Memory and Disk Prices Slashed on Selected Power i Gear

May 18, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

As part of the April 28 Power System i product line enhancements, IBM has decided to cut the memory, disk, and processor prices on selected models of its Power Systems lineup.

It is hard to say for sure what IBM’s thinking is whenever it cuts prices, but there is little doubt in my mind that Big Blue is feeling the competitive pressure from Intel‘s “Nehalem EP” Xeon 5500 servers, which compete head-to-head against the Power 520 and Power 550 machines as well as their analogues in the Power blade lineup, the JS12, JS22, JS23, and JS43.

Not every machine got price cuts, as you can see from the announcement letter. Oh, but wait. You can’t see that, because IBM never tells you what the features are when it cuts prices. That’s why you keep me around, I guess. So here are the details on the price changes, including the feature descriptions so you can figure out what the deal is:

Machine	Feature		List Price		Price
Type	Number	Description	Old	New	Change
7998	8229	JS12, 4 GB memory	$459	$209	-54.5%
7998	8234	JS22, 8 GB memory	$1,099	$599	-45.5%
7998	8235	JS22, 16 GB memory	$7,999	$3,999	-50.0%
7998	8239	JS12, 8 GB memory	$1,699	$459	-73.0%
7998	8245	JS12, 16 GB memory	$6,999	$3,599	-48.6%
8203	5608	Power 520, GX Dual-Port 12X Adapter	$2,200	$1,300	-40.9%
8203	5634	2-Core 4.2 GHz Power6 Card	$5,185	$3,889	-25.0%
8203	5654	1 Core Activation, 5634 Card	$2,154	$1,616	-25.0%
8204	5608	Power 550, GX Dual-Port 12X Adapter	$2,200	$1,300	-40.9%
9406	3647	Power 570, 146.8 GB 15K Disk	$981	$498	-49.2%
9406	3648	Power 570, 300 GB 15K Disk	$1,510	$1,150	-23.8%
9406	3677	Power 570, 139.5 GB 15K Disk	$981	$498	-49.2%
9406	3678	Power 570, 283.7 GB 15K Disk	$1,510	$1,150	-23.8%
9408	1267	Power M25, 70.56 GB 15K RPM Disk	$999	$754	-24.5%
9408	1268	Power M25, 141.12 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,299	$981	-24.5%
9408	1269	Power M25, 282.25 GB 15K RPM Disk	$2,799	$2,114	-24.5%
9408	1298	Power M25, 146.8 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,299	$981	-24.5%
9408	1898	Power M25, 146.8 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,299	$981	-24.5%
9408	3647	Power M25, 146.8 GB 15K RPM Disk	$981	$498	-49.2%
9408	3648	Power M25, 300 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,510	$1,150	-23.8%
9408	3677	Power M25, 139.5 GB 15K RPM Disk	$981	$498	-49.2%
9408	3678	Power M25, 283.7 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,510	$1,150	-23.8%
9408	4327	Power M25, 70.56 GB 15K RPM Disk	$999	$754	-24.5%
9408	4328	Power M25, 141.12 GB 15K RPM Disk	$1,299	$981	-24.5%
9408	4329	Power M25, 282.25 GB 15K RPM Disk	$2,799	$2,114	-24.5%
9408	4520	Power M25, 1 GB Memory	$512	$360	-29.7%
9408	4521	Power M25, 2 GB Memory	$1,024	$720	-29.7%
9408	4522	Power M25, 4 GB Memory	$2,048	$1,440	-29.7%
9408	4523	Power M25, 8 GB Memory	$5,734	$2,867	-50.0%
9408	4524	Power M25, 16 GB Memory	$19,661	$13,926	-29.2%
9408	5654	1 Core Activation, 5634 Card	$2,154	$1,616	-25.0%
9408	7510	Quantity 150 of Feature 4328	$194,850	$147,150	-24.5%
9408	7518	Quantity 150 of Feature 3677	$147,150	$74,700	-49.2%
9408	7519	Quantity 150 of Feature 3678	$226,500	$172,500	-23.8%
9408	7522	Quantity 150 of Feature 1268	$194,850	$147,150	-24.5%
9408	7529	Quantity 150 of Feature 1298	$194,850	$147,150	-24.5%

As you can see, memory on the JS12 and JS22 blade servers (those are Power6 models) was slashed, as were prices on 4.2 GHz Power6 cards for the Power 520 and processor core activations for those cards. Disks for the earlier generation of Power6-based Power 570 servers also saw some cuts, as did disk, memory, and processor activations for the Power M25 Power5+ user-priced box from two years ago. I guess IBM must still have inventories of their M25 and 520 machines that it wants to get rid of.

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