Re: WDS and processor question

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

> I have asked our IBM rep for a quote on WDS for a new machine we are
> considering buying.  Now, he gave me two different prices based upon whether
> it was a P5 grouping or a P10 grouping.
>
> Can someone explain to me what the heck the differece is between these two?

It's a bit of a stretch asking this question in the RPG list, but I'll 
answer it anyway, since RPG is part of WDS, it's... kinda... RPG related.

When you buy software, say for example Microsoft Office, you order one 
license for each user who runs it. If you have 50 users, you need 50 
licenses and each one costs money.

On the iSeries, you have a different scenario.  You have many users all 
running one copy of a program.  Rather than try to keep track of how many 
users are allowed to access it, they decided to do it differently. 
Depending on the size of your iSeries, they charge a different amount.  So 
a system that's intended to be able to support 50 users will pay less for 
software than a system designed for 1000 users.

Thats what P05, P10 (etc) are.  These are the "software pricing tiers" 
that are calculated based on the size of your system.  P05 is the smallest 
tier, I believe...  if you have a lower-end AS/400 or iSeries, you'll be 
in that group, and software will cost the least.  There are also P10, P20, 
P30, P40, P50 which are used for larger systems, and then you have to pay 
more.

There's a table at the following link that shows the various systems and 
their processor groups.  Unfortunately, this is an outdated table.  Maybe 
someone else on the list knows of a better one:
http://www-03.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/FQ101065