iSociety Hosts Chat on New DB2 Query Tool

August 20, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM is getting ready to ship the new DB2 Web Query for System i business intelligence tool on September 14, and last week the iSociety System i advocacy group hosted a Web chat to go over some of the features and field questions about the product. DB2 Web Query is a subset of the WebFOCUS tool from Information Builders and is a long-overdue replacement for IBM’s own Query/400 tool.

Doug Mack, the marketing manager for the System i DB2 products at IBM, hosted the Web chat. If you missed the chat, the transcript for the chat is posted here. The interesting bit that came out of the chat, aside from the feeds and speeds, was that IBM is working with Information Builders to extend DB2 Web Query either through application programming interfaces or through Web services calls so other applications can integrate into the tool to use it for reporting. At the moment, DB2 Web Query is a standalone product and it is only supported on i5/OS V5R4. It will, of course, be supported on the forthcoming i5/OS V6R1, and it will work in conjunction with the field-level security that this future operating system will have when it comes to market in early 2008. The product also ships with its own baby Web server, according to Mack, and does not require the Apache-based WebSphere Application Server that comes inside i5/OS. In fact, the specific Web server used is the one that IBM put inside iSeries Access for the Web many years ago.

It also bears reminding that DB2 Web Query includes a license for the older Query/400 green-screen query tool, so customers are not being forced to move to the new tool. However, IBM said in a separate announcement on July 31 that it will stop selling Query/400 (5722-QU1) as a standalone product as of January 4, 2008. To get Query/400, which cost from $800 on a P05-class box to $24,000 on a P60 box, customers are going to have to buy the more expensive DB2 Web Query tool, which costs from $1,600 on the P05 tier to $48,000 on the P60 tier. Customers who have Query/400 and who have an up-to-date Software Maintenance contract from IBM can upgrade to DB2 Web Query at no extra cost, according to Mack, but he did not say that new customers who want to get just Query/400 would not be able to do so beginning in the new year.

IBM Prepares to Launch DB2 Web Query for System i

More Details Emerge on Query/400’s Java-Based Replacement

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Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 16, Number 32 -- August 20, 2007

Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

“Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

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