Maxed Out
Because the System i can run at redline speed all day long . . .
December 19, 2007
System i Directions as We Slide Out of 2007
There's a two-part set of articles we published in the November and December issues of System iNEWS magazine that is particularly noteworthy: "The Direction of System i Technology, Part 1" and "The Direction of System i Technology, Part 2". The articles are basically a transcript of a roundtable discussion with some of the top minds in our industry -- System iNEWS technical editors Mel Beckman, Paul Conte, Michael Otey, Don Denoncourt, Carsten Flensburg, Scott Klement, Sharon Hoffman, Bryan Meyers, Dan Riehl, and Carson Soule, as well as guests Scott Steinacher and Dan Darnell, longtime contributor Bob Tipton, and Wayne Madden. The set is packed with points, and most every reader will likely find at least a few resonating chords of insight.
Here's a snip:
Wayne: Our topic for today is where System i technology is headed. We can discuss hardware, applications, software -- whatever you feel is important. To begin, is there anything significant that IBM has done in the past 12 months that will truly make a difference to this platform, or is there anything you believe is on the short horizon that IBM is doing or should be doing to affect the System i or the System i community?Scott S: Absolutely. IBM is introducing a brand-new DB2 Query product. More and more System i shops have been bringing in Windows servers to do business intelligence (BI) because there's a perceived lack of software in the System i market. IBM is introducing this product at a low price point because of that. I saw a two-hour demo, given to me by the Toronto lab, and the product is phenomenal. It's Web 2.0 all the way, with Ajax and so forth. As I was watching the demo, I almost forgot that the product was browser based -- it was that impressive.
The reason IBM is doing this is to try to stem the flow of shops going to SQL Server for BI. A case in point is one of my biggest clients, a very large manufacturer. This client just hired a new VP who doesn't know much about the System i. One of his first mandates was exploring moving a data mart off the System i and onto SQL Server. He sat in on that two-hour demo from IBM and was just bowled over by the product's functionality. It literally changed the course of direction there, and the client is going to be sticking with the System i for BI in the hopes that this query product will be as good as it appears. If that happens across the install base, well, you can see the payoff. More System i machines will be running BI. People will buy a small one and dedicate it to that. DB2 Query has the potential to be a category killer in the BI space because it'll be cheap enough for everybody to own.
Don: Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about all high-end functionality. That's great with BI, but I also heard that DB2 Query is a replacement for Query/400, so you can create simple PDF reports for the web, which has been a problem for Java-based applications for years. So isn't it a very simple entry for getting web reporting?
Obviously, we've had a few things hit the System i world after this roundtable conversation took place, most notably the IBM System i and p reorganization. For those of you in a reflective frame of mind, feel free to post the biggest System i issues -- or gains -- that stick in your mind as we slide out of the year 2007. . . .
Posted by cmaxcer at December 19, 2007 9:09 AM
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