IBM's push to make the OS/390 mainframe operating environment more Web-friendly will gain some momentum this week.
At the Share user conference in San Francisco, IBM is announcing the latest version of OS/390, Version 2 Release 7, which features better connectivity with TCP/IP networks and new network policy management capabilities.
Users who held off this far on upgrading to the latest version of IBM's OS/400 operating system better be prepared to fork out a lot more - up to 30 per cent - if they plan to do so next year.
On December 11, IBM pulled the plug on promotions and financing deals that could have saved some users thousands of dollars when upgrading from Version 3 releases of OS/400 to Version 4 of the operating system for IBM's popular AS/400 midrange server.
Corporations using Boole and Babbage Inc.'s software should try to renegotiate their existing software license agreements to head off possible price increases, an analyst said.
Users looking to implement Baan Co.'s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software may want to consider a new IBM service that offers performance guarantees for up to two years on the company's RS/6000 Unix servers.
IBM last week announced a Performance Protection Plan for first-time Baan implementers guaranteeing that its hardware will meet certain predefined performance levels when running Baan ERP applications.
IBM Corp.'s only mainframe rivals -- Hitachi Data Systems Ltd. and Amdahl Corp. -- last week announced separate reorganizations meant to make them less dependent on mainframe sales.
Fast-growing applications such as ERP and Web commerce are forcing information technology managers to include safeguards in even relatively mainstream Unix server environments. That will ensure that applications are available almost all the time.
To help them do that, IBM recently announced a new fully preconfigured, "high-availability" RS/6000 server platform for users seeking to deploy enterprise resource planning (ERP) and electronic-business applications on Unix servers.
Companies are starting to get more flexible software licensing options as major vendors hammer out new pricing models aimed at answering long-standing concerns about cost, simplicity and portability.
Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard users expect Compaq Computer's recent purchase of Digital Equipment will open more options for them on the mid-range. But they expect to keep their high-end systems right where they are, thank you very much.
"For the low and medium-end, we will certainly take a look at what offerings this new alliance will bring," said one user.