While IT professionals have been taking their summer vacations, IBM has been working on its iSeries product portfolio in much the same way that a farmer works on a fruit tree. It has been pruning away older products and grafting in new ones, all to create a more attractive and profitable server family. The result has been a flurry of product announcements and withdrawals.
The announcements started two weeks ago when IBM unveiled a new processor option for its iSeries Model 870 that fills a performance gap between this server and the iSeries Model 825. Ever since IBM announced its POWER4-based iSeries models back in January, it has lacked a server that could bridge the gap between the 6,600 CPW rating of its Model 825 and the 11,500 CPW rating of the Model 870. This gap has also left owners of some older AS/400s, particularly the Model 740, without a cost-effective upgrade to the current 8xx series.
The new iSeries 870-2489 represents IBM's effort to bridge this gap. Unlike the larger 870-2486, which comes with eight active and eight standby CPUs, the 870-2489 has five active and three standby CPUs. The following chart compares the new Model 870-2489 (in the middle, bold column) with the 870-2486 and the smaller Model 825.
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825-2473
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870-2489
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870-2486
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|
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Processors (Active/Total)
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3/6-way
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5/8-way
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8/16-way
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|
Performance (CPW)
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3,600 - 6,600
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7,700 - 11,500
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11,500 - 20,000
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Memory Range
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3 - 48 GB
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8 - 64 GB
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8 - 128 GB
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Disk Storage
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17.5GB - 58 TB
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17.5GB - 76 TB
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17.5 - 144 TB
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|
Maximum PCI Card Slots
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263
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336
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672
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Maximum xSeries Servers
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36
|
32
|
48
|
|
Maximum xSeries Adapters
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18
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48
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60
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Software Tier
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P30
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P40
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P40
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The entry-level Model 870 will likely be attractive to customers who are considering a high-end Model 825 and whose capacity plans indicate that they'll need more than 7,000 CPWs within one to two years. If you're in that position, you could save money by purchasing the 870-2489 now instead of buying an 825-2473 and upgrading it later. However, you should note that the 870-2489 is in the P40 software tier rather than the less expensive P30 tier of the Model 825. As such, you should perform a complete hardware and software cost analysis before you make your decision.
The End of the Road
As it was adding a new iSeries server, Big Blue also announced dates when it will withdraw other products from marketing. Here is a high-level rundown of the products IBM will no longer sell and when it will withdraw them.
- As of July 29, 2003, IBM stopped selling a large number of processor and interactive capacity card conversions. Most of these conversions involve processor and feature code upgrades of the Models 820, 830, and 840 to the Model 890.
- On October 8, 2003, the computer giant will no longer offer upgrades of the AS/400 7xx series to the iSeries 810, 825, 870, and 890. IBM has already withdrawn upgrades of the 7xx series to the original 8xx models.
- On November 21, 2003, IBM will withdraw its Models 270, 820, 830, and 840 from marketing. It will also cease to offer processor and interactive feature code upgrades within or between these models. However, it will continue to sell its entry-level Model 250.
- On March 5, 2004, the company will stop selling its 17.54 GB drives running at 10,000 RPM.
In addition, IBM announced that it will withdraw OS/400 V5R1 and all of its features and associated programs from marketing on November 21, 2003. However, customers can still get support for OS/400 V5R1 at least through May 5, 2004. That date could slip out further, as IBM is indicating that it will announce its end-of-support date for V5R1 at least 12 months in advance of that date.
More in Store
While it was fine-tuning its existing products, IBM pointed down the road at some new products in the wings. On the software front, the vendor issued a statement of direction about the impending shipment of an OS/400 version of WebSphere Portal Express. As those of you know who read my article back in June, this product should ship during the fourth quarter of this year.
On the hardware front, IBM revealed its intent to ship two new server offerings: the iSeries for Capacity BackUp and the iSeries for High Availability. While the computer giant is not offering details about these servers, it appears that both offerings will ship on the Models 825, 870, and 890. The iSeries for Capacity BackUp will be an off-site "hot spare" server with the minimum number of processors activated. When a disaster strikes, customers will be able to relocate operations to the server and activate standby processors at no charge. Because IBM will restrict this offering to disaster recovery support, prices will probably be much lower than for standard models.
By contrast, the iSeries for High Availability offering will act as an on-site mirror copy of production systems that can take over in the event of planned or unplanned outages. In a real sense, this offering will take the various high-availability rebate promotions that IBM touted over the last year and turn them into a product.
It will be interesting to see which high-availability software vendors are featured with the new offering. While DataMirror, Lakeview Technology, and Vision Solutions have fought long and hard with each other for dominance of the iSeries market, new vendors such as iTera and Maximum Availability are now making headway in this market as well. IBM may decide to include the software of these newer entrants in its upcoming offering.
While IBM's recent announcements add some interesting features to the iSeries family tree, they are only a prelude to the wholesale overhaul of the iSeries that will take place in the spring of 2004. That's when the entire product line will migrate to the next-generation POWER5 processor and a software architecture that will deliver deep integration between IBM's iSeries and pSeries servers. I'll have more to say about that announcement in future issues, so stay tuned.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
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