Chances are, we missed you at the Orlando, Florida, meeting of COMMON last week. Why? Attendance appears to have continued to drop, perhaps as a result of restricted travel budgets and the doldrums of the lagging general economy. Still, COMMON provided a number of world-class speakers and the fabulous talents of scores of volunteer educators who traveled from all over the country to share their knowledge.
This COMMON's focus was security, and our emergency preparedness was quickly tested when an unscheduled mock emergency drill sent everyone--Gaylord Hotel employees, expo exhibitors, speakers, and attendees--in an orderly scramble to the parking lots. Funny, but this post-9/11 exercise brought few complaints from the crowd as we all craned our necks to watch jetliners approaching the Orlando International Airport. Almost on the eve of that terrible tragedy two years ago, we were both very aware of and very appreciative of security measures at the convention center.
Renewed Enthusiasm for iSeries AS/400
Yet by far, for me, the most exciting part of the conference was witnessing the renewed enthusiasm for iSeries IT. This was an enthusiasm that was sorely missing from the previous two COMMONs--at Indianapolis and Denver--and the entire educational event was well worth attending. No frills; just great content, great exhibitors, and great talent, all assembled at a lovely venue.
Tom Bittman's Bit
At Sunday's Opening Session, Gartner Group's Tom Bittman walked us through the strategies that are currently driving the server industry forward, placing IBM's e-Business on Demand initiative into bright relief against other industry initiatives. Bittman calls these initiatives "Real-Time Infrastructure," and he explained how the complex processes of IT virtualization were transforming the way by which companies will view IT in the future. He placed particular emphasis on how well the IBM iSeries plays in that arena, with its own virtual architecture and its capacity-on-demand offerings. He reminded us all that IBM's new focus of small and medium business (SMB) opportunities was really the heart of the iSeries community, and he chided IBM for ignoring this sector for so long. Then, he shared with us figures that indicated how the iSeries market share had actually expanded in the first two quarters of 2003, primarily as a response to consolidation within IT. Now, so many server platforms can be consolidated onto an iSeries that companies that desire real cost-reductions are turning to these boxes with renewed attention. A quick look around the large banquet hall showed some attendees struggling with the scope and the breadth of Bittman's perspective, but there was no question that Bittman's words about the future of iSeries--as seen from this leading industry analyst's viewpoint--were enthusiastically received.
Zollar-izing the COMMON Crowd
Monday's Town Hall Meeting gave us similar news from IBM iSeries General Manager Al Zollar. Zollar's address reinforced IBM's commitment to iSeries and showed us where the platform was headed inside of IBM's e-Business on Demand initiative. He told us how iSeries had gained in market share--in the top end of the product line--and said, point blank, that this was the area where IBM would concentrate its efforts in marketing and sales. "We're not going to chase after the low-end server market," he said. "But we will continue to support those organizations where the need for consolidation of server farms and operating systems gives the customer the best return on investment."
One of the most interesting highlights of Zollar's remarks was his announcement of new offerings for High Availability backup servers and services, describing a new sales initiative that greatly discounts the purchase of auxiliary servers and services for fast recovery. (These announcements were followed by an iSeries Nation Chat on September, 11, with information about these offerings available in PDF at IBM's iSeries Nation Web site.)
In addition, he described a new iSeries Developer Roadmap, which provides customers with a detailed strategy that will enable them to modernize their software applications in a manner that keeps them in line with IBM's larger WebSphere J2EE integration goals: Customers may choose to follow the technical roadmap toward WebSphere according to their own business requirements--modernizing only those portions of applications that make economic sense--and feel comfortable that they will still not be left behind for later modernization efforts. Zollar then fielded questions from the audience and retrieved answers from a panel of IBM iSeries managers and experts who shared his stage. It was a confident performance that served well to bolster attendees' enthusiasm for the rest of the conference.
On the Expo Floor
Meanwhile, back on the expo floor, iSeries ISVs and third-party vendors were receiving their own enthusiastic response from customers and potential customers. A straw poll of exhibitors revealed that, while attendance to the overall COMMON event was lower than they had hoped, the quality of interest in their products and services was rebounding from the lows of the Indianapolis show.
Numerous vendors told MC Press that the quality of leads they were getting was unusually high, indicating that new business demands in the iSeries customer base were forcing these customers to look at new solutions for their iSeries platform. Attendees used the expo as an educational forum, gathering information about new or updated products while gaining exposure to new technologies and products through fully functional demos.
