Re: AS/400 Gasping For Air ??

[Glenn Ericson <Glenn-Ericson@xxxxxxx>]

John
I think the  question is  do I Agree with 
Gartner -their graphs and predictions


At 04:29 PM 1/3/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>What's your opinion on this article ??    Do you agree with Sandy?
>
>Maybe Drop her a line.    She is the Editor I think of Inforworld Today.  
>Visit the site below to see 
>the graphs.
>
>I personally didn't think she could spell AS/400.
>
>John Carr
>EdgeTech
>Have Classes, Will Travel
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----------------------------------
> http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/reed/reed.htm
>
>
>By Sandy Reed 
>
>       December 28, 1998 / January 1999 
>
>       Some see the AS/400 as losing the race, but
>       others say it's just getting started
>
>       Depending on how you look at it, the IBM AS/400 is either taking its
>last
>       breath or just getting its second wind. There's no doubt it's been a
>       commercial success during the past 10 years. What's in question is
>how long
>       it can stay in the race against increasingly powerful opponents.
>
>       Among those who see the AS/400 gasping for air are analysts at the
>Gartner
>       Group, a research company that sometimes seems to be as interested
>in
>       shaping trends as in spotting them. In a recent report, Gartner
>predicted
>       trouble for the AS/400 platform because of three related technology
>trends:
>       enterprise resource planning (ERP), Windows NT Server, and the
>year-2000
>       problem.
>
>       The charts accompanying this column
>       illustrate Gartner's predictions for ERP
>       database server sales in 1998, 2000,
>       and 2002. They're based on a survey of
>       1,300 ERP customers worldwide.
>       InfoWorld Associate Editor Jim Battey,
>       who analyzed the study, notes that the
>       charts represent units sold each year,
>       not total installed base.
>
>       The main reason companies aren't
>       buying AS/400s as ERP servers is that
>       ERP vendors have turned their attention
>       to NT Server. PeopleSoft, for instance,
>       recently acknowledged that it won't
>       support all newly planned applications
>       on the AS/400. Earlier this year, Baan announced a "special
>relationship" with
>       Microsoft founded on NT products. (See "PeopleSoft stumbles on
>support,
>       school apps" and "Baan counteracts poor financials by striking deal
>with
>       Microsoft.")
>
>       Gartner predicted that the trend toward ERP on NT will accelerate
>once IT
>       shops pass the year-2000 problem. In fact, the analysts said that
>the
>       year-2000 problem has actually delayed the defection to NT because
>       companies are so busy focusing on it.
>
>       To other observers, the reports of the AS/400's demise are
>exaggerated.
>       They predict that what's to come is a second wind, not a last
>breath.
>       InfoWorld's Maggie Biggs heard agreement from hundreds of readers
>after
>       she wrote in her Enterprise Toolbox column that the AS/400 has
>morphed
>       "into a server platform capable of reliably servicing legacy,
>client/server, and
>       Web-based business computing." And InfoWorld Editor at Large Ed
>       Scannell noted a similar reaction to his article, "IBM AS/400s
>quietly find
>       success." Both cited the fact that IBM responded to the NT challenge
>by
>       making it possible for AS/400 users to run both OS/400 and Windows
>NT
>       from the same box.
>
>       How do you vote? Is the AS/400 gasping for air or just getting its
>second
>       wind?
>
>
>     
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