IBM targets HP's users with mainframe launch

The launch of the Multiprise 2000 is a sure sign that IBM is gunning for Hewlett-Packard (HP). Sean Hallahan weighs up the pros and cons of the latest mainframe on the block.

The arrival of the Multi-prise 2000, aimed at medium-sized businesses, has breathed life into IBM's low-end mainframe products.

Although the official IBM line is that the machine is aimed at its installed base running the VM/VSE and VM/ESA operating systems, there is little doubt that IBM has HP firmly in its sights. But the supplier still has to resolve some difficult questions about the positioning of the machine.

Not the least of these will be the impact Multiprise makes on IBM's other mid-range systems, the AS/400 and RS/6000. The company also still has to decide on prices for hardware and software licences for the box. Officially, IBM has not had a hardware price list for some years and negotiates with each customer individually and confidentially.

Phil Payne, an analyst at Sievers Consultancy, believes that IBM will go head-to-head with HP and the other mid-range players in the new year.

He also believes the machine is one of the most important announcements that IBM has made for years. 'The Multiprise 2000 is the first machine since the 4300 which could significantly expand the S/390 user base,' he said.

Geoff Sewell, director general of the European computer leasing trade association, concurs. 'It's as big an announcement as the 4300. At the time, very few people believed it was a sensible move and that IBM had shot itself in the foot because the 4300 offered increased power at the lowest possible price,' he said.

One of the features that could make the box attractive to HP and Unix customers is that, by using open system adaptor cards, users can have the look and feel of Unix or NT while leaving the OS/390 operating system to take care of systems management, data security and data integrity in the background.

The S/390 has also been Unix 95 certified by the international Unix standards authorities.

According to Arthur Parker, IBM's S/390 general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Multiprise 2000 will probably be sold as a turnkey system with bundled hardware, software and services. 'The key to success is that for new customers we have masked the MVS complexity. The customer should not realise that they are running MVS,' said Parker.

IBM is also examining the possibility of selling the Multiprise 2000 through the reseller channel in the UK. In Germany, it already sells S/390 technology through authorised agents. 'We're looking at alternative channels but whether they will be agents or VARs we haven't yet decided,' Parker said.

Payne believes that selling through the channels would be a logical step.

'IBM in the US does not have any concept of selling to medium-sized companies and the direct salesforce goes around knocking on the same doors,' he said.

IBM is stressing several other advantages of the S/390 range. The machines are based around Complimentary Metal Oxide Silicon (Cmos) technology rather than bipolar technology. While Cmos is slower than bipolar, it is cheaper to produce and brings down the total cost of the machines. The Cmos machines are also air-cooled - as opposed to water cooled bipolar machines.

These require water cooling and consequently take up much more floor space and require extensive plumbing in the machine room. Air-cooled machines also consume much less power since they only require power when the system is working. Water-cooled machines, however, consume power constantly.

There's little doubt that, despite IBM's protestations, the Multiprise 2000 is aimed at winning new customers, primarily from HP, the second-largest company in the industry.

But IBM tried a similar tactic once before, when Digital occupied the number two slot. In 1986 it launched the 9370 which was unofficially christened the VAX killer. It proved an ineffective assassin, and IBM now admits that the software was too complex and there was no real price advantage over the VAX. This time around it claims it has got its act together.

But there are still a number of unanswered questions which the company must address. IBM may have thrown away the price list for S/390 but potential customers will want some form of yard-stick before they order.

The company must also guard against cutting into the base of its own AS/400 and RS/6000 systems. If the machine is going to go through indirect channels then IBM must select and train them in complex mainframe technology before they can even begin to start selling the boxes.

Finally, the company must persuade software houses to port to the machine.

The Multiprise may be the machine that attracts new customers to the mainframe, but IBM needs to be a lot slicker in promoting and marketing its attractions.