RE: Help me Justify iSeries -- MIDRANGE-L

Thanks everybody for some great comments. Unfortunately, I haven't seen 
anything really that I haven't already said to my boss.

I've been on the midrange platform since '89 and happen to think it's 
solid and would not even dream of running a business class app on Wintel. 
But, the impression here by upper management is that this platform is 
costly in hardware, software and maintenance. And for the most part their 
right. I know that it's a solid and secure platform and maintaining it is 
a piece of cake. But, I just can't convince management that the money 
spent is worth it.

For the record we're a "smallish" shop. We have 5 Wintel (Dell) servers at 
HQ running Win2K and 2003. We run Lotus Notes here and at each of our 
remote sites on Wintel (Dell) servers that also serve as file servers for 
each of those locations. Total of 11 Wintel servers which were probably 
around $4500 each ($49500). The staff is comprised of myself, and another 
guy. I handle midrange ERP systems which includes the i5 and an older 
HP3000. The other guy handles the Wintel servers and network/pc support 
(he stays very busy), but I back him up sometimes as does my boss. We've 
loaded SQL server on a couple of the Wintel machines as well as ESSbase. 
If you look at the figures from a 3-year standpoint, the Wintel servers, 
which have been solid for the most part with very minimal down-time over 
the last year, the Wintel server(s) win. 

I know that if we switch to a Wintel platform for our business ERP, the 
costs are going to go up, as we'll need some more servers with more disk, 
CPU and memory but still it won't equal the cost of the iSeries and all of 
its apps and hardware, plus maintenance.

Sorry guys, but from a cost (only) standpoint the iSeries just can't 
compete, and that's where my boss and upper management are.

Ron Adams





"Ingvaldson, Scott" <SIngvaldson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
05/27/2005 08:24 AM
Please respond to Midrange Systems Technical Discussion

 
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        Subject:        RE: Help me Justify iSeries


It shouldn't be that hard (for an iSeries professional) to justify an
iSeries.  When was the last time your iSeries went down? 

We currently have a sign posted on the Data Center door that reads
"Number of days since last unscheduled IPL - 525, Previous Record 307"
This sign refers to our 390 Mainframe. 

Our last Intel server outage was last night, this time we actually had 6
hours of advance notice, the notice read:
Between 10:00 p.m. and Midnight tonight, the Database Administration
department will be rebooting a server to resolve a high CPU usage issue.
>From 10:00 p.m. until Midnight tonight, the following
systems/applications will be unavailable:

KPoint 
Sales Logix
SurfControl
LegalFiles
EPS
Prism
Remedy
IntraDoc
Primavera

I have had to send out exactly one of these notices, (in five years) due
to one user who was unable to receive a request through MQ Series (on a
Saturday!)  This scheduled (MQ Series only) outage had been communicated
to the user's manager who did not forward it to his group.

Certainly it is expensive to have a hot D/R system sitting idle, but
seriously, does your company have 100 Windows boxen sitting idly by
waiting for your disaster?  The reality is that if 24x7 uptime is your
goal I can't imagine why a Windows solution would even be on the table.

Then go check out (and send your boss) the Laughing Boardroom i5
commercials at TUG:
http://www.tug.ca/Sing-i5-iSeriesChoir.html

Seriously, the best argument that I've heard against the iSeries is that
it takes so few (often only one) people to administer it that it might
be difficult to replace them if the iSeries admin were to get hit by a
bus.

Regards,
 
Scott Ingvaldson
iSeries System Administrator
GuideOne Insurance Group