RE: Happy i5/OS 2008?

Mmmmm... New Years Eve...A good time for me to provide my vision for
2008 and beyond....

Thanks for the opening :-)

Q. Would you, as a businessman, continue to invest long term in this
shrinking "AS/400" market?

Yes we will continue to invest in the platform. AS/400, iSeries, i5 and
System i are simply new names for the cool, more powerful, ever evolving
new IBM systems :-)

The current boxes are really already an RS/6000 - System P with the
OS/400 - i5/OS operating system installed on a partition. Maybe there's
more to it, but not much I bet.

The future as I see it: In 2 years the box will most likely simply be a
blade card on a Bladecenter server, so it will most likely become part
of IBM's one box strategy with the Bladecenter servers.

This is not a bad strategy for companies who want to consolidate all
their systems in a single server chassis that runs OS/400, Windows and
Linux on less expensive disk. No matter what the future holds, most
shops will still be running some combination of iSeries, Windows and
Linux and maybe even MAC servers.

For the record I plan to get a Bladecenter for all my servers as soon as
the System I blades are out.

Bottom line for RJS is whether the OS is called OS/400 or i5/OS and
regardless of where it runs we will still be supporting it because we
have a lot of customers in this market space and a lot of new and
existing applications written in RPG and CL and Java for the platform.

So as long as there's a place to run our applications and customers are
still investing in the platform, we will be there.

If your answer is yes, can you explain why a business would invest in
something that is dying?
If your answer is no, where would your new investment be - i5/OS or
non-i5/OS?

Actually Yes and No to the above question.

We are investing heavily in AS/400-iSeries-i5- System I development and
Windows and Linux development.

Over the past few years we have invested heavily in Java technology for
some of our new iSeries applications and continue to consider Java first
when we look at writing new apps. This also allows us to design and
leverage the same applications with minimal or NO changes on Windows and
Linux.

We also do a lot of RPG and .Net development for existing and other
custom applications.

As a software company owner and a realist I have to make sure my company
is viable in the iSeries and other markets during 2008 and beyond.

By using Java mixed with RPG and CL, we can position our iSeries
applications so that they can be run on other platforms as needed, so a
customer doesn't have to throw away our apps if they go to Windows or
Linux if their business and system needs change. Now that's investment
protection.

The reality is we won't be able to save every iSeries defection.
There's not enough Richards or Trevors in the world to help with that
task, but I'm with you brother. I want to see the platform survive.

Amen and a Happy New Year to All :-)

Regards,
Richard Schoen
RJS Software Systems Inc.
"Get the information you need. Now!"
Email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: http://www.rjssoftware.com
Tel: (952) 898-3038
Fax: (952) 898-1781
Toll Free: (888) RJSSOFT


-----Original Message-----
------------------------------

message: 4
date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:39:26 -0500
from: Trevor Perry <trevor@xxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: Happy i5/OS 2008?

Richard,

You are an advocate for our platform. You are, from all appearances, a
successful businessman - in the "AS/400" market. Here is a related
question
for you.

Fact: The "AS/400" market is shrinking. "AS/400"s are old, and are being
replaced - either through customers moving to another platform, or
customers
buying a System i server.

Q. Would you, as a businessman, continue to invest long term in this
shrinking "AS/400" market?

If your answer is yes, can you explain why a business would invest in
something that is dying?
If your answer is no, where would your new investment be - i5/OS or
non-i5/OS?

Trevor