Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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400, AS/400 it is for me. I jumped on that series stuff for awhile, but after seeing they couldn't make up their minds, I made mine up. Every now and again I slip up and say iSeries. They have come up with so many names how can they sell it, no one knows what they are buying. The '400' is the spoken word around here.

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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IBM used to know how to sell computers but apparently that is now a lost art at Big Blue. People can call the box anything they want to. I prefer AS/400-iSeries. Then most people know exactly what I'm talking about.

[neilk@greenfieldwi.us]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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Don't get me wrong, I love the AS/400, BUT many people in management (including those with budget approval) have been swayed by the ignorant in the UNIX and especially PC world who have convinced them the AS/400 is "old technology". I constantly point out that is not correct - the box has evolved, much like the fuel-injected Mustang of today with leather seats and CD/stereo is nothing like the Mustang of the 60's with a carburetor, vinyl seats and AM radio. A month or two or six later, I hear the same thing about "old technology" once again. With the iSeries name (or System i or i5) I have been able to take advantage of this ignorance. If anyone says AS/400, I tell them no, that's the old box we have. This one is completely different. We have an AS/400 and we have an iSeries. This strategy has been working out well. Don't go back to AS/400!!

[dsternberg@chartercom.com]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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I suggest shortening the "System" to "Sys" and just use the "i", or Sysi. How many Sysi's to you have??

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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At the initial roll out of System i, I've advocated using "System formerly known as AS/400" instead. It worked for Prince; he even made it to the Superbowl this year! Now that I've calmed down a bit... perhaps "(The) Integrator". Sounds cool and reflects iSeries as good as any other single word does.

[R.Daugherty]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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The big thing here is that IBM is not doing any of this based on the AS/400 or changes made to it. It was all part of heavy duty brainstorming by IBM marketeers. So they are doing this series and system thing to all their computers. They really, really care about marketing IBM. Anything they do concerning marketing their computers in the process is just collateral damage. App packages and the ability to customize them have always sold the /400 and predecessors, and that is the only thing that will sell the iseries (i5, system i, and i don't know what next). IBM only cares about their middleware; Websphere, MQSeries, Notes, Rational, and so on, and anything they have done concerning the iseries is misaimed at trying to spoof small business into being able to run a mixture of operating systems without the multiple domain expertise admins needed to do that. It is clearly a spoof, and the C levels attempted to be spoofed are a lot smarter than IBM marketing mucks. The most sickening thing is that these people will tell you real soon now how much money they spent on marketing the system i. You don't have to go very far to see the money spent. Dilbert and the PHB ads are everywhere. The day even one person gets anything positive about the iseries out any of those ads is the day that that person was paid by IBM to say it. The funny thing is, these ads are overcompensation trying to be cool. They think the remaining potential market is small companies, and Microsoft is their foe. So obviously not much of anything IBM marketing says or does is relevant to the real world. One last note. The Dilbert stuff is pathetic, and like I say we will be told that IBM spent millions of dollars promoting the system i, with a name change while they were doing it, but nonetheless, they will probably brag about it. We had tens of millions of dollars budgeted for promoting the system i, and by golly, we spent it. It is enough to make you weep. But to see real computer markeing in action, you have to check out Microsoft's Windows/386 video on YouTube. An up and coming MBA type changes into Madonna and sings about Windows/386 while she's putting together a competition killer presentation with Windows/386. It has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Dilbert can't touch it. rd

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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Has IBM filed to copyright the name i5Series400? Not yet??? Hmmm... maybe I'd better get on that... Also, does anyone want to guess which Java class you use when connecting to the i5Series400? AS400. Or what the IBM Java toolbox is named? jt400.jar Chris

[David Abramowitz]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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Unix is quite a bit older than OS/400. About 28 years older. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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That’s the problem for me. Mention iSeries and our prospects instantly think our application is both legacy and green screen. Mention AS/400 and they ask where the punch cards are! Personally I don’t give a damn about the name, I am the converted. Trouble is you AS/400 preachers keep the new flock away. While I’m at it, they should change the name of RPGLE into R# too. Or R% or R~ or…. I am going to call the box 'Hasta la'. This helps my prospects understand how it integrates into Microsoft’s Vista baby. Loz

[Guest.Visitor]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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Because i generally work for ERP companies all the users lump the AS/400 in with the core ERP software that runs on it. Users will refer to the data coming from 'BPCS', 'PRMS' ,MAPICS, etc. Some BI's will say the AS4oo or just the 400. Sometimes the Data Warehouse. Whatever they call it, it is viewed as something totally seperate from the PC/Desktop they have planted in front of them. Having said all that, if I tell them that it runs on the AS400 they all know what I am talking about. iSeries gets about a 50/50 response. i5 gets a complete blank . . .

