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IBM takes measures to grow the iSeries install base
By Sarah Kimmel
Monday, November 24, 2003
Big Blue answered the prayers of
many AS/400-iSeries customers last Friday when it ran a full page
advertisement for the iSeries in the Wall Street Journal.
After years of customers asking
for iSeries-specific print advertising, IBM has delivered. With
the headlining message “TRICK or TREAT”, the IBM ad
in the Wall Street Journal targets current customers of Hewlett-Packard’s
HP3000 line, which is no longer sold as of October 31, 2003. HP
plans to end support for the HP3000 platform in January of 2007.
The ad reads:
“On October 31st, HP
stopped selling their HP e3000 line of servers. Some users may
be left high and dry. Not to worry. IBM has a wide choice of
midrange servers — including IBM eServer iSeries systems.
iSeries servers allow you to run Linux, Windows, OS/400, and
WebSphere applications. Add capacity, on demand. You can scale
and consolidate. Grow up and out. Plus, IBM Business Partners
are available to help you migrate, right now. We’re committed
to the iSeries technology. IBM is here for you — for the
long haul. Learn how our midrange solutions can help you. Find
us at www.ibm.com/eserver/midrange.”
Just weeks earlier, IBM acquired
the application porting services business from Sector7, a software
application services company that specializes in the migration of
customers from competing platforms to one of IBM’s eServers.
The deal includes a majority of Sector7’s assets and intellectual
property (IW 10/27/03).
“The iSeries has already
won HP customers and is determined to win more. IBM acquired Sector7’s
Server Consolidation and Linux and Unix application migration business.
Sector7 will help ease the migration process for these new iSeries
customers,” says an IBM spokesperson.
Big Blue has been working closely
with Sector7 for several years, and, at PartnerWorld 2002, the two
companies announced an initiative to create offerings based around
the HP3000-to-iSeries migration (IW 2/25/2002). IBM’s acquisition
of Sector7’s application porting services is another sign
that it is increasing its effort to draw new customers to IBM’s
eServer platforms.
“IBM is gaining customers
from HP in record numbers, from its decision to end the life of
the HP e3000 as well as HP’s plans to force current HP UX
customers to migrate onto Itanium. So much so that last month, IBM
bought migration expert Sector7 to keep up with the demand,”
says an IBM spokesperson.
While IBM spokespeople agreed to
comment broadly on the Sector7 announcement, they declined to answer
the Insider’s questions specifically related to how
its current iSeries advertising and the Sector7 acquisition are
expected to affect the iSeries install base.
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