iSeries overhaul looks to the long term
Published: 09 Aug 2004 15:15 BST
New models, same challenge
But the fact remains that iSeries still is out of the mainstream for most customers, and the unification isn't likely to change the broader growth challenge the iSeries faces.
The performance increase and cost cuts came with the May launch of a new iSeries generation based on the Power5 processors. But that boost only addresses one of the two iSeries challenges IBM faces, said Sageza Group analyst Charles King.
"One is supporting the expectations of a vociferous customer base, and the other is introducing the systems to a new generation of users," King said. "I think they've been better at the former than the latter."
Indeed, from 2002 to 2003, iSeries was largely flat in the market, according to research firm IDC. IBM's sales decreased from $2.3bn to $2.2bn, while shipments dropped from about 25,000 to about 23,000.
In comparison, the server market overall grew 3.2 percent from $44.3bn to $45.7bn, IDC said.
To keep existing buyers engaged, IBM also is dangling new technology.
"Later in the year we expect to have a 64-way system," said Al Zollar, who up until Wednesday was IBM's iSeries chief. That's likely to offer a substantial performance boost, given that the new 16-processor model 570 has comparable performance to the previous generation's top-end 32-processor model 890.
And although IBM has argued for years that iSeries makes overall financial sense, letting the product line hitch a ride with the higher sales volume of the pSeries family means IBM for the first time can cut sticker shock. "With our new economic model, it not only has great total cost of ownership, but great up-front acquisition costs," Zollar said.
Illuminata analyst Jonathan Eunice agreed. "ISeries is no longer going to be a high-priced product. It's not going to be a premium product," he said. With the hardware standardised, customers can see how much various operating systems and other software affect cost. "You can figure out what you're getting charged," he said.
And iSeries likely will tap into another trend, thin blade servers that plug side-by-side into a single chassis like books into a bookshelf. "It's not something we'll be doing in the near future, but it's something we're talking to our clients about. There seems to be interest and we have every capability to do it," Zollar said.
Blade servers slide into a common chassis like books into a bookshelf. They share common infrastructure such as power supplies and network switches and are at the vanguard of a movement to make servers more flexible and easier to manage.
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