[Shel]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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As a vendor who has published software for IBM midrange machines for close to 20 years, I have witnessed IBM destroy whatever brand equity they ever had in this market. You don't see Philip Morris change the Marlboro name. Or, Coca Cola, isn't waking up one day and saying let's change our name to ZCola. These brands are backed by hundreds of millions of advertising and promo dollars and they wouldn't dream of completely renaming their products! The AS/400 was a somewhat logical replacement for the S/36 and S/38 machine brands. Once the marketplace accepted it, and software vendors started adding /400 to their product names, you had the ingredients of an ecosystem. This branding helped all of us know at a glance that xyz/400 utility and the box went together. Then IBM started the nonsense... Advanced System... then iSeries. Here's boo boo #1 -- flush down the toilet all the brand equity that IBM and us vendors helped build for "/400." So IBM pushes pSeries, zSeries, iSeries, etc. so they can claim that all these boxes are e-servers and thus the IBM share of the server market is far beyond Sun. Reluctantly, we vendors bought in and changed our websites to say "...xyz software for IBM iSeries (AS/400)." Just when the market is just beginning to know what an iSeries box is -- boom! boo boo #2: the dunces in charge flush all the money they spent on iSeries (and AS/400) down the toilet a second time! What are they thinking? Didn't they read Marketing 101? You don't change the name of a product EVER!!! Instead of brand extensions, IBM whips up brand conflagrations!!! And here's the biggest boo, boo of all -- the ultimate blunder by the "e-business" masters: they named the box the utterly generic System i. Google it right now... There are 1,620,000,000 web pages with System and i on the page. Will enough target customers type "System i" (in quotes) in the Google search box? Thanks IBM for flushing my marketing dollars down the toilet now a third time. I nominate this disaster for a Harvard Business School Case Study on how NOT to market a computer system.

[R.Daugherty]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

** This thread discusses the article: Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"? **
The damage is done, of that there is no doubt. When IBM says they don't care about hardware anymore, they mean it. They don't. The AS/400 was just a market segment for Websphere, bigger than Windows but smaller than Unix. Put an interactive tax on 5250, run some ads showing RPG programmers flipping burgers, and FUD these here too slow for New York marketing mucks into paying Global Systems to convert them to middleware, Websphere and Java. That's our business. Get a move on there, lil' doggie. As long as they act like PS/2, you can't have that hard drive on this model types, as long as they insist the AS/400 is a hard drive for Windows but if you want a real computer we have Unix and the mainframe, and oh you can put Unix on that there lil' doggie if you want to play with the big boys, then you'll keep gettin what you're gettin. Which is nothin. Meanwhile multi-billion dollar companies are running their business on the AS/400, and you will never hear that story from IBM. rd

[dpasio]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

** This thread discusses the article: Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"? **
I was just getting use to the name iSeries and that name was several iteration old already. So now I've given up - for me it is an AS400. It's as if IBM is ashamed of their roots - as if there's a stigma attached to the name. If they think that then the company really doesn't know what they already got, and for that matter, where they are going.

[David Abramowitz]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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One has to be careful when referring to IBM as a single entity. There are those in IBM (Rochester and Toronto particularly) who are very aware of the Future Systems projects and everything forward. But IBM is more than Rochester. It's sometimes difficult to tell if Armonk knows that Rochester even exists! IBM is fully capable of properly marketing the AS/400. I have two words for those who do not believe:. . . . . "Malcolm Haines". The greater picture is that Malcolm's efforts have been shackled, and those who control the marketing picture have chosen to take another route. Dave

[Philkest]

Is It "System i," "i5," "System i5," or "iSeries"?

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It is surely a case of reactive marketing. Sales were down, new sites were not to be found. The was/is a perception that the AS/400 represents old, tired technology. So they came up w/ the name change idea. Still, sales are down. What do you propose IBM does to get the hardware into new locations, and to prevent existing locations from abandoning it?