The advent of the PowerLinux machines back in April, which have discounted Linux and PowerVM hypervisor software and substantially discounted memory and disk storage prices compared to the plain vanilla Power Systems machines in which they are based, got me to thinking about software pricing. And that, as we all know, is a dangerous thing. And it turns out, compared to AIX and DB2 for Unix shops, customers using entry Power Systems-IBM i machines are, at least at list prices, getting quite a deal.

Shhhh. Don’t tell IBM.

No one was more surprised than me to figure this out.

Estimating the size of the IBM i installed base has traditionally been one of the more fun and entertaining exercises occupying the time of analysts and press covering the IBM midrange marketplace. Where else can one combine math, astrology, and tea-leaf reading skills to generate a number that everybody in the business seems to want? With a single disclosure in the latest IBM i roadmap, Power Systems general manager Collin Parris has all but killed demand for that particular skill set, at least for the time being.

In the latest IBM i roadmap, which was published on July 11, Parris

Successful IT is judged by putting the needed information into the hands of the right person at the right time. If you can do that and create additional business process efficiencies along the way, you’re going to get along nicely in this business. Think of this as business intelligence at the report generation and distribution level. You can also think of it as business intelligence that’s not disruptive, complex, or costly.

You may have noticed there’s a tendency in the IT business to over-promise the results of technologies that have yet to prove reliability, ease of deployment, or return on

You’ve probably heard of E-ZPass, the electronic traffic monitoring and taxation system. The E-ZPass client device is a vehicle borne radio that rats you out at roadway tollgates. This technology looks like a natural for metered-planet-loving IBM, but not in this case. E-ZPass transponders and cloudy services come from Kapsch, of Vienna, Austria, an outfit that mixes mobility, monitoring, and money the world over. Even venerable NCR is jumping into mobile payments now, hoping to edge out rivals from clever little Square, a mindshare leader, to Big Blue, which talks Smarter but doesn’t always act that

Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle, has never been shy and he likes to compete. The company also likes to keep its marketing messages as simple as they are aggressive, and contrary to the do-nothing marketing approach by IBM, Oracle has something to prove since it acquired Sun Microsystems more than two years ago. Still, sometimes its claims about how it is better than one competitor or the other cross the line.

Twice in the past year, in fact, according to rulings from the Better Business Bureau‘s National Advertising Division, the advertising part of the North

Timothy,

Nice that somebody in the good ol’ USA notices that there are some advantages to life Down Under, especially if you are after a Power 720 or 750 server.

Who needs Zeds or Zees anyway? I am curious what Aussie slang involves Zs though–maybe you can educate me?

But just in case we have a boat-load of Yanks coming Down Under to plunder our servers and take them back (sounds a bit like post-war when the same thing happened to our women), you should also realise that not everything is rosy here. (Except the Prime Minister’s hair).

The cost

America has been trying to claw its way out of the current recession for years now, so it’s easy to see where we might have lost sight of the fact that the United States is not the only place on the planet with financial woes. The debt crisis currently in swing across Europe is showing little sign of turning around, according to a recent information and communications technology (ICT) forecast from Forrester Research.

In the report, Forrester is predicting that ICT purchases by European business and governments will show an almost imperceptible 1.2 percent in 2012 in euros, which

Supply chain software maker Mahattan Associates, like many other software sellers out there in recent months, has seen license sales dip while at the same time seeing an uptick in services revenues, therefore saving its financial cookies.

In the second quarter ended in June, software license sales at Manhattan Associates fell by 6.1 percent, to $15.3 million, a pretty fast deceleration from the first quarter of the year, when license sales more than doubled to $15.6 million. This may be the new normal for the company, which is still a pretty good clip for new software licenses. Services revenues

Although it may sometimes seem as futile as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, there are companies that are proving IT innovation not only exists, but can be achieved along with reducing complexity and costs. Some will find it on their own. Others will need help. Avnet and its IBM business partners in the United States and Canada are preparing to be your helpers.

The most likely gardens for growing innovation are the general categories of analytics, cloud computing, and expert integrated systems. If you follow IBM news and analysis in the pages of The Four Hundred, you’ve

As expected, German software giant SAP turned in the best second quarter in its long history, with sales rising 18 percent to €3.9bn and profits after taxes up 12 percent to €661 million. The company has also announced a new program to help BI partners to peddled SAP’s wares into the SMB space.

In the quarter ended in June, SAP’s software license revenues grew by 26 percent, to €1.06 billion, while support revenues rose by 16 percent to €2.01 billion. Consulting revenues were up 7 percent, to €617 million, while other services rose 11 percent to €157 million. Cloud and