iSeries and OS/400 Wish List

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's probably just a coincidence that IBM goes into the planning cycle for future server hardware and operating systems in the early fall, which is just about when we all start thinking about the holidays and the gifts we might want to receive as well as to give. IBM is just starting to think about the Power6 and Power7 generations of iSeries machines and what they could be like, so I thought I would send IBM a wish list.

My iSeries and OS/400 wish list is by no means everything I could think of, and I would appreciate your input as well. I tend to think about the iSeries strategically, but you folks are managing complex OS/400 shops and programming sophisticated RPG and Java applications day in and day out. You may have a desire for something that is more important--or that's easier for IBM to wrap up as an announcement--than I do. If I have learned anything, it's that you only get the things you want by asking for them, so let's start asking. OS/400 shops can and should be part of the process of developing the iSeries, so let's knock our heads together and think of stuff.

Here's my wish list, in no particular order.

1. I want IBM to deliver a complete iSeries machine, with a uniprocessor that is capable of running any kind of application--RPG, Java, WebSphere, what have you--and supports 10 seats for $4,000. No ifs, ands, or buts. No extra software costs; I want OS/400, DB2/400, RPG and Java compilers, WebSphere Express, Domino, and anything else customers might want to buy included in this box. This is the loss leader--if it comes to that, but it shouldn't--that feeds new customers into the iSeries market. I want IBM to cap the absolute number of concurrent or named users on this puppy iSeries, so it can't be increased above this 10 user/seat limit. This will prevent people from playing games in the iSeries reseller channel. This machine should have a Power4 processor (or a PowerPC 970, if that makes more sense economically), and it should be an absolute and unequivocal rocket sled, demonstrating all the great technology the iSeries has to offer. And while I'm thinking about it, I also want a two-way version of this machine that is capped at 20 users and sells for $8,000. This will be the upgrade path from the first machine, and it will appeal to slightly larger customers. These machines should have 8 GB of main memory, 300 to 400 GB of disk capacity (not that big a deal), integrated RAID 5, and all the great features available in any Wintel or Lintel server. If IBM does this, I will launch an online store and resell them myself.
   
   
2. Rack-mounted iSeries machinery: we have all asked for this, time and again. The AS/400 started out in standard racks, and the iSeries needs to get modern in its packaging and get consistent with the rest of the industry. It hurts business when rack-mounted equipment isn't available. Time to get back to where you once belonged, IBM. Put in embedded switches, hubs, and other gear into these rack-mounted machines. Get rid of all those cables.
   
   
3. In the old days (when I was just a toddler), IBM let you choose the color of your computing equipment and the office equipment that surrounded it. (Yes, IBM used to sell whole office sets, and allowed you to color-coordinate the whole shebang.) This was radically cool, although IBM probably didn't realize it. Make black the basic color for the iSeries, but allow customers to choose their own colors for racks and servers and other equipment. Charge a premium for this. Let people paint flying tigers or their own corporate logos on them if they want. People want cool computers, and the Apple transparent packaging is already kind of passé. Don't go there. But make the iSeries attractive, and maybe people won't hide them in a data center; or if they do, they might start bragging about them and showing them off.
   
   
4. I want IBM to deliver a set of PowerPC 970 coprocessors for the entire iSeries line to be used only as application serving engines for ERP, SCM, CRM, and similar homegrown suites of software. We have Integrated xSeries Server (IxS) coprocessors for the iSeries line, which allow hybrid OS/400-Windows solutions to run. This is great, but the effect of this has been to drive applications off OS/400 and onto Windows, particularly for suites of software that support either OS/400 or Windows as an application server. I realize that this wish cuts against the grain of the logical partitioning approach that IBM has been championing. But think about it. If an iSeries processor running at 1.3 GHz and running OS/400 costs $30,000 or $35,000, and an IxS processor running at 1.6 GHz or 2 GHz and running Windows costs $1,900, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what customers will do. So let the iSeries central machines run the database and run dynamic logical partitions (that are rightly charged for at a premium) for customers who want that and let PowerPC 970 Integrated iSeries cards run static application servers that are not as dynamically flexible and are therefore priced lower for customers who just want to stay on OS/400 but cannot afford it. IBM has got to learn to make it up in volume with the iSeries, just as it does with its xSeries and pSeries line and as rivals Dell and Hewlett-Packard do with their Wintel and Lintel lines. If IBM doesn't invent this, I know some of you smarties out there can. Take a hard look at the Apple G5 server and an OS/400 rehosting environment from California Software or CrossWorks. It can be done, even without IBM's help.
   
   
5. I want an OS/400-based BladeCenter blade server. I've been over this in recent weeks, so I won't spend a lot of time on this wish. There are some I/O issues related to OS/400, blade architecture, and SAN storage that have to be worked out; I understand that. Speed is important. I know IBM is thinking about delivering an Integrated xSeries Adapter attachment for the BladeCenters when they run Windows or Linux. This is interesting, but not as interesting as OS/400-based blades. And if IBM doesn't want to do OS/400-based blades, then an OS/400-based IxS-style card like I described above in wish number 4 might be a better answer anyway.
   
