Now there you go being logical again.

Charles

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Timothy Sipples
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:26 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: z9 / z10 instruction speed(s)

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]
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