More Power Systems Price Changes and Tweaks

June 8, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan

OK, IBM, this is getting to be a habit.

Last week, IBM once again tweaked the pricing on a bunch of upgrade features for its Power Systems lineup, once again cutting prices pretty dramatically. The price changes, which went into effect on June 2, are shown in the table below:

From		To			List Price		Price
Machine	Feature	Machine	Feature	Description	Old	New	Change
9119	7667	9119	4754	2.1 GHz Power5+ to 4.2 GHz Power6	$16,550	$16,500	-0.3%
9119	7667	9119	4755	2.1 GHz Power5+ to 5 GHz GHz Power6	$24,735	$19,485	-21.2%
9119	7925	9119	4754	p5 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$16,800	$18,825	12.1%
9119	7925	9119	4755	p5 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$17,000	$20,200	18.8%
9119	7990	9119	4754	p5 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$17,950	$16,750	-6.7%
9119	7990	9119	4755	p5 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$23,775	$16,875	-29.0%
9119	8471	9119	5680	1 GB DDR1 to 1 GB DDR2	$868	$400	-53.9%
9119	8472	9119	5681	256 GB DDR1 to 256 GB DDR2	$222,340	$102,400	-53.9%
9406	7280	9119	5681	2 GB DDR1 to 2 GB DDR2	$194,048	$89,600	-53.8%
9406	7668	9119	4754	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$17,545	$14,295	-18.5%
9406	7668	9119	4755	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$18,000	$16,750	-6.9%
9406	7669	9119	5680	1 GB DDR1 to 1 GB DDR2	$758	$350	-53.8%
9406	7799	9119	5681	256 GB DDR1 to 256 GB DDR2	$83,712	$38,400	-54.1%
9406	7815	9119	4754	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$18,575	$13,675	-26.4%
9406	7815	9119	4755	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$27,775	$15,850	-42.9%
9406	7925	9119	4754	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$19,625	$16,750	-14.6%
9406	7925	9119	4755	i 595 book to 4.2 GHz Power6 book	$28,100	$16,875	-39.9%
9406	7970	9119	5680	Base 1 GB DDR1 to 1 GB DDR2	$327	$150	-54.1%
9406	8460	9119	5680	1 GB DDR1 to 1 GB DDR2	$778	$360	-53.7%

These price changes listed above are a companion set to a bunch of changes IBM made to reduce upgrade costs into the Power Systems line on May 19, which I told you about in the May 26 issue of The Four Hundred. That first batch of price cuts were for upgrading processor book, processor core, and memory on older System p machines using certain Power5+ processors to their Power6 equivalents in the Power 595. At the time, I said that System i customers upgrading to Power 595s should demand the same kind of deal, and lo and behold, as the table above shows, customers upgrading from System i 595 (9406) machines to Power 595s (9119) are also getting big discounts. And for some reason, IBM cut a little deep on the System p to Power Systems upgrades and in two cases actually raised the prices it cut several weeks ago.

One other tweak. A long-running competitive replacement trade-in deal that IBM has been using for its System p line to give rebates to customers moving from other Unix boxes was updated to allow upgrades into the Power Systems line from vintage AS/400 and iSeries boxes back in March, and then had the once-popular iSeries Model 250 added as a replaceable machine in April. Last week, the list of eligible products that can be acquired under this trade-in deal was expanded to include Power 520 machines using the 4.7 GHz Power6+ chips and Power 550 boxes using the 5 GHz Power6+ chips, machines that were launched on April 28.

IBM Does More Deals to Move Iron

IBM Tweaks Some i Deals, Nukes Some Old i Tools

IBM Adds i Shops to Expanded p Shop Trade-In Deal

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Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 18, Number 22 -- June 8, 2009

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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Please visit ucgtechnologies.com/IBM-POWER9-systems for more information.

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