5 ms·

Or even more profitable MainFrame (Z Series) which is still growing

afhsfsfdsss88 13y ago
..which is terrific hardware to be sure. But you have to be in Al-Qaeda to be able to afford it.
Shivetya 13y ago
Z for mainframe, I for iSeries (think AS/400 - but now these machines are huge), and P for AIX. the installed number of those three is immense and in many organizations most people would never suspect.
- anatoly 13y ago
  Like what organizations for example?
  - hga 13y ago
    Look at, for example, Jack Henry & Associates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Henry_%26_Associates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Henry_%26_Associates Their core banking stuff, which powers the $600 million capitalization local bank I use, is System i (AS/400) based as I understand it.
    - anatoly 13y ago
      Right, that's not actually surprising to me, I know banks still use mainframes, and I thought it was well-known. Same about airlines, and heavy-duty control systems (say, sewage control for a large city or something) that are likely to be legacy. I was wondering what could be organizations I wouldn't even suspect.
      - zmonkeyz 13y ago
        I believe O'Reilly auto parts has an AS/400 at each of it's stores.
- bkmartin 13y ago
  Like huge swaths of the insurance, banking and healthcare industries. (Current iSeries shop here - we are a ticket printing company) Construction is also a huge shop. In fact, iSeries is SAP's preferred platform, but the SAP Windows install consultants won't tell you that because they make way more money consulting on Windows.
scholia 13y ago
From IBM's latest financial results: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43008.wss http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43008.wss Revenues from the Systems and Technology segment totaled $4.3 billion for the quarter, down 26 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012. Systems and Technology pre-tax income was $0.2 billion, a decrease of $768 million. Total systems revenues decreased 25 percent. Revenues from System z mainframe server products decreased 37 percent compared with the year-ago period. Total delivery of System z computing power, as measured in MIPS (millions of instructions per second), decreased 26 percent versus the prior year. Revenues from Power Systems decreased 31 percent compared with the 2012 period. Revenues from System x decreased 16 percent. Revenues from System Storage decreased 13 percent. Revenues from Microelectronics OEM decreased 33 percent.
- hga 13y ago
  Ouch, ouch, ouch! Power Systems includes their extremely neat (architecturally, at least) AS/400 derived System i machines. Wonder how significant the loss in System z MIPS sold is, these machines are bought as much or more for I/O than raw CPU (which is I'm sure particularly expensive with these machines). For example, a lot of database queries/batch operations to get the set of all your credit and/or debit cards that did transactions at Target during the theft period. To the extent everyone is moving to UNIX(TM) derivatives or using them exclusively in startups (OK, let's not forget Windows too), few learn at school System z and i stuff.... Well, I don't think much of the consulting business, but it's clear they had to do something, especially when pretty much everyone lost out to x86 for "big iron" in classic disruptive innovation style and as this move demonstrates they culturally can't compete in that market.
  - slurry 13y ago
    The System i was folded into the POWER server line along with System x (midrange unix) a few years ago. It seems like they're trying to kill both lines with one stone, sadly. I could replace half my data center with a POWER box and manage the other half with it. Amazing machine if you ignore licensing...
  - scholia 13y ago

..which is terrific hardware to be sure. But you have to be in Al-Qaeda to be able to afford it.

Z for mainframe, I for iSeries (think AS/400 - but now these machines are huge), and P for AIX. the installed number of those three is immense and in many organizations most people would never suspect.

anatoly 13y ago
Like what organizations for example?
- hga 13y ago
  Look at, for example, Jack Henry & Associates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Henry_%26_Associates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Henry_%26_Associates Their core banking stuff, which powers the $600 million capitalization local bank I use, is System i (AS/400) based as I understand it.
  - anatoly 13y ago
    Right, that's not actually surprising to me, I know banks still use mainframes, and I thought it was well-known. Same about airlines, and heavy-duty control systems (say, sewage control for a large city or something) that are likely to be legacy. I was wondering what could be organizations I wouldn't even suspect.
    - zmonkeyz 13y ago
      I believe O'Reilly auto parts has an AS/400 at each of it's stores.
bkmartin 13y ago
Like huge swaths of the insurance, banking and healthcare industries. (Current iSeries shop here - we are a ticket printing company) Construction is also a huge shop. In fact, iSeries is SAP's preferred platform, but the SAP Windows install consultants won't tell you that because they make way more money consulting on Windows.

scholia 13y ago

From IBM's latest financial results: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43008.wss http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43008.wss Revenues from the Systems and Technology segment totaled $4.3 billion for the quarter, down 26 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012. Systems and Technology pre-tax income was $0.2 billion, a decrease of $768 million. Total systems revenues decreased 25 percent. Revenues from System z mainframe server products decreased 37 percent compared with the year-ago period. Total delivery of System z computing power, as measured in MIPS (millions of instructions per second), decreased 26 percent versus the prior year. Revenues from Power Systems decreased 31 percent compared with the 2012 period. Revenues from System x decreased 16 percent. Revenues from System Storage decreased 13 percent. Revenues from Microelectronics OEM decreased 33 percent.

hga 13y ago
Ouch, ouch, ouch! Power Systems includes their extremely neat (architecturally, at least) AS/400 derived System i machines. Wonder how significant the loss in System z MIPS sold is, these machines are bought as much or more for I/O than raw CPU (which is I'm sure particularly expensive with these machines). For example, a lot of database queries/batch operations to get the set of all your credit and/or debit cards that did transactions at Target during the theft period. To the extent everyone is moving to UNIX(TM) derivatives or using them exclusively in startups (OK, let's not forget Windows too), few learn at school System z and i stuff.... Well, I don't think much of the consulting business, but it's clear they had to do something, especially when pretty much everyone lost out to x86 for "big iron" in classic disruptive innovation style and as this move demonstrates they culturally can't compete in that market.
- slurry 13y ago
  The System i was folded into the POWER server line along with System x (midrange unix) a few years ago. It seems like they're trying to kill both lines with one stone, sadly. I could replace half my data center with a POWER box and manage the other half with it. Amazing machine if you ignore licensing...
- scholia 13y ago