   
6. An IxS card based on the AMD Opteron 32-bit/64-bit X86 processor? Hmm . . . I don't know. It's a thought, not really a wish.
   
   
7. I want more appropriate pricing on capacity-on-demand processing and software features. The way IBM sets it up now, the cost of renting a day's worth of CPU capacity and software usage is 1/45th the cost of actually buying it. This is a very expensive daily usage fee. Hardware costs get spread out over three or more years, not 45 days. IBM's daily capacity on demand pricing for the iSeries is off by a factor of 25 from reality. I agree that IBM has to get a premium for this, but these prices will limit the appeal of capacity on demand.
   
   
8. I want native Windows Server 2003 on the Power series of servers, whether they have an iSeries, pSeries, or eServer brand on them. The Power platform has OS/400 and Linux (iSeries) or AIX and Linux (pSeries), and will soon have all three on one box. Let's finish the job. IBM's Power servers are among the most scalable machines on the planet, and because IBM has been focusing on per-processor performance, the Power machines would offer excellent total cost of ownership compared with other RISC/Unix or Wintel architectures that require more processors to do the same amount of work. With database, middleware, and application software makers generally charging on a per-CPU basis (including Microsoft with its Windows stack), IBM could clean up. Besides, the 32-way Power platform is much better than the 16-way xSeries 440, which uses Intel Xeon MP processors. Why IBM and Microsoft haven't come to terms on this is beyond me. But that new hypervisor on the Power5 platform gives IBM another opportunity to go after that Windows consolidation business on the Power platform, especially if the machine can support hundreds of partitions or dozens of PowerPC 970 coprocessor cards (see wish 4 above). As part of this Windows 2003 support, I want native .NET support and native Common Language Runtime (CLR) support, so the iSeries can run C# and other applications developed for .NET. If IBM needs help getting this C#, CLR, and .NET support on the iSeries, there is plenty of expertise down in Texas at ASNA.
   
   
9. I think I want to replace the whole 5250 green-screen data stream and its related native database access method for DB2/400 with some variant of XML. I'm certainly no expert, but it seems blindingly obvious that if there is some way to make XML the native protocol for OS/400 (rather than something that is a layer on top of the native protocols), XML processing would be much faster on the iSeries, and the OS/400 would be the first operating system and DB2/400 would be the first database that basically talked to the outside world using XML. This might help sell a lot of boxes, or it might not. This also might cost hundreds of millions of dollars (or more). The gutting of OS/400 to make XML the protocol of choice might be a good thing to do as an open source project, and in partnership with ISVs and other players that would be radically affected (and possibly quite enthusiastic) about a new operating system that could be called XML/400.
   
   
10. I want something called OS/400 Update for the OS/400 and Linux operating systems as they run on the iSeries. The whole PTF process is too hairy, particularly for new customers and small customers who don't know--and do not want to know--how to patch their iSeries machines. Make updating an iSeries as automatic as possible, like Windows does. Why not make OS/400 Update better than Windows, and then brag about it?
    
    
11. I want IBM to make OS/400 the first 128-bit operating system. This is a trick wish, since it already is enabled to run in 128-bit mode, if IBM ever ships a 128-bit processor. The IBMers in the Rochester, Minnesota, labs did this in 1994 and 1995, when they wrote OS/400 V3R7 for the first 64-bit PowerPC processors, the "Cobra4" and "Muskie" processors used in the AS/400 4XX and 5XX machines. These people always think ahead, which is why there is a Power platform at all and which is why IBM is still in the server game it basically invented. I may criticize IBM a lot, but there is plenty of good thinking going on at Rochester and Somers, New York.
    
    
12. IBM is still using governors on the iSeries, and we all know it. Many of the machines are being clocked down. Put that extra processing capacity to work as a shadow or an invisible high-availability mirror-image of the production image. Make such a shadow high availability setup the default setting on all iSeries machines in the Model 800 and Model 810 class, where the governors are really crimping back on the raw power these boxes have. Make the iSeries the first general-purpose fault-tolerant machine. Don't charge for this; give it away and let it be a tick mark that Wintel and Lintel server makers can't match.
    
    
13. I want IBM and the key reseller and ISV partners in the iSeries ecosystem to create a free and open university that will provide an OS/400 education to a few thousand newbie programmers every year. To qualify for that education, newbies will have to agree to work for IBM, resellers, or ISVs for a set term--maybe one year's work for every year's education. IBM, resellers, and ISVs agree to provide these people salaries based on the prevailing wages as monitored by Nate Viall & Associates and other salary trackers. We need junior programmers for the day when the experts all retire. Colleges and universities won't do the training, so we are going to have to.

Send me your iSeries and OS/400 wish list at tpm@itjungle.com.

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