Leaving aside the important point that System z is certainly not the only CPU to offer the option of kneecapped CPUs -- Intel Celeron, anyone? -- imagine (briefly) a world in which CPU kneecapping was not available. Now, what would be the smallest capacity System z available? Answer: a fully configured System z9 BC (until end of June). I don't like MIPS metrics, but for those that still do it'd be thousands of MIPS.
And let's further assume that all IBM software is available with sub-capacity (kneecapped) licensing (i.e. VWLC). (That's an oversimplification but effectively true.) You could license 3 MSUs of IBM software on your "ginormous" machine. However (and here's the big catch), an awful lot of non-IBM software isn't sub-capacity licensed. So what would be your software license charge for a whopper machine? Now IBM introduces the System z10 BC, and you upgrade. You get thousands more MIPS if there's no kneecapping available. Leaving aside many other important issues, what happens to your software bill? Ooops. Note that I don't speak for IBM, but let me come right out and say this: kneecapping is one of the best things IBM has ever done to help the smaller mainframe customer manage their costs while enjoying the same benefits in staying current with technology the way that the big shops do. Without kneecapping there probably wouldn't be very many smaller mainframe customers, either current ones or new ones. In fact, I suspect that System z is the only CPU offering kneecapping where there's such a clear benefit to the customer. (Not only to the vendor.) Intel's 486SX, for example, didn't seem to offer the customer any benefits. (Was AutoCAD less pricey on a 486SX versus a 486DX? No, it was just slower.) - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Architect for New, Advanced, and/or Innovative Solutions (VCT) Based in Singapore & Serving the "Growth Markets" E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
