RE: i5 Youngsters

Hardware quality may be similar but it is not the same. X86-class
servers are still engineered to a price point; POWER servers are
engineered to a desired performance/reliability standard. Price is a
factor but is not the overriding concern.

Some components are the same, but some are merely similar.

Your hardware sample size is arguably small. I've worked with over 300
AS/400s through System i systems over the years and my current employer
alone has over 1000 x86 servers. I've seen AS/400s run for years with
failed hard drives and have seen x86 servers literally have their
motherboards melt due to PSU failures. The x86 servers are "decent",
BTW, with brand-names like Dell, IBM, & Compaq.

As to software quality, specifically the OS, I'll only say this: We
rarely _have_ to apply i5/OS PTFs to fix a problem. Rarely means less
than annual. We do apply them periodically (a couple of times a year)
just to get current. There is no i5/OS "Patch Tuesday" because there
doesn't need to be one.

Funny thing, our auditors ask why we put PTFs on the iSeries but are
quick to ask why we don't patch a Windows machine.

No, the new WebSphere environment is not better. If the iSeries running
the apps & hosting the database fails we still have to roll to the BCDR
data center. We gain some redundancy in the WebSphere side but that
could have been achieved with multiple WAS instances on the iSeries.

In all other aspects the new environments is radically more complex, has
more components, more points of failure, costs more to operate, requires
more time to administer, has more difficult problem solving (involves
multiple teams v. just one), has more vendors to work with should issues
arise, and will be harder and more involved to maintain and upgrade over
time.

In theory it's more scalable and it probably is, but so is the iSeries
as we're in a 570 and are using nowhere near 16 CPUs. So where you'd
just "add a few front end servers" I'd just call IBM and get a license
to unlock a CPU.

Where it is definitely better is the capital cost of scaling, however
higher operating costs will overcome that over time.