Readers Weigh in on the Hypothetical System i5 for SMB

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's an adage as old as newspapers: The power of the press belongs to the person who owns it. As the editor in chief and president of a newsletter publishing company and the system administrator of our server cluster, which I lovingly call "Franklin" since it is both a stove and a printing press, I suppose that gives me a certain amount of press power--and responsibility to match. I consider IT Jungle an advocate for the customers in the markets we serve as well as a means to instructively criticize the IT vendors that provide products to the market.

None of us at IT Jungle is above criticism, of course. Although I have to say that if my email inbox is any gauge, we get very little criticism and much encouragement from readers who seem to agree with our ideas and sentiments. Last month, I got on my well-worn soapbox and offered up a way for IBM to create a baby iSeries server, which I called the System i5 for SMB, and then followed this up with an article suggesting that IBM take some existing technologies and lash together these inexpensive boxes to go after the Wintel and Lintel database clustering approach being espoused by Oracle. To put it bluntly, I want IBM to go straight at the competition and stop making its esoteric total-cost-of-ownership arguments. I think the iSeries can be engineered in such a way to be appealing to customers, both new and old, and that this business can grow.

My ideas do not always jibe with others in the marketplace, of course. And because IT Jungle is as much a part of the OS/400 community as it is a set of publications, I thought I would share some of the reader feedback I got from these two stories. As I have said many times, the only way to get anything in this world is to ask for it. And I guess I was asking for it when I opened the response I got from OS/400 industry luminary, Roger Pence, who I have a great deal of respect for but who I do not always agree with.

April fools column early?

As a long-time reader of TPM's writings, I've come to appreciate his style, his wit, and his directness. Hells bells, I like reading his stuff so much that I naturally forgive him for usually taking two or three times as many words as he should to make his points (that's a topic for another letter!).

While I don't always agree with you, Tim, like a good defense lawyer, you generally always state your argument so that I can at least appreciate why you think a given way.

However, this statement in your Lean, Mean Machine article:

"Come on, Mark Shearer and Peter Bingaman, say it loud and say it proud: OS/400, DB2/400, RPG, COBOL, and the 5250 protocol augmented by WebFacing and similar third-party tools are perfectly acceptable for building applications"

really got my attention. Why, oh why, would someone as enlightened as you propagate the notion that green-screen RPG, over scraped 5250, is perfectly acceptable for building applications? It's not. You're crazy.

The last thing that conservative iSeries decision-makers need to hear, from a trusted observer, is that green-screen RPG is acceptable for today's applications.

The idea that the iSeries could compete with Microsoft's modern (or anyone else's, for that matter) SMB offerings with screen-scraped RPG is hilarious. It's so far from correct that it sounds like something Rochester would say! And, then, with a straight face, you say, "Of course, IBM will have to sell about four times as many boxes" to make your plan fly. When it comes to keeping an eye on Microsoft, the last Microsoft fears is green-screen RPG apps being the competition.

Next up, I expect you to suggest that IBM a) readopt OS/2, b) reintroduce the polymorphic GUI, or c) implement a Java with network stations strategy.

Sincerely and with all due respect,

Roger Pence

PS: Whew. I feel better.

TPM Responds:

You'll have to forgive me, Roger. I can't find my original response to this email. I will have another go at it here.

Let's get this out of the way first: Of course I am crazy!

The one thing that really bugs me about all of this is that you never hear IBMers say to mainframe shops, "COBOL is not modern, and CICS and 3270, well, you really ought to get rid of them." How come IBM wants mainframers to love COBOL and CICS and 3270, which run a large portion of the transactions among the top 10,000 or 20,000 companies in the world, but some 200,000 companies who have AS/400 and iSeries servers are being told either directly or indirectly that the business logic they have created in RPG and 5250 is somehow inferior?

I didn't say that RPG and 5250 would beat Microsoft. What I did say is that IBM should let the customers who love these AS/400 technologies keep and use and love them as they see fit, and that the economic punishment they have suffered by wanting to use these technologies when IBM was trying to drive them away just might be the cause of so many companies abandoning the OS/400 platform in the first place. I didn't mean that IBM should support these legacy technologies and exclude Java and .NET. I may be crazy, but I ain't stupid, Roger.

I think IBM should start fresh with that large, alienated base of people who know RPG, DDS, SEU, and all the things you have left behind and say:

Thank you for being an AS/400 customer. We would like you to be an iSeries customer, and we finally have a machine for you, one that you can afford. And when you are ready for Java and .NET and AIX and Linux, we will have a machine for you. Go at your own pace. And if you never want those technologies, that is OK with us. We build, you chose.

