Bob Shannon writes: >Each book has to have at least one configured PU, so >the minimum configured PUs for the CEC would be four.
Is that true uniquely for the 2827-HA1? It's not true for, say, the 2827-H43 as far as I know. Single engine 2827-H43 machines are reasonably common. Could you be thinking of memory? There is a minimum installed memory required in every processor book. I think it's 16 GB on current models. Agreed, this topic is about 99% academic, though it's sometimes fun to explore the corner solutions. Adarsh Khanna asks: >Does the cost of adding an IFL different on different machines >e.g. 2817 compared to 2098. If yes why? as it is just characterization >of a core. Not exactly. IFLs are no longer available for purchase on machine type 2098. Said another way, the price of IFLs on 2098 machines is infinite. :-) >From time to time these sorts of questions come up. I don't know why, because the answer is obvious if you've ever bought anything in your life. The simplest answer is that you should rapidly disabuse yourself of the idea that price must equal either marginal or average cost (plus perhaps some fixed percentage). I don't know why people think mainframes are expected to violate what is so completely common in the world, even (especially?) in the computing world, in terms of pricing. As an example, what's the difference between Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows 8 Pro? Answer: A flipped entitlement bit and many dollars in price. As another example, a few hours ago I stepped off an airplane. The price of the airline ticket was about US$1300, which was a high price and which generated a hefty profit for the airline. At the same time, although I don't know what price she paid, the passenger sitting to my right undoubtedly paid a much lower price. (My ticket price would have been the top price on the plane in economy class. It was in fare class Y and booked mere hours before the flight. It had to be done.) Anyway, unless you work for a government agency -- and even then there's an argument! -- you most probably work for a company that seeks to maximize profit. Your company is (usually) constrained in that effort by various forces, including competition. (Yes, there is *vigorous* competition for workloads that could or do run on mainframes.) The airline I flew had the only nonstop flight, had a seat, and US$1300 was the price they set -- and that they ended up receiving. It is true that the price of IFLs (and mainframe computing capacity in general) has been steadily trending downward in both nominal and real terms. When IBM reports "mainframe capacity shipments up XX% and mainframe hardware revenues up YY%" where XX > YY then unit prices are obviously declining -- that's just basic math. And that's good for both IBM and its customers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples GMU VCT Architect Executive (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
