IBM Pushes New and Used Entry iSeries Boxes

Today is the last day of the ibm.com spring sale on entry iSeries servers. If you have a hankering for a new Model 800 server, and don’t want the hassle of dealing with a business partner or an IBM sales rep, and you think a five percent discount is a good price break, IBM has a deal for you. The company is also offering a number of used Model 270s and 820s online.

My apologies to all of you for not noticing IBM’s online deals sooner. I’ll try to keep better track of these things in the future. These deals are not announced through the normal channels I am accustomed to listening to, and I only saw them because I was doing some research on the IBM site. In any event, under the deal that expires today, IBM is offering two different Model 800 configurations with a 5 percent discount off of the normal Web price. This Web price is often a bit lower than the standard list price you hear from IBM and its business partners.

The price break is being given on an iSeries Model 800 Standard Edition, which has 300 CPWs of raw computing power and 25 CPWs of green-screen processing power (that’s processor feature 2463). This server is equipped with 512 MB of main memory, 52.5 GB of disk capacity, a 30 GB QIC drive, and OS/400 V5R2. The normal Web price for this machine is $23,056, and a prepaid year of Software Maintenance costs $1,225. (This latter bit is mandatory, not optional.) IBM will shave the price down to $23,067 if you order today. The 5 percent discount is also available on a Model 800 Advanced Edition, which is rated at 950 CPWs of raw power and 50 CPWs of green-screen power. This machine is being configured with 1 GB of main memory, 140 GB of disk, the QIC tape drive, and V5R2, and costs $52,887 on the Web, with $4,065 for Software Maintenance license support for the first year. The total price comes to $56,952, but with the discount you can get it for $54,104. (You can see these deals and place your orders on IBM’s Web site.)

As part of the spring ibm.com sale, the company is also offering a 25 percent discount on 9910 series uninterruptible power supplies for the iSeries and pSeries lines. The xSeries servers, PCs, and laptops are available with discounts that range from 5 to 10 percent. The pSeries and zSeries are excluded from the spring sale.

For those who can make do with OS/400 V4R5 or V5R1, and don’t mind picking up a second-hand machine, IBM is selling a bunch of Model 270 and 820 servers online with modest discounts and a lot lower cash outlay. IBM is selling a Model 270-2250 with the 30 CPW 1516 interactive feature for $5,280, down 10 percent from the normal Web price. This machine has 370 CPWs of raw power and is equipped with 1 GB of main memory, 17.5 GB of disk, and an OS/400 V4R5 license. Its original list price was $8,000, and considering that it is over three years old, 66 percent of list is still a bit pricey, to my way of thinking. However, IBM is selling a Model 820-2396 (950 CPWs) with interactive feature 1522 (70 CPWs), 1 GB of main memory, 17.5 GB of disk, and OS/400 V4R5 for $16,043, which is an incredibly low 15 percent off the original list price. This is a much better deal than the Model 800 Advanced Edition machine that IBM is selling new for more than three times the price with OS/400 V5R2. However, this is only true if you don’t need to get to V5R2 or the future V5R3. Getting that operating system on Software Maintenance can be pretty expensive.