The i Upgrade Cycle Seems Par for the Course
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

As we go to press, IBM has moved into its third quarter and has sold whatever System i and Power Systems with i5/OS or i 6.1 machinery that it could in the second quarter. Hopefully, the news will be good when IBM reports its financial results this week on July 17. We'll see. The thing to keep in mind, of course, is that you have to know what par is for the i course. If you don't, you can draw some wrong conclusions about the market and have expectations that can't be met. READ MORE >

The Power Systems JS12 and JS22 Blades Versus Other i Boxes
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Over the past several weeks, I have given you the detailed feeds and speeds of the new Power6-based Power Systems machines running i5/OS V5R4 and i 6.1 and shown you how the new entry and midrange machines compared to the Power5 and Power5+ generations of System i gear. This week, I will bring it all back together and throw the JS12 and JS22 blade servers into the mix--the first blades from IBM that can support an i operating system--inside the new BladeCenter S chassis for small businesses. READ MORE >

Gartner Revises HP's Server Sales Downward for Q1
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Back in May, the analysts at Gartner put out statistics for the first quarter of 2008 for sales and shipments of servers of all kinds on a global basis. And there was much jubilation over at Hewlett-Packard, which Gartner said knocked out IBM as the top server seller globally in the quarter; HP has long-since been the top shipper. But beating Big Blue on its home systems turf is a big deal. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Mission Possible
by Hesh Wiener

Commercial trends in every productive society sometimes run to excess. Information technology may be reaching such an apogee, getting just a little too complicated for its own good, and for the good of everyone it touches. It's starting to look like computing needs to get back to basics and, if possible, to do so in good taste. There's plenty of precedent: When Victorian Britain became overwhelmed by industrialization, it spawned the Arts and Crafts design movement. Reformist ideas subsequently crossed the Atlantic to inspire Frank Lloyd Wright and foster Mission-style furniture. It's a notion that bears repeating. READ MORE >