The convergence of the iSeries and pSeries platforms has been a long-standing concern for iSeries customers. Now, with the advent of i5 hardware and AIX support on the iSeries, convergence woes have come to the forefront of iSeries customers’ minds. IBM executive Tim Alpers and iSeries market analysts address this growing concern going forward.

      “If you want to get down to it, there will be different machine types between i5 and p5 in the future (you can put two and two together that p5 will be coming), even though they have the same Power 5 platform and common models (IW 4/14/03). This gives a very strong base for a common platform that can then be applied to the two different marketplaces that iSeries and pSeries serve,” says Tim Alpers, product development team leader, iSeries, IBM, Rochester, MN.

      Today, iSeries and pSeries commonalities include: hardware and firmware (and management of the hardware), feature codes, model structure under the covers, and pricing, according to Alpers. Additionally, memory, disk, processor activation, and On Demand offerings coincide between the two platforms.

Additional similarities going forward

      The iSeries and pSeries will have coinciding model numbers and joint announcements in upcoming releases. “Model 520 and 570 will be announced for pSeries in Q3 2004, and in the second half of the year, IBM will announce some additional models for the iSeries that will be common with the pSeries,” says Alpers.

      iSeries market analysts say the future joint announcements “make sense” because the two platforms have so many mutual qualities. “This will be good for both platforms because it will give the iSeries more visibility and will reassure pSeries customers that there is a solid high-end IBM line of servers in the Unix space that is comparable to HP and Sun,” says Wayne Kernochan, president, Infostructure Associates, Wellesley, MA.

      Despite their current commonalities, these two platforms will always be unique unto themselves, according to Alpers.

      Alpers on the iSeries market. “The iSeries has always been focused on the total stack. IBM preselects technologies and integrates them into the platform. What you get with that integration is improved operation, ease of use, and reliability. The end result is a more dependable solution, so customers can focus on their businesses as opposed to spending their time tweaking their IT solutions,” says Alpers.

      Alpers on the pSeries market. “The pSeries is structured as an a la carte approach. With the pSeries, customers or partners choose different technologies and put them together as a customized solution. Some customers want to tweak their IT solutions, and they want a Unix type of a la carte option — that is our pSeries offering. The pSeries has always been focused on providing a high performance solution for the Unix and Linux marketplace,” says Alpers.

Analysts foresee separate markets

      Market analysts agree that the iSeries and pSeries will continue to serve different market segments.

      “The two products have always been sold to different types of customers. The iSeries is an integrated system that serves the small and medium business space — a market where the customer doesn’t have as much IT support/personnel, so the integrated approach makes sense. As the Unix environment has evolved over time, it needs more IT personnel to support it, and pSeries customers typically have that. None of that is really going to change,” says Steve Josselyn, research director, IDC, Framingham, MA.

Messaging is vital for IBM going forward

      The separate iSeries and pSeries messages from IBM will play a key role in the future of the platforms, iSeries market analysts agree.

      “While some customers might be confused by the aligned announcements, I suspect IBM will balance this by focusing their messaging on the unique aspects of iSeries and pSeries solutions and stressing how the use of common components is driving value, savings, and performance across both platforms. The messaging is going to be crucial because they have to make the technology and business values clear to the customer,” says Charles King, research director, Sageza Group, Mountain View, CA.

      When asked if the iSeries and pSeries will merge, Alpers says, “Well, you never say never, but there is no plan internally for the next couple of years to merge the two platforms. IBM believes that there is going to be a need for two different offerings that leverage a common set of technology.”