The eServer i5 Versus Unix Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Say what you will about Larry Ellison and the Oracle database company he founded, but they know how to compete and are not afraid to bloody their knuckles in competitive fights with IBM and Microsoft in the relational database market, which Oracle, along with IBM, created back in the late 1970s. Nothing made this message more clear to me than building the comparisons of the new eServer i5s with Unix servers from IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Hewlett-Packard. READ MORE >

Leasing Greases IT Acquisitions, Pumps the Economy
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Like many ideas in the computer industry, the on-demand and capacity-based pricing models that many IT vendors are toying with these days are a blast from the past with a new twist. While companies on both sides of the bargaining table have been trying to figure out how to do utility pricing for IT gadgets and software, traditional leasing continues to be a way for companies large and small to use computing equipment without having to pay for it all up front. READ MORE >

Prepare for Wrenching IT Personnel Changes Now
by Nate Viall

Over the last few months, several national salary and staffing reports have highlighted the decline in employee morale, especially in the IT sector. Depending on the survey, between 40 and 60 percent of IT professionals indicate a willingness or desire to change companies. For IT managers and corporate executives, the risk of expensive turnover and the resulting decline in productivity grows higher each month as the general economy moves into a recovery. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Access Disconnect
by Victor Rozek

From the very beginning, technology has been a two-edged sword. As our ancestors discovered, fire warms, but it also burns. We harnessed electrical power but lost the wonder of free flowing rivers. We enjoy the unprecedented mobility afforded by automobiles, but our air is polluted, our roads are congested, and teenagers find a handy means to increase pregnancy rates. Cell phones offer convenience but are counterbalanced by the annoyance of hearing the damn things going off in public places and the intrusive expectation that we will always be reachable. READ MORE >

  But Wait, There's More

IBM Reaches 2,000 Installations of SAP Apps on OS/400 Servers . . . Plan to JAM with WAM in October . . . Disk Array Sales Up 6.5% in First Quarter, Says IDC . . . There Are 20,000 Partitioned Machines in OS/400 Land . . . Like, No Kidding: IT Morale Is Low . . . READ MORE >

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