Looks Like iSeries Announcements Coming in Late February

Of course, there is still no official word on this from IBM, but the latest word on the street during the holiday season was that Big Blue would be making its expected iSeries announcements in February. The consensus of rumors seems to be pointing to an announcement sometime in late February, but as you all know so well, this is all subject to change.

The core of the iSeries announcements that are due in February will be i5/OS Version 5 Release 4, the latest update to the OS/400 operating system. IBM has been letting out bits and bites of the i5/OS V5R4 announcements since last summer, which have been covered in this newsletter. (See The Mysteries of i5/OS V5R3M5 and V5R4, IBM Raises the Curtain a Little on Future Power Chips, i5/OS V5R4, and What Will Be Shaking with the iSeries in 2006? for more details on our prior coverage.)

The one thing I would like to see, and which I do not see much hope for, is a new line of low-cost, high-function i5/OS servers that are priced to go right at the belly of the SMB market and try to take some market share back from Microsoft, which rules the entry business server market in a way that the AS/400 used to rule the midrange. IBM has some interesting options with its new Power5+ processors, but seems happy with the current i5 product line.