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Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

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  • Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

    TTBOMK, AIX has no idea what to do with a separate I/O processor. Dave

  • #2
    Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

    True, however as the iSeries moves to Infiniband it won't be using an IOP anymore so neither system will have them. (Per Frank at the NES conference when I raised that point)

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    • #3
      Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

      IMO this would be a huge mistake. The ability to offload I/O onto another processor is one of the best features ever devised into an O/S. Dave

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      • #4
        Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

        My understanding from reading is that the CPU is being toggled back and forth between Unix and AS/400 modes. The fact that they stick both CPU architectures on one chip and toggle does not make it one box whose OS is irrelevant unless I completely misunderstood what I was reading, but I doubt it. This is the basis of nothing being able to run in PASE unless it was rewritten to not violate addressing rules in the AS/400 CPU chip side. I remember when dual CPU's were sold in early home PC's to toggle between CP/M and DOS, or CP/M and Apple, etc. I almost bought a Franklin which was CP/M and Apple, but I didn't have enough Franklins. Probably a good thing in retrospect. I don't understand anything about the thought process behind multi-partitioning for different OS's, multiple OS's on the same box, or anything IBM has done to the AS/400 since they decided they weren't a hardware company anymore. It is beyond my comprehension that Unix people would run Unix alongside OS/400 or vise versa. I also never understood divvying up hard drives which get cheaper every day and partitioning out to different OS's. I don't even like doing that on my PC. So what do I know. Luddite signing out here. Ralph

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        • #5
          Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

          There are advantages and disadvantages to running everything off of one box. The biggest advantages are integration, and the ability to save your entire enterprise in one shot. The biggest disadvantage is a single point of failure. Dave

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          • #6
            Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

            Could be viewed as a PR thing for MS, but still, I thought this article was interesting. It mentions the AS/400! :-) Helping JetBlue see black Brian

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            • #7
              Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

              Dave wrote: "There are advantages and disadvantages to running everything off of one box. The biggest advantages are integration, and the ability to save your entire enterprise in one shot. The biggest disadvantage is a single point of failure." "Integration" is a myth, Dave. The internal bus between those partitions is the same as working over a network, I was stunned to discover through reading. If you don't have mutual access to the OS/400 database, what's the point? One backup across OS/400, AIX, Linux, and AS/400 DASD partitioned to Pentium boards hanging off the box? Give me a break. That's exactly the kind of nonsense I'm referring to when I say that nothing IBM says happens in the real world. Ralph

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              • #8
                Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                There are wiring and maintenance and other costs with separate equipment you don't have with partitioning. In most cases, just the hardware costs more when it is multiple boxes. The paperwork is another thing. These issues don't even get into multiple vendor compatibility scenarios.

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                • #9
                  Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                  Ralph wrote: "Integration" is a myth In this case you may be right for the wrong, (wrong is harsh) or at least a different reason. While it is expected that IBM's Lawyers can beat up SCO's lawyers, no one, can absolutely, positively, for sure tell how this thing is going to play out. Should SCO's rights be held legitimate, then there will be no Linux, AIX, etc to integrate with. Oh well. . . . .A myth ith as good ath a mile Dave

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                  • #10
                    Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                    The biggest benefit I see is the combined Marketing effort and budget. Everyone knows how bad it has been for so long in that respect. The install base will increase to the sum of the two parts when hardware market share is analyzed. Although we in this forum are all smart enough to know the split top brass won’t have a clue. They just want a quick read and numbers to back up their bet. Looking at the Iseries’ numbers now make a strong horse seem like a long shot. It will be a good thing for IBM and us.

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                    • #11
                      Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                      From what I read in the article and if I understand it correctly, there will be 1 hardware platform and the ability to run 1 or more Operating Systems simutainiously. Isn't that what we have on the iSeries now? If you choose to have the main O/S as OS/400 you still have to have someway of running another O/S. The mainframes have used partitions way back to the late 70's early 80's to run multiple O/S's. We have been told for years that IBM planned to have the AS/400 hardware as their standard hardware for midrange (and maybe above). It sounds as they are going to do that. The problem I see is that the special hardware features (such as IOPs) that make the iSeries handle I/O much more efficiently and faster than other machines will be sacraficed. This may be the biggest mistake of all. I know that I've worked at companies that had both RS6000 and AS/400s. The RS6000 would run the POS system or Warehouse system (for example) and the AS/400 ran everything else (financials, Sales Analysis, etc.) Having both the AIX O/S and OS/400 O/S running on the same box would have saved the companies money and data transfer between the 2 types of systems would have been faster. I believe a merge of hardware could be productive to the sales of both Operating Systems as long as the best of the hardware is also combined. Otherwise we are going to have both the pSeries and iSeries be nothing more than another type of mainframe. How much will we loose in the merging is my biggest consern and not what it will gain. I wonder if the statements made in the article were actually made to get a feeling of we would react to that kind of merge. It would not be the first time that an IBM'er spoke about an upcoming change that got a big negative reaction and the change wasn't implemented. Just my 2 or 3 cents.

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                      • #12
                        Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                        http://www.the400group.com/aiw/free/04-1403.html

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                        • #13
                          Soltis says iSeries and pSeries to merge

                          Glen Kerner wrote: . . .The problem I see is that the special hardware features (such as IOPs) that make the iSeries handle I/O much more efficiently and faster than other machines will be sacraficed. This may be the biggest mistake of all. Amen to that. When I hear criticism of the AS/400 because of its proprietary nature I cringe. The response is generally along the lines that losing superior proprietary qualities in favor of the mundane does no one any good. Dave

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