And as for IBM boosting server volumes, I will remind you that IBM used to sell three times as many AS/400 boxes as it sold in 2003 and 2004, and there is enough contract manufacturing capacity in the world to grow iSeries manufacturing by one or two orders of magnitude if need be. I keep hearing over and over again how the iSeries is not a volume product and can never be. I do not believe that, and I never will.

And if that is crazy, well, so be it.

As for what Microsoft fears, that is a subject for another debate. All I know is I am glad when Microsoft has some fear. It's good for the IT industry.

I feel better now, too. HA!

Thanks, Roger. I needed that.

--TPM

I hope IBM is listening. You sure make it plain enough. If they could provide a browser connection to RPG that works as easily as 5250, then they would really have something. I tried WebFacing--not a good option.

--David

Thanks very much for your incredibly fantastic mind and for your great iSeries articles, and for pushing IBM towards success.

Your article, The Lean, Mean RPG-5250-DB2/400 Machine, is truly incredible, as an IBM business partner of a programmer productivity tool (which doubles programmer capability), I bow to your suggestion to include ISV software for trial in the delivered iSeries.

I was just at COMMON in Orlando, and in the Visions for the future session Frank Soltis and Dave Bouchard said (when asked about a native GUI interface for HLL) they had not seen Brian Kelly's "Form vs. Function article" and Bouchard said IBM was sticking to J2EE only as it was the "industry standard." Soltis (when asked about Oracle buying up PeopleSoft and Seibel, key application vendors and the future of iSeries for applications) said that Oracle was definitely behind the iSeries, as the president of Oracle had visited four iSeries customers and three had said they would dump PeopleSoft if Oracle did not support the iSeries.

Your article on Oracle 10g was also stunning. IBM HQ apparently does not have a clue that Larry Ellison is after them in software and in hardware.

I hope to grow my software business, and to advertise in your publication.

Best Regards,

--Paul

I just read your article. It is another classic. I loved it. I don't know how you do it.

I am in Budapest now, having a ball.

--John

TPM Replies

It's simple, John.

I get ticked off, and then 4,000 words and maybe a few hours later, Part One is done.

I don't think ideas are hard. Maybe IBM makes it hard, and they get the results they get because of it?

How is the beer in Budapest? Must be awesome.

--TPM

Right on!! IBM Should Listen. This idea or the feeder system idea is new, untouched, and competitive business for IBM -- if they want it. And if they don't maybe DELL would.

--Paul

Great Article. I agree that this is IBM's only chance to avoid total erosion of its SMB business by Microsoft. I am an ISV and cannot believe how fast the small business market is evaporating for IBM. I have been so concerned that I prepared and submitted a 13-page plan to IBM for separating the small business group from the SMB [small and mid size businesses] group, lowering the price on a stripped down version of the i5 through some shifting of R&D accounting entries to the higher priced models, and making many more innovative changes in order to return to the marketing methods that made the AS/400 the most profitable platform for IBM.

I agree with you on most of your suggestions with the exception of using Linux. In my opinion, the concept of Linux undermines the business purpose of ISVs: capitalism. Without proprietary rights and selling products for profit, there is no incentive for creating software applications. Creating free software applications in a communal environment that has a contemporary label of "collaborative" is contrary to good business sense. And I have read that you are "tired" of reporting on the SCO litigation because it seems silly to you, but it is there and until it is resolved, no responsible businessman, ISV, or corporate litigation department should touch anything concerning Linux. I know your response could be to point to the thousands of Linux installations. However, didn't your mother ever tell you that you shouldn't jump off a cliff just because "everybody else is doing it?"

Seriously, I think that the Linux issue will eventually take its toll on IBM either through forced changes or a buyout of SCO. But then, you still have a product that is built on the lowest common denominator of the proletariat. Why wouldn't it be better for IBM to take the lead and create a GUI product from scratch that will compete with Microsoft and this time give it the marketing hype it is giving to Linux. They could call it Soltis. However, Frank Soltis would probably need to change his citizenship to that of some foreign enemy of America in order to get that kind of recognition and respect from IBM's strategic planners and the anti-IBM crowd.

By the way take a look at http://www.ibm.com/servicessolutions/us/ and see what a small business customer is offered for his or her solution: "The Other IBM." It is no wonder that small businesses are running to Microsoft when faced with the image of a consultant looking as if he is having a hard time solving problems.

