IBM i / AS400 / iSeries / System i Users
I have worked with hundreds of IBM i on POWER users to help them figure out how to get their best value.
Over the years, I have found these are the 3 most common misconceptions that result in over-priced, improperly configured POWER servers.
Myth #1: “I work with a large national Power i reseller.”
Clearly, the largest resellers have tremendous resources and expertise particularly well-suited for large, sophisticated IBM customers with 500-10,000+ users, multi-processor servers, blade servers and virtualized storage.
In my experience, most small-to-medium AS400 customers with 200 users or less rarely if ever get access to their best and brightest. Instead small-to-medium AS400 customers are relegated to the new hires and less technically capable.
As a result, you can get neglected, you often get misinformation about IBM promotions for smaller servers, your proposed configuration includes costly features you don’t need, and the professional servers are way over-priced.
Over the years, clients have shared proposals with us from these BIG resellers – I am horrified at the configuration errors, software and services that are included as standard.
I can safely say that these proposals are really wonderful for the reseller — but I know the buyer is not better off by a long shot. Caveat Emptor.
Myth #2: “I work with my software vendor for my Power i.”
Your software vendor has developed a great system and has a lot of operations expertise for your business.
However, I generally see software vendors oversize the Power i hardware and often recommend the wrong lease. In my experience, programmers know how to program but very few truly understand how their software works within the server.
With the exception of JD Edwards, I have rarely seen one of them develop a software modeling tool to project how their software will work now or over the next 5 years for your environment. Instead, they follow the IBM prescribed upgrade path to sell you a bigger server or suggest a “minimum needs” list of requirements – not the right server for you.
Further, most all software vendors are clueless about the financial implications of the leases they are proposing.
Recently a smaller naïve Power i user showed me his proposal from his software vendor. This supplier is a multi-billion dollar, international company with a household name. I was shocked to see he had been sold an imbalanced Power i to start with a bad fair-market value lease that locked him into their next upgrade. Next, they proposed a super-big Power i server, with outrageous migration fees into another bad fair-market value lease. He had NO IDEA had badly his software vendor had been treating him.
Myth #3: “I pit several IBM resellers to slug it out – that way I get the best configuration and the lowest price.”
I have experienced this approach first-hand over the years. Purchasing agents and shrewd business owners may think this will get them their best deal. Wrong.
Lowest cost perhaps, but not the best deal. Here’s why.
Resellers are motivated to push their excess inventory that has not sold or get the deal at any cost. I understand that.
But most Power i resellers are clueless about how your software works or how to get IBM software keys so your OS400 operating system will continue to run after the first 70 days. (A few honest ones may even confess that without IBM software keys, your IBM program products come to a complete halt without IBM software keys – and then they give you an email to request them. Unfortunately for you, getting IBM software keys is way more complicated than just submitting an email to IBM.)
I have encountered countless stories about how the server was undersized, was missing features, or took 3-6 months of chasing after the reseller to fulfill his promises and navigating through IBM bureaucracy to get the OS400 software keys so the system would work.
With IBM’s new user-based pricing, PowerVM, and After License Fee, this process has become even more complex.