AS/400 hits the high end revamp

Radical platform revamp plan

At the high end, an increase from four to 12 processors will be the major element in a mass of announcements next month. IBM will push scalability, price/performance and the Internet in an attempt to give the AS/400 more leverage in the mid-range server battle.

'The upgrade makes this a mainframe,' said Paul Newman, managing director of AS/400 software house Pacific Associates. 'Now we have a system that goes from two users to 7,000,' he said.

Apart from a large boost to performance and new features, IBM has tried to make the AS/400 cheaper in response to increasing competition from Windows NT.

Prices for the new systems have not been finalised, but Newman said he believed IBM's offering would be a 'competitor to the typical Compaq/NT system - cheaper but with the scalability to go up to mainframe performance.'

While it is unlikely that the AS/400 will compete with mainframes, IBM is facing the battle with NT. Hardware changes will lower the cost of the AS/400 and Newman thinks it possible that IBM will change its software licensing, too.

Newman said it is possible that IBM will now allow OS/400 licences to be transferred when systems are sold, in line with NT licensing. This would boost the second-hand AS/400 market.

George O'Connor, research manager at analysts IDC, said: 'The AS/400 people are very gung-ho about this announcement. Next year sees the 10th anniversary of the platform and they want to celebrate it.'

IBM also looks likely to port NT to the AS/400. 'Beta may happen in December, with delivery early next year,' said Newman. But in-fighting persists. 'IBM corporate has spent a fortune trying to kill NT. They are not happy with the AS/400 division over this,' said one analyst.