Power Systems i: Thinking Inside the Box
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

We're coming to the end of what has probably been one of the longest years in the decade and the beginning of a new decade at the same time. Now is a natural time for us to review the state of the AS/400 platform, now cumbersomely known as the Power Systems server running IBM i 6.1. I am going to take my time and think this through, so I hope you are in no hurry. I have been hurried enough this year for an entire lifetime, and this is a topic that takes some slow thought. READ MORE >

Higher ASPs Help the Server Racket Perk Up a Little
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Virtualization and the heavier server configurations that are necessary to take advantage of it are simultaneously helping and hurting the server racket. According to statistics released last week by Gartner, worldwide server revenues continued to slide in the third quarter, falling by 15.5 percent to $10.7 billion as shipments fell by 17.1 percent to 1.92 million machines. This is a far cry better than the more than 30 percent drop in both sales and shipments in the second quarter of this year, and represents the first time in five quarters that there was sequential growth in server sales. READ MORE >

Smart Market ISVs Find Few Leads in Early Going
by Dan Burger

Most of us can agree that for IBM to be successful in the midrange it will have to get across the idea that it is a better application company than its competitors, the primary one being Microsoft. For a company that is entrenched in the enterprise market, like Big Blue currently is, working in the midrange presents a challenge. To take on that challenge, IBM has a program called Smart Business. ISVs, particularly the application software companies, will play a big role in this. READ MORE >

As I See It: Al and Me
by Victor Rozek

Twice I've traveled to Portland, Oregon, to see Al Gore and twice I've been punked. The first time was 16 years ago when he and Bill Clinton presided over the Northwest Forest Summit. The conference was organized because environmentalists were successfully blocking timber sales in court. The Forest Service had been repeatedly found guilty of what one federal judge called 'systematic and deliberate' violations of law. The fact that the agency was peppered with former timber industry executives probably didn't help its cause. Now, the two highest elected officials in the land were in Portland to hammer out a plan that would placate Greens, cut more trees, and be immune from that annoying rule of law thing. READ MORE >