With many System i commentators haranguing Big Blue for years to introduce truly low-cost entry-level models, IBM has indeed gone a long way to answer their criticisms with the introduction of models 515 and 525 -- and more -- as we revealed last week. Unless otherwise specified, everything mentioned here is available on April 20.

UKISA System i programme manager, Nigel Adams, says: “We’ve re-jigged the small-end systems we sell to small customers to energise the market. Indeed, we’re changing the way we’re going to market. That’s on price, unleashing the power on existing 1-way processors -- there’s no limit to the performance of processors -- through to user-based software pricing.”

The System i model 515 delivers the full capabilities of 1.9GHz POWER5+ and i5/OS for entry system clients, regardless of the size of their enterprise or budget. With i5/OS licensing by user, model 515 delivers the performance to run the applications that today's businesses require in an affordable package. Benefits include security and virus resistance to help ensure system reliability and the ability to run i5/OS, Linux and AIX 5L applications on a single system and integrate xSeries servers running Windows.

The 515 Express comes in three packages. The first (aimed at new users, a 1-way with 1Gb memory, two 70Gb disk drives, 4mm tape drive, three months’ software maintenance, and a five i5/OS user entitlement) is £5,168. The second (aimed at existing users with the same spec processor, memory and disk, quarter-inch cartridge tape, one year’s software maintenance, five user entitlements, Query and SQL Query manager) is £6,543. The third (2-way, 4Gb memory, four 70Gb disks, 4mm tape, one year’s software maintenance, five user entitlements, Query and SQL Query manager) is £15,054.

Support is offered for up to 40 i5/OS users with a P05 software tier and all systems are built to specific order and are customisable. The 515 features a one-year limited warranty with 9am-to-5pm, next-business-day, customer replaceable unit (CRU) and on-site service, which can be upgraded to a 24x7, same-day service with service offerings. Software maintenance can be expanded to three years.

The System i model 525, also with 1.9GHz POWER5+ performance and i5/OS licensing by user, focuses on small-to-medium business needs. “If customers need to support 30-to-unlimited i5/OS users and require greater systems scalability and partitioning capability than the 515, the model 525 offers an attractive entry point,” says Adams.

The 525 Express comes in three packages, with a Capacity BackUp (CBU) option offered. The system is supplied with no memory and disk, the difference between the packages being the number of user licences. For 30 licences the cost is £23,894, for 150 it is £40,915, and for an unlimited number £53,681. The CBU is for secondary machines (ie you need a primary production machine) and for 30 users is £20,294.

There is the capability of running i5/OS, Linux, and AIX 5L applications on a single system and integrating xSeries servers running Windows. It is a 1/2-way system in the P10 software tier that is customisable to order with and security and virus resistance to help ensure system availability. Customers will need i5/OS V5R4.

As to talk of lack of upgradeability, Adams asks how far can you upgrade Intel servers, and points to a top-end 2-way 525 with 32Gb memory and 39Tb disk. How many small users mop up that amount of power?

i5/OS licensing by user delivers a more flexible approach to licensing. For the 515, the cost is £854.56 per five users up to 40. For the 525, it is £1,709 per 10 users, or for unlimited numbers there is a flat charge of £34,184. System i Access (hitherto known as Client Access) is also included.

Scheduled to be available May 4, Secure Perspective for System i (you need V5R3 or V5R4) enables organisations to create enforceable security policies using natural language. Business leaders who know how information should be protected can create the policies without needing to know where that information is stored. Data owners and system administrators can map terms from the policy to digital assets. The organisation’s policy can be enforced or compliance checked with the click of a button. Per processor cost is £1,031.

There are other System i enhancements. With POWER5+ processors, the enterprise-class model 595 is boosted to 2.3GHz, a 20% GHz increase, and a resulting maximum of 216,000 CPW. There are four editions. The Standard, running WebSphere, Java, Domino, client-server, web applications etc, 8 (31,500 CPW)-to-16 (58,800 CPW)-way costs £523,650, while its (2-16 way) CBU costs £347,700. The Enterprise, additionally running interactive 5250 applications, costs £1,075,860 while its CBU costs £460,990.

As noted, the entry 36Gb 4mm tape drive is now supported by System i, providing 36Gb uncompressed or 72Gb with 2x compression capacity per cartridge. Cost is £687.07. The 1.5Gb write cache disk controllers, announced February, 2007, are enhanced with auxiliary write cache (£5,103 -- and IBM recommended) or without £4,637. The 520 Express configurations are enhanced to include 70Gb disk drives, doubling their disk capacity included in configurations shipped from IBM. The 35Gb disk has been withdrawn.

There is an i5/OS application server licence for additional processors activated on models 550, 570 and 595, offering a reduced i5/OS entitlement charge. The cost of i5/OS is on a per-processor basis and includes DB2, middleware, etc. If not accessing DB2 databases in an application, then it is not right that you have to pay for it so prices have been changed for those scenarios. Costs for extra i5/OS entitlement processing for the 550 are £32,583 or £9,774 if not accessing DB2, and for the 570 are £43,699 or £13,109.

Frank Booty, industry reporter