Fireside Chat Transcript
© Copyright 2007 iSociety Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
12:00pm US Central Time April 14th, 2007
Angus says: Welcome to the Fireside Chat with Jim and Ian. You can now submit your questions...
Jherring says: good morning Angus
Ijarman says: i'm here too
Angus says: Thanks to Ian Jarman and Jim Herring
Question from Angus: How have the announcements been received so far?
Jherring says: They have been received extremely well - very enthusiastically by press, analysts, partners and clients
Jherring says: We did announcement briefs on both coasts and everyone is excited
Question from Ilovei: what has the press had to say about launch of 515 and 525?
Jherring says: We've had very positive reaction to the announcements - they've been picking up on the "better alternative to Windows" message
Jherring says: We are just starting to see press outside the US - a major Japanese business daily just published their reaction
Question from Angus: How many ISVs are going to sell turnkey software+hardware solutions with the ExJherringpress models?
Ijarman says: we have about 2,500 ISVs worldwide with over 5200 solutions
Ijarman says: they are reday to go with 515/525 on V5R4
Question from DrFranken: How quickly can a customer expect to get a model 515 (from the time he calls his business partner?)
Ijarman says: They are available on April 20th
Ijarman says: Usually within three days, in some countries distributors stock 515s, but 525s usually are more complex configurations
Ijarman says: All the 525s are build to order so you can customize it to your specifications
Ijarman says: We stock the base configurations of the 515, but you can now also configure those to order with 20 of the most popular options
Question from PODunn: No question, but a big thank you for the 515/525. I believe that this will be a huge door opener for System i.
Jherring says: That's great - that was our goal when we designed these systems
Jherring says: We wanted our partners and ISVs the opportunity to compete with Windows
Question from Rodrigs1: great, I think it was about time IBM removed the cap on processors and sell System i like System p (full processors).
Ijarman says: yes, removing those caps open the door to many new solutions
Question from Mpcrump: A common complaint (not from me) seems to be that while the change is good there is still a huge premium on the System i vs. WINTEL. How do you respond to that?
Ijarman says: We're highly competitive today, remember that you can run multiple applications on System i, without getting into the challenges of managing server farms
Ijarman says: The response from ISVs is that the new systems put them right in the game to compete for new customers
Question from Mpcrump: It seems that the user based pricing makes it much more attractive for companies wanting an Internet presence. Do you foresee a good number of 525's being used as Internet type of servers?
Jherring says: Absolutelty. With the full power5+ processing power available, tools like PHP we see this as a big help to medium businesses
Jherring says: And for bigger clients, we also announced i5/OS application server, which provides the same kind of benefits for models 550, 570, 595s
Ijarman says: I was just in a briefing here in Rochester today with a company from New York who are deploying Portal server - they love the new announcements!
Question from PODunn: Does the basic 5 user license on the 515 include 5 seats of iSeries Access for Windows?
Ijarman says: Yes, one of the best software changes that we made was to include Client Access in one integrated license
Ijarman says: So, yes those five users get ALL the client access capability, including Client Access for the web which is HOT!
Question from DrFranken: Does a user accessing a 515 with System i Access, a 5250 Emulator, and a web client count as one or three users?
Ijarman says: Simple. One person one user. Answer = one.
Question from Chrismaxcer: What's up with the 40-user note on the 515? Is that an actual cap or a recommendation?
Jherring says: Its a cap, and its based on the fact that most larger companies are going to want to have the advantages of expandability and upgradability of the 525
Question from DrFranken: Can I put 140GB Drives in a model 515?
Ijarman says: Just 70 G drives on the 515, we have targeted this to small businesses.
Question from DrFranken: If an application on another system is using JDBC to access the database on a 515 or 525 does that count as one user or one for each user of the application?
Ijarman says: Normally, JDBC/ODBC is used by a person to access data on the system, so they would be a user
Question from PODunn: Is there any plan to offer a 515 entry with a single seat developers / programmers tool box, with compliers, WSDC, SQL , etc.??
Jherring says: That's an interesting idea - for now we have very attractive developer lease terms for ISVs to get a 515
Question from Rodrigs1: Why IBM hasn't been pushing C/C++ on System i as a way to attract college graduates to the platform (as JAVA has lower performance than C/C++)? This would make the platform more attractive to those that need to program in other platforms as well.
Jherring says: We're really trying to provide a wide range of application environments and languages - including open source - all with good performance
Jherring says: Its really up to the developer!
Question from Mpcrump: FYI - I really appreciate the App Server pricing. It's great for WAS, WPS, Domino, etc.
Ijarman says: Thanks, the i5/OS App Server is great for people running WebSphere and Domino on the 550/570/595
Question from Lknudsen: On expandability, just to verify, 515 does NOT upgrade to 525 - correct?
Ijarman says: Correct
Ijarman says: But you can go to a 2-way in the 515
Ijarman says: and by the way you can upgrade from the 810 and 520 to 525
Question from PODunn: I see the 515 as an opportunity for large distributed mutilples in the retail, banking, credit union, freight, etc space. Also in the small medical dental, or other professional office (5 to 10 users). Is there any effort to entice the ISV or independant consultant to develop applications for these business potential, also for small community hospitials.
