7 ms·

So, are they still selling POWER/PowerPC servers? Would this product line be affected?

by erikj 14y ago

mathnode 14y ago
So long as banks exist, so will the mainframe business.
cones688 14y ago
I don't think they would as most of the Power stuff is linked to AIX licenses and is fairly "unique". The offload of the x-series business is most likely due to the fact that IBM can't compete on price with the volumes which HP & Dell shift. IBM have no real USP on X86 as enterprise are now mostly putting ESX, Xen or Openstack on them, IBM have no potential license or service fees generation. It seems a sound business decision to me.
- spitfire 14y ago
  "We don't need the low end. Let them have it." Didn't the american car companies take that route too? And steel mills. and... mainframes I think.
  - wisty 14y ago
    It doesn't make it a stupid decision. Levano can already take the low end (or Asus will). IBM sells their low-end while it's still worth something, rather than fighting a losing battle.
    - spitfire 14y ago
      Then lenovo puts in a few coins into R&D and takes the market slightly up from the low end. Which IBM gladly gives away because the margins aren't high enough... Then Lenovo puts a few more coins into R&D and takes the midrange. Which IBM gladly gives up because the margins aren't high enough... This has happened more than a few times across several industries - American cars, Japanese electronics, mainframe/mini/microcomputers, etc. EDIT: Also see apricot computer. Which did the /exact/ same thing - outsourced the production of it's "commodity" computers, losing its special sauce, and lucrative service contracts. It was gone in a flash. Sir John Harvey-Jones even did an episode of the UK show "the troubleshooter" on them. It's a sure way to make a quick buck this quarter, but horrible long term.
      - wisty 14y ago
        IBM does a little to enhance their x86 line, but I don't think it's of any great value to many customers. If they were making a lot of revenue (not even profits!) off their value-adding, and this value-adding could be applied to their top-end stuff (thus amortised across a larger base), it would make sense. I'm not an expert in IBM servers, but I don't think they are getting a lot of revenue at the bottom-end as a result of their bells and whistles, and it's probably not that easy to transfer those enhancements to their top-end servers.
  - amac 14y ago
    And replaced them with the knowledge economy right. Which has some structural issues right now across the developed world i.e record corporate profits, less than record employment rates.
  - zmonkeyz 14y ago
    and Apple...
thereallurch 14y ago
Why would POWER be affected by this decision? Everyone and their mother sells a x86 server. Hard to make a profit when everyone is competing. How many other companies sell POWER hardware?
- andrewflnr 14y ago
  How many companies buy POWER hardware?
  - thereallurch 14y ago
    Quite a few. It puts food on my table.... :)

So, are they still selling POWER/PowerPC servers? Would this product line be affected?

by erikj 14y ago

So, are they still selling POWER/PowerPC servers? Would this product line be affected?

mathnode 14y ago

So long as banks exist, so will the mainframe business.

cones688 14y ago

I don't think they would as most of the Power stuff is linked to AIX licenses and is fairly "unique". The offload of the x-series business is most likely due to the fact that IBM can't compete on price with the volumes which HP & Dell shift. IBM have no real USP on X86 as enterprise are now mostly putting ESX, Xen or Openstack on them, IBM have no potential license or service fees generation. It seems a sound business decision to me.

spitfire 14y ago
"We don't need the low end. Let them have it." Didn't the american car companies take that route too? And steel mills. and... mainframes I think.
- wisty 14y ago
  It doesn't make it a stupid decision. Levano can already take the low end (or Asus will). IBM sells their low-end while it's still worth something, rather than fighting a losing battle.
  - spitfire 14y ago
    Then lenovo puts in a few coins into R&D and takes the market slightly up from the low end. Which IBM gladly gives away because the margins aren't high enough... Then Lenovo puts a few more coins into R&D and takes the midrange. Which IBM gladly gives up because the margins aren't high enough... This has happened more than a few times across several industries - American cars, Japanese electronics, mainframe/mini/microcomputers, etc. EDIT: Also see apricot computer. Which did the /exact/ same thing - outsourced the production of it's "commodity" computers, losing its special sauce, and lucrative service contracts. It was gone in a flash. Sir John Harvey-Jones even did an episode of the UK show "the troubleshooter" on them. It's a sure way to make a quick buck this quarter, but horrible long term.
    - wisty 14y ago
      IBM does a little to enhance their x86 line, but I don't think it's of any great value to many customers. If they were making a lot of revenue (not even profits!) off their value-adding, and this value-adding could be applied to their top-end stuff (thus amortised across a larger base), it would make sense. I'm not an expert in IBM servers, but I don't think they are getting a lot of revenue at the bottom-end as a result of their bells and whistles, and it's probably not that easy to transfer those enhancements to their top-end servers.
- amac 14y ago
  And replaced them with the knowledge economy right. Which has some structural issues right now across the developed world i.e record corporate profits, less than record employment rates.
- zmonkeyz 14y ago
  and Apple...

thereallurch 14y ago

Why would POWER be affected by this decision? Everyone and their mother sells a x86 server. Hard to make a profit when everyone is competing. How many other companies sell POWER hardware?

andrewflnr 14y ago
How many companies buy POWER hardware?
- thereallurch 14y ago
  Quite a few. It puts food on my table.... :)