Re: IBM i Support till 2026 -- MIDRANGE-L

As Pete mentioned, the IBM slides all use IBM i in their naming/branding.
This has been consistent over the last couple of years. In 2011 at COMMON
Annual Conference, Ian Jarman told us the reasons why they chose IBM i and
(I paraphrase) how that is a branding they believe matches the strength of
the Power brand. I think IBM recognizes that for them to rebrand after the
loud noises made (and still being made) in the community, it would be a
major disaster. Every time I hear one of the IBM team talking about our
OS, my confidence in the longevity of the name is strengthened. And, after
attending the Power TechU, I realize how strong Power and IBM i really are.

It would be wonderful if the community could get over this naming thing
and use the current branding. I think if we were to universally get on
board with IBM i, it would be even more compelling for IBM to realize they
have managed to create a long term brand - and it won't change. In
January, we will have had IBM i for 5 years, and I look forward to it
being around for at least the 14 more suggested by the charts.

BTW, the chart being mentioned has been posted by Steve Will:
http://ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com/you_and_i/2012/12/future-of-ibm-i-caac-buzz.
html

On 12/6/12 6:04 PM, "Dan Kimmel" <dkimmel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Problem is: I have no confidence it won't have another new name by 2026.
Maybe a second new name.

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Trevor Perry
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 3:04 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: IBM i Support till 2026

I wonder how many programmers will still be calling it AS/400 in 2026..

On 12/6/12 11:45 AM, "Pete Massiello - ML" <pmassiello-ml@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I didn't see anything on midrange-L, but I thought I would send out a
note to everyone so that people are aware of this in the community.

Last week during my trip to IBM Rochester, I sent a tweet (my Twitter
ID is petem59) out on twitter after Steve Will (Chief Architect IBM i)
posted a chart about 3 more releases of IBM I , with support reaching
out to about 2026. That caused quite a stir on Twitter, and all the
magazines picked up on it as well. I thought it would be good to post
here on M-L, so that everyone sees that IBM has 3 more releases
currently planned for IBM i (they don't plan further than that, so
don't read anything negative into that), and that they are currently
working on IBM i Next, and IBM i Next +1, in the lab as we speak. This
plus all the work they are doing with the next few technology refreshes
to continue to bring new features and functionality to the product.
There are great things coming on the horizon, sorry I can only discuss
what isn't on my NDAs. Of course, as Steve said the charts were
approximations, but really at 14 years out, even if they are off by 1
or 2 years off in either direction, that is great news for IBM i
customers.

In addition, I am currently part of the beta team on IBM Navigator for
i, and If you are currently using this product, you will want to jump
on the next HTTP group PTF that comes out around December 15, because
this new version is amazing. Really great UI improvements.

I think it is pretty exciting news, and certainly dispels the myth
that the IBM i is going away.

Pete

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