Re: Move to the cloud (was HTTPAPA ciphers on 7.1)

[DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Certainly cloud isn't right for all customers. I drive a Prius, great 
car, perfect for me now maybe not forever and certainly not right for 
everyone.

As to IBM losing business, bummer. But are they? Every customer that 
stays on the platform because they can move to the cloud is still a 
customer. They may still be paying other vendors in the space for 
licensing and maintenance. They DO cause me to acquire more licensing 
for my servers, we just keep ordering more. Sure I get more than one 
customer per IBM i License that's part of the reason it makes sense but 
if that customer dumps the thing instead, IBM gets nothing inperpetuity. 
The software companies get nothing. The ecosystem shrinks.

I am puzzled where the cost increases come from, as our pricing just 
keeps going down!


        - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 5/4/2020 11:01 AM, midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> <snip>
> Move to the cloud... Moooooove to the Cloud!!
>
> <vendor response>
> </snip>
>
> While you're at it cut the number IBM i licenses IBM sells, the POWER
> systems it sells, the maintenance contracts it sells by what 50% or more?  A
> cloud provider does not pay for each individual copy of IBM i they host, nor
> do they buy nearly as much hardware.  If they did the cost factor would be
> very unfavorable and on premise would be a simple sell.  Then there are the
> maintenance fees IBM does not get since the hardware/SWMA is on one or two
> systems, as opposed to 20 or 30.  The increased P level on the cloud systems
> does not make that up.
>
> How is IBM i or for that matter IBM supposed to survive with only a small
> number of customers, cloud vendors, buying the product?
>
> COMMON, PowerUP! Expo is slowly (and maybe not slowly) contracting, mainly
> due to the consolidation of OEM vendors.  When these vendors only sell to
> the cloud vendors what happens then?
>
> The move to off site hosting, "cloud", and SaaS  will only exacerbate that
> problem for both IBM and COMMON.
>
> What happens to cloud pricing (already starting to go up) when a local
> option no longer exists?  In our customer set +90% of them see savings for
> on cloud vs. on premise for 32 - 36 months.  After that, including
> maintenance, it's more costly on the cloud, sometimes significantly.
>
> The cost to come off the cloud is the dirty little secret the cloud vendors
> tend to hide.  What are the off load fees?  Check your AWS/HP/Google/cloud
> backup contracts.  Bet you'll find the offload fess and they aren't' cheap.
> How much does your cloud provider charge to off load you from the POWER
> equipment, it's not free since they have to back up to physical media and
> ship it, then there are the data transfer fees that get wild when lots of
> data go over the line.
>
> There are several other arguments to make but that's the gist of it.
> Remember Client/Server was going to save the world from the glass house
> monolithic systems?  We did that, discovered it was more expensive and
> harder to maintain, and reversed course.  Now we are tacking right back into
> the wind with "Cloud" again.  (client/server all over again in a slightly
> different configuration)
>
> I know your advising a V7R1/P5 customer but the "cloud" is not the correct
> answer in most cases.  Yes, they need to upgrade and the ciphers are about
> to force their hand.  I know you disagree, but we can agree, there is room
> for disagreement.
>
> --
> Jim Oberholtzer
> Agile Technology Architects