IBM Goes After Windows with User-Priced System i Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

After years and years of complaints that IBM has not done enough to make the AS/400, iSeries, and System i5 lines more competitive with Windows on X86 and then X64 boxes, Big Blue has now codified a new set of entry i5 servers based on its Power5+ processors that is sold on a per-user basis instead of as a system with a set price tag. By shifting to user-based pricing, IBM hopes to be able to make a more compelling case that an i5 hardware and software stack is competitive with a Windows-X64 stack. READ MORE >

IBM Upgrades High-End System i5 Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The rumor mill panned out on this one. Two months ago, I told you that I was hearing that IBM was considering upgrading its high-end System i5 595 server with its fastest Power5+ processors, and that has indeed come to pass. In addition to upgrading the i5 595 processors, the company has also tweaked its i5/OS pricing on the midrange i5 550 and 570 servers as well as on the 595 box to make it more amenable and economical to use i5/OS as an application serving platform. READ MORE >

Wheeling and Dealing to Move System i Iron
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Last week was IBM's semi-annual i5/OS and OS/400 platform announcement, and that means it is time to tell a new story about the platform with a new set of products, which Big Blue did with its new user-priced System i 515 and 525 servers. It also means, as Yogi Barra once said, déjà vu all over again, as the company trotted out its traditional two-step rebate deal to try to encourage customers to buy an i5 520 or i5 550 machine now rather than wait until later. READ MORE >

System i and the Web: Where We've Been and Where We're Going
by Amit Ben-Zvi

Which server should have been first, and should continue to be, the predominant server for Web integration? The System i, of course. It is, after all, business applications that need to get to the Web so the functions they perform can be viewed, interacted with, and integrated with other business functions, customers, and suppliers. For a host of reasons, though, the applications that run on the Application System introduced by IBM in 1988, have, until now, had a tenuous relationship at best with the technology that brings business functionality to the Internet. READ MORE >