System i hardware upgrade calculator

Timothy Prickett Morgan at IT Jungle has put together a great resource for older AS/400 and iSeries shops that are thinking about upgrading to a System i model. Heck, the resource is great for those who aren’t thinking about upgrading, simply because it’s always good to consider options that you didn’t know you had.

And it’s no surprise that IBM is trying hard to sell new hardware; judging by revenue numbers over the past two years, IBM hasn’t done so well when it comes to System i hardware. At least part of that problem is the hardiness of the platform itself. We’ve all heard stories of System i machines sitting in corners, running for years without a hiccup. While it’s a blessing for the shops where that is the case, it can be a curse for IBM: Its customers are hesitant to fix what they don’t consider broken.

And so IBM has assembled a way to compare AS/400 and iSeries boxes with what it views as the ideal System i hardware upgrade. The site looks at processor performance, hardware and software maintenance, and power costs. To simplify it for you, Morgan put it in this awesome System i comparison table. Check it out. Bookmark it.