that we work
on AS/400s. They don't need to be smart about the industry, they just
have to know the terms - including "subfile programming".

And while few people know what a System i may be (yet), that gives us
the opportunity to sell the concept. That is a marketing opportunity we
all should take! And since so many people know what an AS/400 is, there
is our lead in to explain the current state of branding. With a more
positive approach, and less complaining about the name we have been
given (by other people, of course) :-), we can change the world. I don't
think it is a name thing, but a comfort zone thing - and that is not a
reason to sit on our arse and keep repeating "AS/400" over and over!!

While we did not want IBM to rebrand, and while they chose a name we did
not have influence over, we now HAVE a brand. If every time someone
uttered "AS/400", and one of our community responded with - "our AS/400
grew up - it is now a System i - the best server on the planet", then
this whole topic would be moot. What sucks is that change is difficult
for most people, and especially so for programmers who are still writing
code the same way as they did 15-20 years ago.

If you can modernize your vernacular, you will appear to be modern on
your resume. Don't discount your AS/400 heritage, but embrace it, and
bring it into the 21st century brand name that we have been ...er...
well.. given!
:-)

Trevor



On 6/6/07 3:42 PM, "David Gibbs" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Trevor Perry wrote:
Everyone seems to think the marketing is for the CURRENT users of the

AS/400. So we ~must~ keep calling it an AS/400.
However, I think marketing should be to NEW and PROSPECTIVE users of
the System i.

Trevor ... that's the point.

How many of the prospective customers KNOW about the System i? It's a

new name. It has no history. Nobody has experience with it.

If I 'rebranded' midrange.com to be 'system-i-lists.com', and created
a new PHP-SYSTEM-I list, do you think many people would subscribe to
it?
IMO, probably not ... because people have heard of midrange.com
through co-workers, trade publications, COMMON, etc. They haven't
heard of system-i-lists.com.

It's a moot point ... but if the name were iSeries ... IBM could have
created the iSeries Power5 ... a new version of an existing (and
known) brand. And then they could have marketed all the new and cool
features of the iSeries Power5.

IMO, rebranding just makes the prospective customers think that IBM
didn't have confidence in the old name.

david


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