IBM just doesn't get it. Small businesses want local consultants, not the offshore consultant that they seem to be promoting on their Web site. If you have read the September Fortune magazine article titled: "IBM Shares Its Secrets," this type of advertising seems to be in step with its internal global restructuring plan. It seems to be a fad to call someone a racist if he or she believes in supporting America and Americans. I am not a racist. I simply want the intellectual property rights, military secrets, and American ingenuity kept in America so America will continue to be the strongest and most free country on Earth. I can't wait until that fad goes away like peace symbols and long sideburns.

Again, great article. You have put a lot of thought, organization, and ingenuity into your suggestions. I hope that the executives at IBM read it and use it as a "Roadmap to Survival."

--Name Withheld By Request

TPM Replies

Thanks for the feedback.

I really, really, REALLY like the idea of the next, fully graphical OS/400 being called Soltis. That is a wonderful idea, and is shows the respect that Frank Soltis is clearly due.

I will have to respectfully disagree with you about the nature of open source software. I think that programmers who want to create software that is closed source and charge regular licensing fees for it should be allowed to do that, and I also believe that anyone who wants to create open source programs and give them away and charge for support rather than licensing should be able to do this as well. I don't see the conflict that you do. Either way, companies will pay for what they value. As for capitalism, I am a firm capitalist with employees who want their pay regularly, health insurance, a 401(k), and lots of vacation time. But IT Jungle gives away the newsletters for free and sells advertising to support them because this is how you can get the broadest audience. Open source software is similarly trying to get a broad base of users and testers for software who will never pay for it--this is a pull marketing approach. And I could make the argument that open source does so with the idea that this is more efficient than charging enough money to get 85 percent gross margins on closed source products to only turn around and burn all of those profits on massive marketing campaigns and price cutting in competitive sales situations. This is a push approach. There is more than one way to make money.

As for my boredom with the SCO-IBM intellectual property case relating to Linux and Unix, my boredom is not with the legal details of the case, but the fact that we have to wait until February 2007 for the trial to start and heaven only knows how long before this trial is over and the matter is settled. My boredom is not with intellectual property rights, but with the molasses pace of justice. Let me be clear: If someone stole Unix code and put it into Linux, someone must pay. I agree. But I think any court will have a tough time putting the Linux genie back into the bottle, no matter what happens. People can switch from Linux to FreeBSD in a heartbeat. And they just might do that if this case goes south.

--TPM

I agree with you 100 percent. The cost of the i5 boxes are just too high. Enough with the 5250 interactive tax. Give me full interactive CPW and cut the price of the box in half. IBM will sell these boxes by the truckload. Also, enough with WebSphere. What a joke. We use Profound Logic RPGsp.

One more thing, most vendors are getting around the 5250 interactive tax with Fast400, Go Fast, Axes, etc.

--Joseph

IBM iSeries should fire its marketing team and put you in charge!

Punishing all of their loyal followers for 5250 is a HUGE mistake, one that it might already be too late to correct. It is surprising, however, how most people I talk to are unaware of this.

I have a suggestion. The low end does not go low enough. How about a 600 CPW box on the low end for around $100 a month? We have 600 CPW box now and it seems plenty fast if you ditch the 5250 penalty.

Regards,

--Paul

Thank you, thank you. I'm in the small end of the S in SMB and I've wondered where the hardware is to drive new--NEW--business. You hit the nail on the head. IBM! Please give us help getting new, small business and it will grow. Thanks again, TPM.

--No Name Given

You said a mouthful. I have to do some work this week so I could not read and digest everything you wrote.

Nice try, but I don't think IBM wants anyone to know that 5250 still exists. I'm almost 56 years old, so I think I can hold on for another 6 years programming the old way.

One way this could happen is if IBM made the iSeries Access 5250 emulation more Window-like. Most people don't really care what it is as long as it looks like Windows.

Keep up the good work. How you could put something like that together in a week is beyond me.

--Bob

TPM Replies

Actually, I did it in about two hours. This stuff just comes flying out. I just catch it. When you love what you do and you practice as I have for a very long time, it looks like it comes naturally, but it really is just training--the same as being a good manager or a good programmer. Having said that, having high energy does certainly help. I rev kinda high . . .

Thanks so much for reading and appreciating the work.

--TPM

Our company has become a victim of the newer, cheaper hardware scheme.

A couple of years ago we outgrew the storage space on our old AS400. Yes, it was an AS400, not an iSeries yet. We desperately needed more disk space. However, IBM was no longer making the racks or drives for the system we were using. So, our IBM business partner came in and told us we needed to replace the old system.

