• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • User Feedback Credited for Inspiring System i Development

    July 30, 2007 Dan Burger

    Last week was a big news week for IBM‘s System i product line. Announcements about the pending release of the latest version of its operating system, V6R1, the availability of Power6 processors in its servers, and the creation of enterprise-level and SMB-level divisions for marketing its systems created some fireworks that caught the attention of many System i community members. We knew the system upgrades were coming. We just didn’t know when. The high-end and entry-level split of the System i line came as a surprise.

    Change is good. It is also inevitable. Like it or not, you can either get onboard or get run over by the train. But really, what’s not to like?

    The dual-core Power6 is a powerhouse processor that is making its way into the System i sooner than anticipated. It will be available in a System i 570 by mid-September, and available throughout the entire System i lineup by February 2008, if the rumors we hear are correct or if IBM doesn’t change the plan. Not coincidentally, the introduction of V6R1 will occur in 2008 as well–and probably near the rest of the Power6-based System i machines.

    New servers and new operating systems seldom have an immediate impact on sales in the System i installed base. It’s not likely that Power6 and V6R1 will be any different. What’s important to keep in mind is the direction these new products are taking, because eventually the innovative technologies do work their way into widespread distribution, at least within the existing ecosystem.

    For instance, take note that the soon to arrive System i 570 packing Power6 chips will only be available with one variant of the i5/OS operating system. Currently there are two versions: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard Edition does not support the 5250 green-screen protocol commonly used by RPG and COBOL applications. How many of you are interested in an offering such as that? My guess is that it’s not many. The Power6 version of the Systems i 570 will have full 5250 capacity and DB2/400 integrated. The single version of i5/OS V6R1 will not have all the bells and whistles that the current Enterprise Edition has built in; however, there will be no shortage of either bells or whistles. They will simply be packaged and sold individually so no one pays for features they have no intention of using. Sounds customer friendly, doesn’t it?

    The idea of being customer friendly brings me around to a press release IT Jungle received from COMMON last week. It plays up the fact that IBM has been very proactive in gathering input from its System i user base. Because COMMON is the largest System i user group in existence, you would expect it to have some sway with how things get done at Big Blue. Over the years, COMMON’s influence has waxed and waned. Certainly more than one reason exists for this, but perhaps the biggest is that IBM has, at times, chosen to downplay and even ignore its AS/400 and iSeries customers and the products that were most important to them.

    Credit Mark Shearer, the top executive in the System i business unit for nearly three years, for changing this. And credit COMMON for its involvement.

    The user group deserves some credit for several years ago forming the COMMON Americas Advisory Council, a group currently consisting of 17 members who funnel product ideas from the users to the executives in Rochester. The group gathers ideas, primarily from the ranks of its membership, prioritizes those ideas, and then presents them to IBM in the form of suggestions for new products and feedback on existing products. Face-to-face meetings between the council members and IBM executives occur twice a year. The council members share information internally via twice-monthly teleconferences.

    The COMMON press release quoted Shearer as saying, “The members of the System i user groups [including local user groups] were the inspiration for many of the product features and enhancements we announced today [July 24]. This is a community that knows the unique value that the System i platform provides to clients and they help IBM determine how it needs to adjust and improve to support changing technology needs.”

    No one would argue that the users know the product better than anyone. Most would agree that IBM is much better at listening to its System i customers and making some necessary changes. Some would say IBM needs to do more listening and make more changes.

    I contacted COMMON to find out if someone would comment more specifically about suggestions from users that went up the chain and resulted in new products or product enhancements. For now, COMMON doesn’t want to go into those details. As much as anyone would say was written in the press release and attributed to COMMON president, Randy Dufault: “COMMON has always taken a leadership position in delivering System i product requirements to IBM and continues to do so as the collective voice of its members. This presentation of our members’ needs to IBM has influenced the development and release of new System i solutions over the years that benefit the entire System i community, including the delivery of PHP and IP telephony to System i.”

    I suspect that more details regarding the role of customer feedback will eventually be released and commented upon. The COMMON Americas Advisory Council is a good device to have in place as a channel of communication between the users and IBM. You can find out more about the council at this link.



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 16, Number 29 -- July 30, 2007

    Sponsored by
    LaserVault

    Integrate Virtual Tape For Better Backups, Faster Recovery, And More Flexibility

    Virtual tape and virtual tape libraries offer a way to both simplify and strengthen backup and recovery operations. By incorporating virtual tape technology, automation of backups becomes possible resulting in hundreds of hours saved annually for IT departments and personnel.

    LaserVault ViTL is a virtual tape and tape library solution developed specifically for use with IBM Power Systems (from AS/400 to iSeries to Power 9s). See a demo and get a $50 gift card.

    With ViTL you can:

    • Replace physical tape and tape libraries and associated delays
    • Automate backup operations, including the ability to purge or archive backups
    • Remotely manage your backups – no need to be onsite with your server
    • Save backups to a dedupe appliance and the cloud
    • Recover your data at lightspeed greatly improving your ability to recover from cyberattacks
    • And so much more

    “The ViTL tapeless solution has truly made my job easier. It has given me more confidence in our full system recovery ability – but at the same time I hope it is never needed.” IBM i Administrator at a financial services company

    Sign-up now to see a ViTL online demo and get a $50 Amazon e-gift card when the demo is complete as our way of saying thanks for your time. Plus when you sign-up you’ll receive a free facts comparison sheet on using virtual tape vs tape so you can compare the functionality for yourself.

    LaserVault.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    IBM Ready to Announce Power6-Based System i Box IBM Shows Off Web 2.0 Stuff with Lotus Quickr

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 16 Issue: 29

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM, VMware Working on ESX Server Support for the System i
    • Q4bis Raises $6 Million in Venture Capital Funding
    • Workload Partitions Not Coming to i5/OS V6R1?
    • Jack Henry Acquires Gladiator Technology
    • Power6-Based System i Performance and Bang for the Buck
    • HP Sells Heat Modeling Service to Cool Data Centers
    • The IT Job Market Is More Competitive, Says Gartner
    • Study Counts the Cost of Data Breaches
    • User Feedback Credited for Inspiring System i Development
    • Lawson Back in the Black as Fiscal 2007 Closes

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • COMMON Set for First Annual Conference in Three Years
    • API Operations Management for Safe, Powerful, and High Performance APIs
    • What’s New in IBM i Services and Networking
    • Four Hundred Monitor, May 18
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 20
    • IBM i 7.3 TR12: The Non-TR Tech Refresh
    • IBM i Integration Elevates Operational Query and Analytics
    • Simplified IBM i Stack Bundling Ahead Of Subscription Pricing
    • More Price Hikes From IBM, Now For High End Storage
    • Big Blue Readies Power10 And IBM i 7.5 Training for Partners

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2022 IT Jungle

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.