Larry / Rob,
For 30 years, I was always told that as your machine gets older, your maintenance will go up, IBM's way of enticing you to a new machine.
Actually, there two items, increased maintenance and MES window is going to close.
At one point, we also started acquiring used/refurbished gear instead of buying new, also a big savings, (mostly DASD)
Those used parts were covered under IBM maint.
Remember, maint was only on each frame or expansion unit, not on the parts within the unit.
I don't think part availability was ever an issue.
3 to 5 years was our average window, see history below.
9406 AS/400 RISC Series Processor was our original 510. (mid 90's)
9406 System Unit MES # 19262 from 510 to 640 upgrade. (2nd quarter 98)
9406 System Unit MES # N26616 from 640 to 830 upgrade. (2nd quarter 2001)
9606 System Unit MES # 129707-6 from 830 to 550 upgrade (3rd quarter 2005)
8205 new purchase - (1st quarter 2012)
S814 new purchase - TBD
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 9:01 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: No Power7 to Power8 MES upgrade option, entitlements, cores, etc.
Larry,
I agree in a lot of ways. And your analogy is excellent. However, if IBM jacks up their prices on maintenance of old machines is it really because parts are that hard to get, or is it an artificial jack to show you how much money you can save by going to new machines? And all the third party follow like lemmings - take IBM's prices and discount them by x%.
Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600 Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com
From: DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 05/01/2014 08:39 AM
Subject: Re: No Power7 to Power8 MES upgrade option, entitlements,
cores, etc.
Sent by: "MIDRANGE-L" <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Now Now that $30 part on ebay comes, you hope, functional and no more.
You need to know what part is required.
You need to be available to replace it.
You need to have the skill to replace it.
You need to be able to stand the downtime while the ebay part winds its
way to your facility.
Clearly if the machine is a sandbox or test perhaps you might go the
'self maintenance' route. But you sure don't want to do that for
production.
If you are busy with something else and suddenly you're changing hats
and now you're derailed into this maintenance it's lost time.
It reminds me of my cousin. He milks cows, a LOT of cows, THOUSANDS of
cows. At each of his facilities a minimum of three tanker trucks leave
every day. One of his friends saw the truck fleet owner there one day in
a VERY nice car. He suggested my cousin should truck his own milk and
not have to pay for that car. My cousin is a very good businessman. His
reply is excellent. "I make milk. I am very good at it. I don't own
trucks. I don't have drivers. I don't know highway rules. I don't have a
facility to maintain trucks. I don't have spare trucks. I don't have
backup drivers. I need that guy to bring to each facility three trucks a
day, every day, in every weather, on every holiday, with drivers, fuel,
permits, licenses, etc, without fail. I want him to make enough money by
doing that so that he ALWAYS brings those trucks. Our deal is simple, I
make milk, he ships milk. We both make money doing what we know how to
do."
- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis
www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com
On 5/1/2014 7:16 AM, rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Now there's a two headed snake.
On one hand you can expect next to nothing for your old hardware on
trade
in. I've kind of expected that for 0595's, etc.
On the other hand, if you dig used equipment, it should come cheap. Of
course, IDK what the rules are in transferring licenses to used
equipment,
or trying to get a new license. And, to keep costs down, you're
probably
going to have to consider your own maintenance. Otherwise expect to pay
through the nose because the maintenance companies are going to have to
charge through the nose for parts that are available on ebay for $30.
Rob Berendt
midrange.com
