POWER Systems

Jun 22 2008   2:48AM GMT

New Site is coming

Posted by: David Vasta
David on System i, i for business, i on Power, IBM i, AIX on Power, Domino on System i, i, Linux in System i, System i, Apple, SUN, Linux, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, Lotus, Linux on POWER, Lotus News, OpenSolaris, POWER Systems

I am working on a new site, so between work, this site, writting for Search400 (which I hope they change the name of soon) and family, I have also found little time to start building a new site that will in the end be a hub for all things POWER based. I have to bring the community together under one web site.

So with that said, I am going to need people to provide content for the site. I need really dedicated insane people to help build the community from all parts of this equation. IBM i, AIX, Linux on Power, and POWER hardware. We need to come together in a big way and share. I am also going to cover Lotus, Ubuntu, OpenSolaris, OpenSuSE, FreeBSD and other things that interest me that I think are changing the way IT does IT.

Please send me an email and I will get you in on the fun, and if you know Joomla that would be great too…I am no expert on that CMS kit.

Jun 13 2008   12:49PM GMT

IBM i Power Blades not selling….YET?

Posted by: David Vasta
IBM i, David on System i, i on Power, i, IBM POWER Blades, AIX on Power, System i, News, Linux, POWER Systems

COMMON 2008 announced the POWER platform. Which is of course just brilliant. The IBM i is now just an OS, and to beat all that IBM released some new blades that are POWER based, so in fact you could run any of the the greatest OSes on the face of the earth on them, IBM i, AIX, or Linux, so why are they not selling. I think it’s just a matter of time and IBM doing what they don’t do best, marketing.

I have tried everything to get the company I work for to replace some older System i units with Power Blades but they have the same fears that is pointed out by this article by Mark Fontecchio.

I would urge anyone who has a need for 515 and 525(520) based server to really take a long hard look at blades. I think over time you will see the blades are actually cheaper.

May 29 2008   8:23PM GMT

What’s in a name? More from the front to change the name

Posted by: David Vasta
i for business, i on Power, i, System i, POWER Systems

After what has been a pretty quiet week, and a few weeks of nothing much from IBM about anything at all and more over not much in the way of the i. I was reading around the web and found a nice little article about “Becoming a System-i-Vangelist”, at least the name is catchy.

I like the part about learning the cheer!

“It’s the Power and the i, stupid! Bid a fond farewell to “AS/400″ and “iSeries” and even “System i.” It’s IBM Power Systems. It’s IBM i (”for Business”), not OS/400 or i5/OS. (Okay, V5R4 and earlier are still i5/OS, but you get the idea.) The more unified your terminology is, the stronger your message is. (By the way, IBM swears it won’t change the name again.)”

I think it’s important to be able to make the corner IBM is all asking us to make, but in order for it to work you have to stay on the ball and not call it the AS/400 please.

I was of course dissappointed that Trevor Perry Angus the IT Chap was mentioned and not yours truly. I would think that if you are passonate about the i and you want to share your thoughts, ideas, and opinions about it I would recommend you start a blog or something that people out there can find. Trust me they are looking and the hits go up everyday for people looking for one of the most stable, hard working server platforms in IT right now! the i running on POWER.

“Don’t hide IBM Power Systems under a bushel. The worst thing you can do is make them a “black box” to those around you. In my experience, the biggest job protection comes from sharing information and growing the footprint and value of IT in your firm. The companies in the most danger of having the platform pushed away are those in which the Power Systems people build a wall around their “strange practices.” That is the road to ruin.”

Apr 2 2008   5:40PM GMT

The day the System i went away - Bye Bye System i

Posted by: David Vasta
POWER Systems, i on Power, AIX on Power, Linux on POWER, Common - A users group, System i

The title is missleading. The System i is dead, I said it, it’s dead. The new OS is called i. The new server is called POWER.

i + AIX +LINUX = Runs on POWER

Since I started in this career path in 1990 I was constantly told by “others” the AS/400 is dead, then the iSeries is dead, after that the System i is dead. So now it’s dead right?

Wrong.

It’s larger than all the other systems in it’s space.Today during the Town Hall Meeting at COMMON, Mark Shearer released a gigantic can of industrial sized whoop ass on the competition. I know I have said it before and I meant it but this is the right move at the right time. The System p and System i become POWER. The i5/OS has become i, yeap just i. See it’s simple.

Mark showed a slide that was one of my favorites, where is showed IBM Power trending up while HP and SUN were both trending down and not even close to the number of installations or server IBM had. This gap is going to grow wider now and anyone thinking of moving off the i to Sun or HP should be sent home and consider a new line of work. IBM is the owner of the midrange space and now with a entry level server and a blade that runs any of three OSes, i, AIX, and Linux is just way to powerful a statement for the Solaris and HPUX people to ignore.

IBM also showed off the Power blades for the “S” Blade Center. The idea some 18 years ago of running a i on a card about the size of an old SPD card or laptop was a silly thought. Now if I wanted to put my Websphere AIX server, my JD Edwards i server and my Linux File and print server all in one foot print with disk I can and I can do it with POWER. So what about Windows? You can place intel based bladed in the “S” and run it there too, right next to the i, AIX, and Linux.

What does David think about this move?

We now have a name that can work for the OS/400, i5/OS and it’s i, just i and it works for me. The i is for buisness logo is awesome. All the new logos are awesome and very nVidia like. I have been in the loop with IBM and nothing they have told me about today has made me think negative things at all. These changes are all what most of the forward thinking people in the community have been thinking all along.

As I get more details I will share them, the event was worth the price of admission. I am a proud member of the i community and today was what most people call an industry earthquake. IBM took it’s most powerful assets and leveraged them into POWER!

We hop to see many many more combined advertising and educational activities in the future, while IBM promised it I still don’t know if they have a plan. This was all very fuzzy and very PC at the same time. I would have liked to have seen a plan for advertising, and after years of being blasted for not doing much you would have thought they would have shown up with a marketing plan. That would be my only comment about the new release.

Lastly someone at IBM needs to take the i OS and find all the places where it says AS/400, OS/400, iSeries, System i, or anything other than POWER or i to remove it. The i needs a clean up.

Thanks IBM for a great COMMON!

Maxed Out - Chris is a much better writer than I so please step over and read his post too.