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IBM Tweaks Power Systems, Flex Systems Prices
Published: October 8, 2012
by Timothy Prickett Morgan
As part of last week's Power Systems announcements, IBM tweaked a bunch of different prices in the Power Systems and Flex Systems lineup.
In announcement letter 312-113, Big Blue cut prices on disk drives in its PowerLinux 7R1 Linux-only machines, which already have artificially low prices compared to plain vanilla Power Systems 730 machines that can run AIX or IBM i in addition to Linux. I described the price differential that the PowerLinux machines enjoy here back in May, and the gap just got larger.
|
Feature |
|
Old |
New |
Percent |
| Type |
Number |
Description |
Price |
Price |
Change |
| PowerLinux 7R1 |
|
|
|
| 8246 |
EL0P |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$619 |
$589 |
-4.8% |
| 8246 |
EL0Z |
300 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$735 |
$679 |
-7.6% |
| 8246 |
EL02 |
300 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$339 |
$309 |
-8.8% |
| 8246 |
EL03 |
147 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$389 |
$369 |
-5.1% |
| 8246 |
EL1M |
146 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$389 |
$369 |
-5.1% |
| 8246 |
EL1N |
300 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$339 |
$309 |
-8.8% |
| 8246 |
EL1P |
300 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$735 |
$679 |
-7.6% |
| 8246 |
EL1Q |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$619 |
$589 |
-4.8% |
| 8246 |
ELQM |
Quantity 150 of #EL1M |
$58,350 |
$55,350 |
-5.1% |
| 8246 |
ELQN |
Quantity 150 of #EL1N |
$50,850 |
$46,350 |
-8.8% |
| 8246 |
ELQP |
Quantity 150 of #EL1P |
$110,250 |
$101,850 |
-7.6% |
| 8246 |
ELQQ |
Quantity 150 of #EL1Q |
$92,850 |
$88,350 |
-4.8% |
| Power 795 |
|
|
|
|
| 9119 |
EP2Q |
100 Proc Day CoD AIX/Linux |
$2,300 |
$2,000 |
-13.0% |
| 9119 |
EP2R |
100 Proc Day CoD IBM i |
$18,500 |
$18,700 |
1.1% |
| 9119 |
4704 |
100 Proc Day CoD AIX/Linux |
$3,300 |
$2,000 |
-39.4% |
| 9119 |
4709 |
1 Proc Day CoD |
$33 |
$20 |
-39.4% |
| 9119 |
4711 |
1 Proc Day CoD |
$23 |
$20 |
-13.0% |
| 9119 |
4712 |
100 Proc Day CoD IBM i |
$19,400 |
$18,700 |
-3.6% |
| 9119 |
4721 |
1 Proc Day CoD, IBM i |
$194 |
$187 |
-3.6% |
| 9119 |
4724 |
1 Proc Day CoD, IBM i |
$185 |
$187 |
1.1% |
IBM has also tweaked the capacity-on-demand pricing for its Power 795 servers running AIX/Linux or IBM i, slashing the price for cores you turn on for one day or 100 days when you configure them with AIX or Linux. IBM capacity-on-demand did not see a price cut per se, but IBM did normalize the price so that no matter what processor option you choose for the Power 795, it costs the same for a day or 100 days to activate a core. I am not sure why this is fair or desirable, but there it is.
In announcement letter 312-115, IBM tweaked the prices on the base Flex System chassis lowering some prices and raising others, as well as lowering disk and memory prices for the x240 Xeon E5-based server nodes and increasing some Xeon E5 processor prices. Here are the price changes:
|
Feature |
|
Old |
New |
Percent |
| Type |
Number |
Description |
Price |
Price |
Change |
| 7955 |
01M |
Flex System Manager |
$4,762 |
$6,762 |
42.0% |
| 7955 |
1771 |
200 GB 1.8-Inch SATA SSD |
$3,199 |
$2,199 |
-31.3% |
| 7893 |
3596 |
Port Upgrade for #3593 Switch |
$9,899 |
$10,999 |
11.1% |
| 7863 |
3766 |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$619 |
$589 |
-4.8% |
| 7863 |
EEM5 |
8 GB, 1600 MHz LP RDIMM |
$258 |
$270 |
4.7% |
| 7863 |
EEM6 |
32 GB, 1333 MHz LP RDIMM |
$1,558 |
$998 |
-35.9% |
| 7863 |
EEM7 |
64 GB, 1067 MHz LP RDIMM |
$4,998 |
$3,998 |
-20.0% |
| 7863 |
EEM8 |
64 GB, 1333 MHz LP RDIMM |
$8,998 |
$4,198 |
-53.3% |
| 7863 |
EEM9 |
16 GB, 1600 MHz LP RDIMM |
$438 |
$398 |
-9.1% |
| 7863 |
EHD1 |
146 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$389 |
$369 |
-5.1% |
| 7863 |
EHD3 |
200 GB SAS SFF SSD |
$3,399 |
$2,199 |
-35.3% |
| 7863 |
EHD4 |
900 GB 10K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$999 |
$899 |
-10.0% |
| 7863 |
EHD5 |
300 GB 15K RPM SAS SFF Disk |
$735 |
$679 |
-7.6% |
| 7863 |
EM17 |
16 GB, 1333 MHz LP RDIMM |
$358 |
$338 |
-5.6% |
| 7863 |
EM33 |
32 GB, 1333 MHz LP RDIMM |
$1,298 |
$918 |
-29.3% |
| 7863 |
EEMB |
32 GB, 1600 MHz LP RDIMM |
$998 |
$878 |
-12.0% |
| 7863 |
EEMC |
8 GB, 1600 MHz LP RDIMM |
$258 |
$270 |
4.7% |
| 7863 |
EP3T |
8-Core Xeon E5-2648L, 1.8 GHz |
$2,069 |
$2,389 |
15.5% |
| 7863 |
EP3U |
8-Core Xeon E5-2648L, 1.8 GHz |
$2,069 |
$2,389 |
15.5% |
| 7863 |
EP3V |
8-Core Xeon E5-2658, 2.1 GHz |
$2,019 |
$2,389 |
18.3% |
| 7863 |
EP3W |
8-Core Xeon E5-2658, 2.1 GHz |
$2,019 |
$2,389 |
18.3% |
As you can see from the table above, IBM is charging quite a bit more for the Flex System Manager that is at the heart of PureSystems iron, but has radically slashed the cost of some flash and main memory options for the box. The system is a radically new design, and IBM is no doubt trying to position again new Xeon E5 iron from Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. You'll notice a lack of price cuts for Power Systems server nodes in the PureSystems lineup in this announcement--even though the title says "Price change(s): IBM Power Systems selected model and features."
Obviously, if the Xeon-E5 x240 nodes are getting some love, I think the Power7 p260 and p460 nodes should, too.
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