| Customers should think about the database with regard to these
applications and not just the financial software.
AS400 leaves a lot to be desired!
From..VNS COMPUTER NEWS:
IBM - "Recovery Problems Plague IBM's AS/400"
{MIS Week, 14-Aug-89, p. 1} {MISG}
Electrical storms and other accidental power outages have made some users
hot under the collar during the IBM mid-range AS/400's first full summer use,
because the computer is slow to recover and has even lost data in some
instances. Although most systems suffer some downtime after an accidental
power outage, users report that the AS/400's recovery can take as long as 15
hours, and still not restore data completely. Users and AS/400 developers said
the problem stems from one of the aspects IBM has touted - its single-level
storage architecture. That architecture was designed to enable System/38 and
AS/400 users to input data without regard to where it is stored on the system.
While the single-level storage architecture makes the AS/400 easier to
program, there is a downside. Storage space is allocated as needed across all
available storage devices, analysts said. If one device fails and the data on
it can't be recovered, it may be necessary to reload the data on all storage
devices, which can lead to long recovery times, according Dave Andrews,
president of ADM Inc., a consulting firm in Cheshire, Connecticut.
IBM - "Buyers Confused by IBM's Mid-Range Strategy, Report Says"
{MIS Week, 14-Aug-89, p. 11} {MISG}
Buyers are confused about IBM's mid-range strategy due to overlapping
systems and are questioning which machine is proper for their applications,
said a report from the Aberdeen Group. The consulting firm also warned users
against purchasing equipment based on IBM's benchmark claims. The Aberdeen
Group is a Boston-based computer research and consulting organization which
monitors users needs, technological changes and market developments. The
report also sharply criticized IBM for what it calls Big Blue's "gamesmanship"
in the "benchmarking wars." According to John R. Logan, an Aberdeen Vice
President and author of the report, "We're constantly asked by confused buyers
of mid-range systems, What are their products? Which ones should I be
evaluating? Which ones are important at this point in time?" Logan said the
report was written following a two-day consultation with IBM on its mid-range
strategy. IBM said it has four mid-range offerings: AS/400, 9370, RT PC, and
the System/88 (the fault-tolerant system made by Stratus Computer Corp., which
IBM is reselling). However, based on users' perspectives (which the Aberdeen
Group said it ascertained during continuous survey work consisting of
one-on-one interviews), IBM's mid-range offerings also include token-ringed
PS/2s with OS/EE (OfficeVision/2 LAN) and 4300-class machines.
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