IBM was offering special incentives that made the situation a no-brainer. We accepted the business partner's recommended configuration. Months later we installed the new system. Prior to the new installation, we contacted all of our software suppliers and they said there would be no problem moving from machine to machine. After the migration we had only one software supplier give us a problem. Back in the early 1990's we purchased a site license for our ERP application. That company has now acquired our ERP application.

When they found out that we put in a new machine the situation got financially ugly. Even though our new processor was a lower level processor than our old one, it was more powerful. The software vendor decided that for us to keep our site license it would cost us hundreds of thousands of additional dollars. We have less than 150 users. So, what I am saying is that just because the hardware gets cheaper, we have to be very careful that we don't get priced right out of our existing software licensing. We had to relinquish our software site license, reverting to user-based--there is an entire other story behind that.

Have a great day. I enjoy your columns.

Regards,

--Art

Great article, Timothy. Now if only IBM would read it.

I have been using the 400 since it was a S/38 and I have rarely seen one go down except for planned service. So, I too am a bit amazed to hear Oracle's little ad and see the big impression it makes. Either IBM puts the ads out there and makes a few changes, or it will become extinct. Talk about the service income from those clustered boxes--there's where IBM could make the big profits, and since they really never go down, people in the know, want them. Problem is, no one knows outside those that have one or two or three, etc.

Your ad suggestion is much better than any IBM has ever produced--and it beats what the Oracle folks said. Here it is, 20 years later, and IBM still doesn't know how to market the System/38, AS/400, iSeries, or i5.

Good job.

--No Name Given

I read your very interesting article on i5 and Oracle 10g. In my opinion, the problem is not a technical one, but a marketing one.

IBM has to find a way to make the i5 line more affordable to SMB. SMB's are usually interested in cost and simplicity. Give them a server that can actually run their business for less than $30K. IBM needs to figure out how that impacts their bottom line. And the other thing they need to do is make the i5 more sexy. Every young developer that I know considers the AS/400 (sorry, I meant to say i5) an old platform.

Regards,

--Sergio

Thanks for another great article. With a small and affordable system like you propose here, there would be practically no SMB in the WORLD that could not use one, or several! Get after it, IBM!

--John

Timothy, you are an absolute genius! One of these days IBM is going to hire you away from your own business and put you in their "think tank!" Plus side: You will be financially secure, Minus side: Regular folks like myself will miss out on your wonderful, insightful articles!

I have seen the Oracle commercial too, and as a person who is seeing Oracle "invade" our network with some of their second-rate software (we also have a REAL computer, iSeries 825 V5R3), I thought there has to be an IBM counter measure. I sure hope Sam Palmisano reads your stuff! The users here are not so impressed with Oracle, as a "state mandated" package was shoved down their unwilling throats. All I hear from the users are complaints (about Oracle), and we iSeries folk are powerless to help them. Come on, IBM, it's time to kick some Oracle booty! I sure hope they get the message!

--Jeff

TPM Replies

Thanks, Jeff

As for IBM hiring me, I think that will never happen--particularly since I give the ideas away for free. I would just be happy if they did anything to go directly at these other platforms, because that is the only way I see to sell. IBM wouldn't have to do what I suggest--my hubris doesn't run that deep. But I would like them to do something.

That said, I will say that they are listening, and that the iSeries team is perhaps the best one ever put into the field. They have energy and drive, and they want to succeed. But they have limited budgets, of course, so they can only do so much.

Thanks for reading.

--TPM

Bravo!!! You should be on the board of directors at IBM (are you?)

The SMB market is going to be gobbled up by the large software vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and so on) because IBM is more concerned with WebSphere and mainframes to care about us small potatoes.

Instead of being proactive, they appear to be inactive. IBM's share in the SMB market is already shrinking and there is no help in sight, which leads you to believe that they just don't care. It's almost like the government (all levels) response to the hurricane. They tell you what they should have done and what they are going to do, but by then it is too late. Even though Oracle bought the bragging rights to say they have the technology that never fails, at least they are saying it before anyone else, not after.

I am trying to convince a customer that consolidating and virtualizing their vast array of Wintel servers into an iSeries is the way to go and then they see this advertisement from Oracle (which IBM does poorly) that causes speculation.

Keep up the fight!

--Name Not Given

TPM Replies

Just so we get this all straight, I do not work for IBM, nor do I want to. I don't think I could take it, though I will say that some of the best people I know in the world work at IBM. (Some of them also work at Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and many other IT companies, too. And as shocking as this might seem, a lot of the best people in the world don't know jack about IT.)

As for keeping up the fight, we'll, you can count on it.

I have not yet begun to write!

--TPM

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