Vendors have mixed reaction to new iSeries packagings

By Sarah Kimmel
Monday, February 03, 2003

      The new iSeries packaging and pricing is getting mixed reviews from vendors. The verdict is split between those that offer applications that require 5250 CPW and those that don’t.

      “We may be forced to provide a solution that doesn’t require 5250 CPW so that we can sell to shops that run on the Standard Edition,” says an Insider source and IBM business partner.

      The fear is that the jump in pricing from the Standard Edition to the Enterprise Edition is too steep and that customers, particularly smaller shops that currently use little 5250 CPW, will decide to go with the cheaper box with zero 5250 CPW and forfeit the capacity altogether (for the hardware and package pricing, see the grid, below).

      “Large shops will certainly see savings with this latest announcement, but because IBM eliminated the scalability of the 5250 CPW feature, there could be some degradation at the low end,” says Tom Bittman, VP of technology and marketing, Gartner Consulting Group, Danbury, CT.

      However, those vendors that do require 5250 CPW hope that regardless of price, iSeries shops that need 5250 CPW will have no other choice but to purchase the Enterprise Package and continue business as usual.

      “Our solutions need 5250 CPW, but our customers typically run several applications with this requirement. They won’t benefit from the Standard Package,” says Ruth Bridger, director of marketing, BOScom, Fairlawn, NJ.

Conversion tool vendors see the silver lining

      Other vendors, particularly those that offer conversion tools that produce an outcome that does not require 5250 CPW, much like WebFacing, are also pleased, but for a different reason.

      “The prices are going to reinforce the value proposition and drive more customers to solutions like X-Caliber and WebFacing, and more of them will convert and run their applications in batch,” says Andre den Haan, VP of product strategies, Seagull Software, Atlanta, GA.

      Since the latest iSeries announcement, there has been fanfare over the capability to run WebFaced applications on these new boxes without 5250 CPW. Other vendors that offer similar tools, such as Seagull and Jacada, know that the new pricing structure will work in their favor.

      “Products like our DDS Bridge enable shops to get away from the green-screen without 5250 CPW. While bigger shops are bound to their 5250 CPU cycles, smaller shops will see products like ours as very compelling,” says Oren Ezra, VP of product management, Jacada, Atlanta, GA.

      IBM refused to comment on this story.

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