What struck this reporter's eye was the quality of the new products that were entering the iSeries market space and the many opportunities that vendors were providing for customers to test their products on their own systems. Long gone are the green-screen, terminal-based application suites and the lengthy install times that once typified the AS/400 application base. These products were smart, productive, and extremely hot. Moreover, these vendors had compelling stories to share, stories about their products, the industry they were addressing, and the customers they were servicing.
Open the Box: BCD Nexus Portal Giveaway
One of the most compelling stories was provided by BCD's Eric Figura, whose enthusiasm for the iSeries platform and its customers is perhaps matched only by the incredible offer his company is now making.
According to Figura, iSeries shops are moving too slowly toward opening their iSeries to the real needs of users, and BCD intends to help. For a limited time, BCD is making its new Nexus iSeries Portal free to the first 1,000 shops that order. Normally, the Nexus portal would sell for $12,000 ($21,000 for multi-partition use), but this is a special offer designed to attract companies and Business Partners to the exciting opportunities that Nexus provides.
Nexus runs on the iSeries HTTP server and the Apache HTTP server. It allows customers to fully configure and customize the look and feel of a secure Web portal. You can add BCD application wadgets to Nexus, create your own, or use third-party applications. Nexus accepts them all.
In addition, BCD announced that Nexus would be free to an unlimited number of ISVs and IBM Business Partners. This strategy will allow these organizations to bundle the Nexus portal as an interface to their own solutions, solutions that they in turn can sell to their customer base. The only catch is that a yearly support contract be signed, at a cost of under $2,200, according to Figura ($3,795 for multi-partition).
Figura also announced the availability of the BCD Catapult Report Distribution System for the iSeries and AS/400. Catapult is a client/server product that automatically monitors outqueues and distributes iSeries and AS/400 reports to network drives, email systems, fax systems, or Web sites. It's a product that doesn't require any changes to existing programs or printer files. Though Catapult is not a part of the BCD Nexus portal giveaway, it's noteworthy that it too will work seamlessly with Nexus.
When asked why BCD was giving away 1,000 free Nexus licenses to users (and providing free Nexus licenses to Business Partners), Figura was succinct: "IBM is pushing its WebSphere Portal solution, but IBM is being unrealistic about its goals in the iSeries customer base." According to Figura, IBM's WebSphere Portal sells for between $33,000 and $87,000 (compared to the Nexus normal list price of $12,000). IBM WebSphere Portal also pulls in 20% to 25% additional expense in IBM maintenance fees ($6,600 to $17,400 compared to Nexus' $2,200 to $3,795). And, finally, the overhead of WebSphere Portal, according to Figura, usually requires a processor upgrade, making it highly expensive for most iSeries customers. In fact, in BCD's strategic look at WebSphere Portal, Figura believes IBM's product is really a solution that will work well for only the top 2% of the iSeries customer base: It will never be embraced by the majority of iSeries customers because it is just too expensive, too resource-intensive, and too limited in its appeal. According to Figura, the majority of iSeries customers need something now, something that will work on the boxes they have in-house, something that is completely customizable and sensibly priced. BCD Nexus, according to Figura, is exactly that product, and BCD is willing to test this hypothesis by allowing the first 1,000 customers a free license, enabling customers to start actually implementing an iSeries Web portal now.
Sound like a suspicious strategy? Maybe. But BCD's real goal is to garner Web portal market share. "Here's an opportunity to provide a secure, extensible Web portal at a fraction of the cost of what IBM offers. You can completely customize it--even remove the Nexus brand banner at the top. You can add wadgets, do what ever you want. All we ask the customer to do is maintain the support agreement. And ISVs and Business Partners can get the portal for free to bundle along with their solutions, at no cost at all."
To obtain more information about this intriguing offer, you can call BCD at 630-986-0800. Or register to download Nexus from BCD's Web site.
Prophets and Profits
We heard literally hundreds of other vendor stories at the COMMON expo, stories about successful new products that are transforming the way by which IT controls its costs and charts its future. These vendors at COMMON were no longer fielding the questions posed by the prophets of iSeries doom. Instead, their businesses have increased as IT continues to pull itself slowly out of the recessionary spiral. These are new prophets, predicting real profits for a steadfast platform that was once branded "legacy." And, to quote one smiling COMMON attendee, "Some said the AS/400 was gonna die! Well, guess what! The iSeries is here to stay."
Thomas M. Stockwell is Editor in Chief of MC Press.
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