More Power7 And Power8 Features To Bite The Rust
October 30, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan
The Power Systems catalog just keeps getting skinnier as the Power9 systems launch in early 2018 keeps getting closer. Ironically, as IBM pulls the plug on older Power Systems machines and their features, it is a good indication that Big Blue really is preparing the way for Power9. It is also a way to get customers who have no intention of spending on Power9 iron to buy something on their older gear before the features go away.
I saw a new abbreviation in announcement letter 917-177, which came out on October 24, and that was LTB – short for Last Time Buy. And that is what IBM is talking about with selected features used in Power7, Power7+, and Power8 systems.
As usual, you have to go through a slew of feature numbers to see what systems are affected and what features for them are having their plugs pulled. It made me laugh to see that a USB mouse used across the product line was the first item up – you can’t accuse IBM of not being thorough – and is being withdrawn on October 31. (Happy Halloween, trick or treat. . . . ) On December 29, a bunch of two-port 1 Gb/sec Ethernet adapters are being yanked as well as some solution stacks that put Cognos, InfoSphere, SPSS, and DB2 BLU Acceleration bundles on various Power machines. On January 26, 2018, capacity on demand features for memory and processing for older Power5 and Power6 machines are going to be withdrawn, even though the announcement letter says it is only for Power7 and Power8 machines. And on March 31, 2018, a bunch of old 10K RPM and 15K RPM disk drives are gonna bite the rust. Older flash SSDs, which IBM does not want to warehouse any more, are also being put in the block then, too, and so are a slew of feature conversions. (Read carefully down at the bottom of the announcement.) And on August 24, 2018, the capacity on demand features for high-end Power7 and Power7+ Power 770 and Power 780 machines will no longer be sold.
LTB, RIP, indeed.
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