I think my last company is a good example of old stuff costing more than
new. We built our datacenter in 1995. We ended up buying a 3090-600S.
That and all the real 3380 & 3390 dasd caused them to buy 4 big Liebert
units. At the time, the 9672 had been out for a while with about a 60 MIP
processor. They were coming out with a 100 MIP processor in September in
the 9672 line, but there was no guarantee it would be available on time.
September was the time we were originally going to open our datacenter.
Management didn't want to bet the farm on IBM's coming out with the new
model on time, so they went with the old 3090.
Had they gotten the 9672 and some of the dasd that was just coming out, they
probably could have gotten 1 Liebert unit. Maybe 2 for backup. I'm sure
the electricity costs over the years and the maintenance costs were way more
than made up for the $23,000 we paid for the 3090. We also got many strings
of 3380s for maybe $1,000 a box. Even 3390s would have been cheaper in the
long run.
At least where I work now, they seem to be much more progressive in
purchasing equipment.
Eric Bielefeld
Sr. z/OS Systems Programmer
Lands End
Dodgeville, Wisconsin
414-475-7434
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hal Merritt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mainframe vs grid
In our experience, older boxes are more expensive to operate than new
ones. In our last couple of upgrades, our TCO was less each time.
I honestly believe that much of the cost of running a mainframe shop is
in the culture. Superstitions, baggage, management out of touch with the
reality, and a PC mentality.
I found it interesting that "... an aging mainframe couldn't cut it, so
the IT staff looked elsewhere." An astute, bottom line oriented
management would have insisted on price comparisons to include a new
mainframe. I submit that a hard nosed business decision would not have
gone with the grid.
That said, if you are one of our competitors, then, yes, the grid is for
you :-)
My $0.03
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