IBM power I and OS/400 is alive and well.

Well well well. Mr Abel Willium. Haven't I've seen you around with the similar question for 10+ years by now? You missed the largest gathering of IBM i experts in the world last week in Denver. Almost 1000 people took their time and money to learn the latest and greatest about IBM i. One key message was that the architecture of IBM i is the most modern of all big operating systems of today. Linux/Unix is based on technologies from 1969-ish, MS Windows from 1974... IBM i from 1978. But you knew this already didn't you..

Hello,

I suppose the next question is who is using it today and who will use it tomorrow?
What is its market share today and the target one?

To make one OS successful you need many elements as :
- hardware 
- software
- accessible support engineers.
- business needs to invest in it. 

Today the microservices, Cloud, .. cheap hardware for horizontal scaling .. looks dominate the wide open market. 

The open source accessible products are optimized to work on x86 architecture on Linux. 

I'm sure there is a market share for AS/400 but this is for very custom and professional solutions. 

We see today that even projects as SUSE & RedHat are behind the opensource Linux. 
Example: Ubuntu for Power has a better support and packages than RedHat for Power. 

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

Friday afternoon, so my head might be less sharp than it has been during the week,

Where are IBM Marketing, why are we here discussing this when they should be telling the world?

Friday afternoon, so my head might be less sharp than it has been during the week,

Where are IBM Marketing, why are we here discussing this when they should be telling the world?

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

This is good news to hear newer development technologies are being utilized on the IBM i / Power Systems. 

Along the lines of the health and longevity of IBM i, I am curious what others have been seeing in regards to the support of this platform.  Each year more technical resources are being lost to retirement.  The administrative expertise is dwindling with no apparent young blood interested in IBM i.  Combine that with limited educational opportunities how does this impact the future of the most stable hardware and OS combination available on the market.

Have others seen the same? 

Original Message:
Sent: 5/5/2023 10:36:00 AM
From: Eric Gibb
Subject: RE: Is the AS/400 Dead?

This is good news to hear newer development technologies are being utilized on the IBM i / Power Systems. 

Along the lines of the health and longevity of IBM i, I am curious what others have been seeing in regards to the support of this platform.  Each year more technical resources are being lost to retirement.  The administrative expertise is dwindling with no apparent young blood interested in IBM i.  Combine that with limited educational opportunities how does this impact the future of the most stable hardware and OS combination available on the market.

Have others seen the same? 

------------------------------
Eric Gibb
Technical Team Lead / Principal Engineer
Precisely Inc.
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: Thu May 04, 2023 05:00 AM
From: Adrian Tully
Subject: Is the AS/400 Dead?

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

------------------------------
Adrian Tully

This is good news to hear newer development technologies are being utilized on the IBM i / Power Systems. 

Along the lines of the health and longevity of IBM i, I am curious what others have been seeing in regards to the support of this platform.  Each year more technical resources are being lost to retirement.  The administrative expertise is dwindling with no apparent young blood interested in IBM i.  Combine that with limited educational opportunities how does this impact the future of the most stable hardware and OS combination available on the market.

Have others seen the same? 

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

This is good news to hear newer development technologies are being utilized on the IBM i / Power Systems. 

Along the lines of the health and longevity of IBM i, I am curious what others have been seeing in regards to the support of this platform.  Each year more technical resources are being lost to retirement.  The administrative expertise is dwindling with no apparent young blood interested in IBM i.  Combine that with limited educational opportunities how does this impact the future of the most stable hardware and OS combination available on the market.

Have others seen the same? 

------------------------------
Eric Gibb
Technical Team Lead / Principal Engineer
Precisely Inc.
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: Thu May 04, 2023 05:00 AM
From: Adrian Tully
Subject: Is the AS/400 Dead?

I'm just writing a piece on this so it's great timing and i'll share a couple of bits from my unfinished script.

According to the ITIC 2022 Global Server Hardware report the Power platform is still the most reliable server available.

I think someone else has mentioned the TCO, which is better than any of the competition.

Businesses have invested hundreds of thousands of hours into the development and testing of their applications which provide unique business advantage.

Free format RPG and tools like Merlin and VS Code have opened up the development of the IBMi applications to non RPG programmers.

in short No it's not dead, and if we can stop calling it the AS/400 at the board level and talk about our modern IBMi (the same hardware that runs watson I think) then we might start convincing the money controllers to keep investing.

------------------------------
Adrian Tully

This is exactly why initiatives like COMMON Europe NextGen have been launched recently... I don't know if COMMON US or similar UG have something similar done/planned.
But there ARE new people interested in the platform, and young ones. Look at some of the IBM Champions. ;)

------------------------------
Lionel Clavien, PhD
IBM Champion for Power
CTO & Co-founder
InnoBoost SA
Morges, Switzerland
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: Fri May 05, 2023 10:35 AM
From: Eric Gibb
Subject: Is the AS/400 Dead?

This is good news to hear newer development technologies are being utilized on the IBM i / Power Systems. 

Along the lines of the health and longevity of IBM i, I am curious what others have been seeing in regards to the support of this platform.  Each year more technical resources are being lost to retirement.  The administrative expertise is dwindling with no apparent young blood interested in IBM i.  Combine that with limited educational opportunities how does this impact the future of the most stable hardware and OS combination available on the market.

Have others seen the same? 

------------------------------
Eric Gibb
Technical Team Lead / Principal Engineer
Precisely Inc.
------------------------------