The Four Hundred

In tough economic times, credit is what often gives consumers and companies the financial resources they need to keep plugging along, as they acquire goods and services against future revenues. The availability of credit not only helps these consumers and companies who tap into it, but it also helps those organizations extending credit. A number of generous financing deals available today will help IBM in two ways (since it can be a supplier and banker), as well as help Big Blue's customers.

IBM wants customers who have been hesitant to spend money in the third quarter, and look to be wary of spending in the fourth quarter, to nonetheless take a leap of faith, in themselves and in an economic rebound, and acquire PCs, servers, storage, and other products. IBM has a number of deals on the books at the moment that are designed to speed up the sales cycle and to spur demand. If these deals work--and history suggests that they will--they will help IBM by getting more customers to buy more equipment, thus boosting the company's current revenues. And they will boost its financing revenues in future quarters as well, giving it a modicum of insulation from future adverse economic conditions in 2003 and beyond.

Under IBM Global Financing's Total Solution Financing offering, IBM has a program called the Cross Product Financing Deferral. Customers who acquire equipment before September 30, 2002, can defer payments until January 2003. Machines eligible for this deferred financing include the following:

Under this deal, customers must buy at least $50,000 worth of equipment in any one of these categories, and spending is capped at $1 million for every category except the IBM storage products. The term for financing on the equipment is 36 months, and equipment must be installed by October 31, 2002. This deal has been in effect since July 1.

Companies with fewer than 100 employees may be eligible for another special leasing program called the SuccessLease No Payments offering, which also went into effect on July 1. Customers can acquire xSeries servers, ThinkPad laptops, NetVista PCs, store systems, software, or services, up to a maximum combined value of $100,000, under a 24- or 36-month lease, with payments deferred until January 2003. These leases include a $1 buyout provision for the end of the lease.

Finally, under the Low Rate Financing offering, from the Global Financing unit, all of the equipment available under the Cross Product offering is also eligible for low-rate financing in the United States and Canada. IBM has set the rate at 5 percent in the U.S. and 5.8 percent in Canada. This deal is a little different, in that the pSeries acquisitions can include a software bundle of WebSphere, DB2, Domino, and Tivoli Storage Manager on pSeries 610, pSeries 640, or pSeries 660 midrange servers, so long as the total purchase does not exceed $500,000. Financing terms can be between 24 and 60 months, and companies can spend up to $1 million per brand and get the low-rate financing. PC buyers need to acquire a minimum of $100,000 worth of gear, and for other brands the minimum spend is $50,000. The equipment must be installed by December 31, 2002. Various services can be bundled into hardware deals and be financed, but services cannot be financed alone under this deal.

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Improve Legacy Programs with Super/Windows

Summary:

This newly released tool for the iSeries is used to improve user and programmer productivity and efficiency.

Pop-up windows (or selection windows) are what users want to make their jobs easier and more accurate. They have been exposed to "list boxes" when on the Internet or when using a typical windows-based program. This feature makes it so that the user does not need those sticky notes and reference material at their grasp to know what value to key in entry fields.

Programmers have been reluctant to put the selection window feature in entry programs because it takes substantial programming efforts to build the information and display it on the screen. It also requires major additions to the display files.

Super/Windows easily enables pop-up selection windows to your application programs in an affordable manner. Very few changes are required to be made to your existing RPG, COBOL, and CL programs. Changes to your display files are not needed! Your existing code or table files are used to populate the information in the windows from which your users make selection. You can also use the codes file (and maintenance program) that is included with Super/Windows. One of Super/Windows' functions generates the program source for each file ID using a simple entry program where the file and descriptive information is recorded. The source can be modified to return additional fields.

You do not have to make wholesale changes to your application software, can optimize your staff's existing skills, and little user training is needed. They will welcome Super/Windows with open arms!

Business Owner Benefits:

Low Investment / High ROI as compared to leading high investment solutions that generate application software.
Immediate observable results.
Efficiency in workforce.
Faster training of users and programmers by using existing skill sets.
Gradual implementation with control of the degree of application.
its your budget: no increase in personnel and no major software expense.
License fee is $1,500 for first system and $750 for each subsequent system, no matter how many users or system size!
Annual maintenance is $300, regardless of the number of installations.

Programmer Benefits:

Installs in 5 minutes. Free 30-day trial.
Values in windows are built from your existing code and table file…nothing is "hard-coded."
The programs that retrieve the data for display are automatically generated after entry of file and key information.
Easily implemented. Only two copybook lines and 8 lines for each field to be enabled are added to each program.
No changes to display files are needed, so programs can be promoted when currently active.
Code validation routines and file definitions for the enabled codes are no longer needed in your programs.
New programs to allow users to input criteria for reports and extracts are a snap!
Examples in RPG, RPGLE, COBOL, and CLP are provided.
The system can also be used in batch environment to retrieve descriptive values to be included in reports and extract files.

User Benefits:

Improved accuracy. Invalid keyed entry causes window to pop up allowing the user to select a valid entry.
Reliance on printed code lists and manuals is reduced.
Improved efficiency. Eyes remain on the screen and keyboard with no need to access the mouse to cause a list box to appear.
Selected values are always up to date from the code or table files.
Improved customer service as entries can be selected with customer consent when in phone contact.

Click here to learn more about Super/Windows.