Looks Like It Will be i 7 for that Future Release

Published: June 1, 2009

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If the search engine behind IBM's iSource announcement and product catalog is any guide, then it looks like Big Blue is going to call the next release of the OS/400 operating system i 7.

Check it out:

The iSource search engine at IBM has the right idea

As you can surmise from this drill down in its iSource menu system, OS/400 V5R1, V5R2, and V5R3 as well as i5/OS V5R4 are all being lumped into something IBM is calling i 5 (formerly known as i5/OS V5, somewhat inaccurately), and it even says that i 6 was formerly known as i5/OS V6 (which wasn't actually true). You can also see that IBM hasn't made its mind up about what AIX 7 will be called, or at least the people building the menus for iSource haven't.

There was nothing wrong with OS/400. And really, IS/400 is also good. But the standalone "i" is driving most of us a bit crazy. Seeing as though IBM has taken away the AS/400 division and the AS/400 name and jammed it all into one Power Systems division, it could do worse than show a little respect to the base and decide to get a little crazy and call this future release OS/400 V7R1.

Think about it. You still have some time, Big Blue. As I reported a little more than a month ago, this next major release is expected in 2010, and will most likely be concurrent with Power7 hardware. This release--oh, for fun, I am going to call it OS/400 V7R1--will have native XML support in the DB2/400 V7R1 release of the database (that felt right, natural, good). To get XML data in and out of DB2 for i today, you have to use the XML Toolkit. That future OS/400 database will also have enhanced encryption. OS/400 V7R1 will have asynchronous (geographically distributed) server clustering using IBM's PowerHA high availability clustering (which came by virtue of its DataMirror acquisition). Asynchronous clustering is only available i5/OS and i systems with PowerHA if customers use disk arrays that support geographically dispersed systems; the future i release will allow such dispersed systems clustering using the internal disk arrays inside Power Systems boxes. OS/400 V7R1 will also have tweaks to the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) that underpins virtualized AIX, Linux, and sometimes i partitions, and will make some changes in the i operating system to more automatically move got data to SSDs. That's all IBM has said so far.

And yes, I know this story, by calling it OS/400 V7R1, just screwed up the search engines of the world by just a tiny bit. Goodie for me.

RELATED STORIES

IBM Launches Power6+ Servers--Again

Come On Out, Power6+, You Win

IBM and Resellers Do the iLoyalty Blitz

i Roadmaps: Here Be Dragons

IBM drops Power7 drain in 'Blue Waters'

An Open Letter to i Shops from the Power Systems GM

Look for an Interim i Release Next Year, and i 6.2 in Early 2010

Q&A with IBM's Ross Mauri: Talking Power Systems and Power7

More Power7 Details Emerge, Thanks to Blue Waters Super

The i Platform Roadmap Is a Work in Progress

There's No i in Future, But Is There a Future in i?

It's Official: Now We're Power Systems and i for Business

                     Post this story to del.icio.us
               Post this story to Digg
    Post this story to Slashdot