System iNetwork

June 2, 2008

So the i Has It, Eh?

As news editor for System iNetwork, I operate in two distinct, yet closely aligned realities -- electronic and print. In the first reality, everything happens quickly. News breaks, we publish it, readers comment on stories and blog entries, and the whole thing is constantly shifting and evolving. In print, I write a monthly Industry Report for System iNEWS magazine. After it heads to the printer, it's done, but what's alien to a guy like me is that there's at least a two-month lag between the time I write something and the time it ships out in hard copy form. A lot can change in two months.

Earlier this year, I made a couple of predictions in print that IBM would likely converge System i with p sometime soon, and although those notes panned out sooner rather than later, it can look a little quaint to read something vague in print that's essentially already played out in fact online.

In June's "The i Has It: IBM Powers On," much is the same, though there is a sarcastic reference to "i for Business" that has since been smoothed out by IBM. What's really different now -- what doesn't come through -- is that I was much closer to the material back then. It was more raw with the issues both exciting and irritating, and now I've settled down and am waiting to see what the old System i industry does with the new IBM i Power reality. You can now purchase or lease IBM i and Power systems. Will 23 percent of System i shops migrate to POWER6-based hardware this year? Will 6 percent install IBM i on a blade? What will the 25 percent who are undecided about i on a blade actually do? Will shops ignore all the new options and opt for i Editions?

Now, more than ever, the doing will define the new direction of our ecosystem. These choices are in the hands of customers who are tasked with running their own businesses. In two months, in four months, in six . . . how will customers act on IBM's shift?

Posted by cmaxcer at June 2, 2008 9:34 AM