Shearer Chats with iSociety Members About System i Subdivision

Published: August 13, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Old habits are hard to break, and it is difficult to not say "Mark Shearer, general manager of the System i division." Shearer is no longer in charge of an IBM division, but rather works as the top executive responsible for the i5/OS platform within the newly constituted Power Systems division. In any event, Shearer hosted a fireside chat with members of the iSociety user community recently, and talked a bit more about the reorganization in IBM's Systems and Technology Group.

If you missed the chat (which I did), you can read the transcript here. The chat went over the same ground that IT Jungle went over when the announcement was first made on July 19. At that time, I talked to Shearer about the Power Systems division, which marries the high-end System i products with the entire AIX-based System p line, and the Business Systems division, which includes entry and midrange System i products. I also talked about his new role at IBM, working for Ross Mauri, general manager of the Power Systems division (and formerly the GM of the System p division) and making sure i5/OS doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

Shearer confirmed that i5/OS V6R1, which is being previewed now, will be available during the first half of 2008, and reiterated that later this year IBM will ship a Power6-based blade server that is capable of running i5/OS as well as AIX or Linux.

The news that Shearer did give out in the chat is that Jim Herring, who headed up all of IBM's System i development, is now director of high end systems in the Power Systems division. Elaine Lennox, who was vice president of marketing for the System i division, is now vice president of marketing for program operations and for the mid-market program for all of IBM's systems. Mike Smith is the key architect for the i5/OS operating system and for the bundles that will go into the entry and midrange machines sold by the Business Systems division.

It is not clear who is architecting the entry and midrange System i products, but I intend to find out. This is where IBM needs to be the most aggressive in terms of technology and marketing, as we all know.

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