Upgrade Paths Are Available for User-Capped Standard Edition i5 520s

Published: October 23, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

This could go down as the shortest article I have ever written. When IBM announced the i5 520 Solution Editions with user-caps two weeks ago, it was not entirely clear that there were upgrade paths for these boxes.

In fact, as it turns out, you can convert from a 20-user box to a 40-user box through a feature conversion. Specifically, you convert from i5 520 processor feature 7786, which is the 20-user machine, to feature 7787, the 40-user machine. This conversion costs $12,200, which is the $12,000 price difference between the two boxes plus $200 that is apparently for paperwork since nothing changes physically in the box.

IBM is also offering upgrades from the top-end i5 520 user-capped box, which is called the Solution Edition Growth server, to a regular i5 520 Standard Edition with feature 7785. This upgrade costs $36,000, and it converts it from a 40-user box to a box with unlimited users. If you have already activated the second core in the box and paid for the i5/OS V5R4 Standard Edition license on that core, then you are good to go. It costs $1,800 to turn on the second core in the Solution Edition Growth box, and then $21,000 to add i5/OS to it.

RELATED STORY

User-Capped i5 520s, SAP Solution Edition 520s Launched