Jherring says: Absolutely. We think the 515 is ideal for these situations, Our Vertical Industry Program (VIP) is intended to help ISVs do just that
Question from DrFranken: If I have an application I want to sell on these new systems how to I get IBM to recognize it as an iSV application?
Jherring says: We have an enablement team and we'd be happy to put you in contact with them.
Jherring says: You can actually use iSociety to post your application and we'll follow up with you.
Question from DrFranken: Can a customer realistically run i5/OS, a Linux partition, and AIX partition, and a couple iSCSI attached System x servers on a single model 515?
Ijarman says: On virtualization, yes that is all possible, and could well be feasible assuming you were going to use virtual disks managed by i5/OS
Question from DrFranken: Can a model 515 or 520 attach to external storage?
Ijarman says: External storage, yes on the 525.
Question from PODunn: Is it correct that the 2 basic 70gb drivesd an form a mirrored set?
Jherring says: We usually ship it to you as a mirrored pair by default, but you can order it without mirroring or RAID - although we don't suggest it
Question from Fred: What do you see as the typical total configured cost for a 515 when they start being ordered?
Jherring says: The base configuration starts a lot lower than before - $7995 - which is important for small businesses.
Jherring says: For larger customers, you add users, disk and memory - so could get up to $12,000 or so
Question from DrFranken: PHP is big, real big. Our customers are smiling wide! Will PHP be coming pre-loaded on the 515 and 525 servers?
Ijarman says: No, but it is easy to download and it's still free.
Question from Jen Eric: Client Access for the web? Can you elaborate?
Ijarman says: Yes, System i Access for the web, is like a mini portal to the System i
Ijarman says: http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/access/web/
Ijarman says: It is protected by the same great security as everything else in i5/OS.
Question from Rodrigs1: Does the 40-user for 515 mean concurrent users or defined users?
Ijarman says: That is people, not concurrent users.
Question from Rodrigs1: But in different conferences, IBM spokepersons only mention RPG and JAVA; there is no mention to C/C++, neither that since V5R1, OS/400 C/C++ is the same as AIX C/C++, neither that there are RPG to C++ converters from third parties
Jherring says: Actually, many of the large applications that are ported to i5/OS are C/C++ - SAP for example . So we support C/C++ just as much as Java .
Question from Jtaylor: Can you elaborate on what defines a "user"?
Ijarman says: Yes, you count the people. One person is one user, regardless of how they attach and authenticate to i5/OS
Question from DrFranken: So do you expect users to cheat and just have twenty people sign on with one user profile?
Jherring says: No - we trust in the integrity of the our clients.
Jherring says: We have the tools within the system to help them meet compliance with the terms of their license
Question from Denvillesteve: Are there technical or performance obstacles to running i5/OS on the p5 systems? thanks, Steve Richter
Ijarman says: No, but we have seen very limited numbers of customers looking for that capability. We do, however, have many customers running AIX on System i.
Question from DrFranken: What is the best quote you've heard or read so far about the 515/525 models?
Ijarman says: From Lee Kroon in MC Press.... While the System i Express is not a Windows killer, it definitely has the chops to be a Windows nemesis. That makes it a powerful catalyst for reenergizing IBM's System i business.
Ijarman says: That was GREAT!
Question from PODunn: Was there any thought given to being able to order a basic 515 with a simple configuration tool on line or via a 1-800-IBM-i515 like Dell??"
Jherring says: Yes, we did, but our partners and ISVs add so much value that we feel most benefit from their experience.
Question from Mpcrump: The security policy product looks great. How has the reaction been to it?
Jherring says: If you really want one want directly from IBM you can call your local IBM to get one.
Ijarman says: Yes, we showed in to customers here in Rochester and they really like it. I think that they appreciated that it not only helped them deploy a security policy, but also helped them demonstrate compliance to the policy.
Question from DrFranken: Will you be raffling off a 515 at COMMON Anaheim for the Education Foundation?
Jherring says: Watch this space - hopefully everyone can attend what is looking like the most exciting Common in a decade
Question from DrFranken: It appears that only four dirves can be driving by the integrated RAID controller in a 515 and a second controller is required for drives 5 though 8, is this correct?
Ijarman says: Yes
Question from DrFranken: If I read it correctly thet 515 will NOT accept an IOP. Doesn't that make the 515 the first completly IOPless System i?
Ijarman says: Very close, but we do provide an IOP for WAN and tape adapter capability.
Question from Angus: Do either of you have a 515 in your office?
Jherring says: We have one on display in our conference room - so more people can take a look at this great system
Jherring says: And its been one of the most popular rooms in Rochester!
Question from Angus: Where can we talk to you next?
Ijarman says: We'll look forward to seeing you at COMMON and ther events around the globe.
Angus says: Thanks for attending our Fireside Chat with Jim Herring and Ian Jarman.
Angus says: If we missed your question, we apologize - please come back for the next Fireside Chat!
Angus says: Thanks to Jim and Ian for their time today.
Ijarman says: thanks for all your questions!
Jherring says: Thanks for attending - great questions!
Angus says: Watch for the transcript to be posted soon at iSociety.org.
Jim Herring & Ian Jarman
Held: April 14th, 2007
12:00pm Central US time
Note: edited for spelling
