Shane writes: >Boeing runs on MP3K(s) !!! - there's a revelation .... :) >I can't imagine you'd have any problem convincing some-one to give you a >price. >I think we have our MP3K on "parts and materials" - don't know what it >costs, but it never needs attention anyway. >As for new kit, if you believe Timothy, IBM are almost giving it away.
No, not giving it away yet, sadly. I haven't opened my personal basement data center yet. Almost. :-) IBM doesn't publish too many System z hardware prices, I'm afraid. IBM has revealed some data points, though. A shiny new System z9 BC Model A01 "starts at $100,000" (i.e. U.S. dollar price in U.S., education/government). IFLs, zAAPs, and zIIPs (the speciality engines) for the System z9 BC are US$95,000 each and US$125,000 each for the z9 EC (one-time charge), IBM says. Memory is US$8,000 per GB on the z9s. Ironically Boeing doesn't publish prices for new aircraft either. :-) But like IBM, sometimes you get clues. The used/secondary market is another way to get public price information. A few brief bits of potentially money-saving advice: 1. Yes, do calculate the costs of a new system (hardware), but please also include all the other costs. All IT systems have running costs of various kinds, and the hardware very, very strongly influences these other costs. New systems cost a lot less to run, quite simply, ceteris paribus. [The rough analogy here: imagine if your data center is filled with 1,000 or more distributed servers, but every bit of equipment is at least 8 years old. Economical? Probably not. A mainframe is effectively a whole data center in a tiny box.] 2. Boeing has other mainframes I'd guess. Could you get an LPAR or two on a Boeing System z9 elsewhere in your enterprise to run this workload? While a new mainframe may be cheaper on a running basis, adding work to an existing mainframe could be even cheaper than that. (It depends, but that's common.) 3. Do make sure you investigate VWLC (Variable Workload License Charge) for your software. This can often be quite advantageous. 4. A system upgrade is a good time to "take stock." Take the time to review your software portfolio and do make sure it's modern and responsive to your application development needs, in particular. Mainframe software stacks are only as old as you keep them, and they're as new as you want them. Mainframes can run old software indefinitely, but it doesn't mean they have to or should. Keep the old stuff if it still has business value. Sit down with an architect-type if you'd like help reviewing the stack. I can recommend a few. Also take a look at what's not running on the mainframe today and whether it should. Aside: I wish Boeing would quote me a price on a cargo shipment aboard the Dreamlifter. I've got a wide item to ship. - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
