• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Big Power8 Iron Gets A Reprieve, And More Power To You

    October 28, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    The big Power9 iron has been in the field for more than a year now, and IBM had every intention of removing the Power8-based Power E870C and Power E880 E880C from its product catalog by Halloween, and said as much on February 26 this year in an announcement that we covered about a slew of withdrawals for the Power Systems platform.

    In announcement 119-078, dated October 22, IBM has decided to keep the For Sale signs up on the eight-socket Power E870C and 16-socket Power E880C machines for an extra two months, and now you will be able to buy them new from Big Blue until New Year’s Eve, or December 31 if you don’t like to party and bring in the next year. This extension is only being offered in the United States and Canada, as far as we know, but we suspect that if you really wanted one of these Power8 NUMA boxes outside of North America, then Big Blue could make an exception.

    Such withdrawn machinery is always available on the secondhand market and often through dealer channels new long after IBM has declared end of marketing, so this is not a crisis as much as it is a warning shot across the bow.

    The real question is, given the performance per core and per socket gains with the Power9 chips compared to the Power8 processors, why anyone would want a machine that is five years old. (Well, three because the C models of the Power E870 and Power E880 had some tweaks compared to the original models, but are really 98 percent the same.) The answer is always the same: The operating system. Some customers, even those with big iron, can’t move to IBM i 7.2, IBM i 7.3, or IBM i 7.4, and they are stuck back on IBM i 7.1. If you are stuck on IBM i 6.1, then Power7 and Power7+ are the most recent processors you can have, and obviously Power7 and Power7+ machines can – and often do – run IBM i 7.1, IBM i 7.2, and IBM i 7.3. But they cannot run IBM i 7.4. (Here is a link that shows what IBM i releases can run on what Power Systems machines with what Power processors.)

    In a separate development, we find in announcement letter 119-071 that IBM has created a special Solution Edition bundle with the Viya open source analytics stack atop Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is probably of limited interest to IBM i shops. IBM has also delivered a new set of “intelligent” power distribution units with integrated Ethernet switching for the control plane for these devices. These new PDUs are designed to be used with Power8 and Power9 systems.

    RELATED STORIES

    Tweaking Systems And Withdrawal Symptoms

    Goosing Big Iron Power Systems With Power9 Migrations

    Drilling Down Into The Power E980

    IBM i Gets The Big Power9 Iron, But Not The Midrange

    Sundry Power Systems Enhancements Round Out The Year

    More Withdrawals For Vintage Power Gear

    More Power7 And Power8 Features To Bite The Rust

    IBM Sunsets Big Iron Power8 Engines As Power9 Engines Loom

    IBM Inks In End Of Support For Power6 And Power7 Iron

    Sundry Withdrawals For Power7 And Power7+ Gear

    Clearing The Decks Ahead Of The Power9 Launch

    Say Sayonara To IBM i 7.1 Next Spring

    Some Power Systems Tweaks And Sales Withdrawals

    Sundry Power Systems Withdrawals, New I/O Tweaks

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: IBM i, IBM i 7.1, IBM i 7.2, IBM i 7.3, IBM i 7.4, NUMA, Power Systems, Power7, Power8, Power9

    Sponsored by
    Manta Technologies

    The Leader in IBM i Education!
    Need training on anything i?
    Manta is all you need.

    130 courses and competency exams on:
    · IBM i operations
    · System Management and Security
    · IBM i Programming Tools
    · Programming in RPG, COBOL, CL, Java
    · Web Development

    SQL, DB2, QueryProduct features:
    · Runs in every popular browser
    · Available 24/7/365
    · Free Student Reference Guides
    · Free Student Administration
    · Concurrent User License
    · Built-In IBM i Simulator

    You can download our 200-page catalog and take sample sessions at MantaTech.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Digging Into the Latest IBM i TRs As I See It: Quitting Time

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 29 Issue: 63

This Issue Sponsored By

  • New Generation Software
  • Maxava
  • iTech Solutions
  • WorksRight Software
  • ProData Computer Services

Table of Contents

  • How The Latest TRs Bolster HA/DR And Security
  • Wanted: A Real ROI Study For Midrange Platforms
  • Guru: Remove Extra Blanks, Or Why I Attend Conferences
  • As I See It: Quitting Time
  • Big Power8 Iron Gets A Reprieve, And More Power To You

Content archive

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

Recent Posts

  • With Power11, Power Systems “Go To Eleven”
  • With Subscription Price, IBM i P20 And P30 Tiers Get Bigger Bundles
  • Izzi Buys CNX, Eyes Valence Port To System Z
  • IBM i Shops “Attacking” Security Concerns, Study Shows
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 26
  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25

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 © 2025 IT Jungle