If you are looking at architectural innovations you seriously need to check the IBM Power systems (System i). This line of hardware went 64 bit in 1995 and is already 128 bit enabled.

Virtualization – putting a bigger engine in a volkswagen (ie pc architecture) doesn’t make it a ferrari. – see below.

Power and cooling – IBM Blade centers. See below.

Consolidation – IBM’s been doing logical partitioning for decades. See below.

Processor Architecture – LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 21 May 2007: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today simultaneously launched the fastest microprocessor ever built and an ultra-powerful new computer server that leverages the chip’s many breakthroughs in energy conservation and virtualization technology. The new server is the first ever to hold all four major benchmark speed records for business and technical performance (1).
At 4.7 GHz, the dual-core POWER6™ processor doubles the speed of the previous generation POWER5™ while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it. This means customers can use the new processor to either increase their performance by 100 percent or cut their power consumption virtually in half.
IBM’s new 2- to 16-core server also offers three times the performance per core of the HP Superdome machine, based on the key TPC-C benchmark (2). The processor speed of the POWER6 chip is nearly three times faster than the latest Itanium processor that runs H-P’s server line. Even more impressive, the processor bandwidth of the POWER6 chip – 300 gigabytes per second — could download the entire iTunes catalog in about 60 seconds – 30 times faster than the Itanium processor in H-P’s servers.
But the new server offers more than just raw performance – it is the world’s most powerful midrange consolidation machine, containing special hardware and software that allows it to create many “virtual” servers on a single box.

Management software features – autoconfig has been available since the 80’s, dynamic allocation of memory is done by the OS. Manage resources? Again done by the OS.

Any survey would be an injustice if you did not include IBM’s midrange products.

And finally what server (all in one box) can run HTTP servers, has never had a virus, can support up to 10,000 Lotus Domino/Notes email users in one partition with subsecond response time, while running OLTP, UNIX apps, and legacy Cobol & RPG applications, and host windows servers, simultaneously, all using the same disk and can be backed up with one command ?

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/21580.wss

Another question that has to be asked: When you look at IBM’s adverts for Power like the one recently in WSJ where there’s an object attempting to eclipse the sun (draw your own conclusions), if you read the text with the advert it SPECIFICALLY refers to the Power line as being THE server to run Unix (AIX in IBM’s case) on.

Well, we all know that the “Power family” is supposed to run multiple o/s’s…so, why is IBM so negative about adding i/os to these ads??

When I read comments like Ross’s in the IBM Systems Mag then see the reality in the marketplace of ads like this, I have to wonder just what is the real picture and goal direction from IBM’s perspective…and how can that be changed to include ‘i’….

I am curious as to what the implementation plans of IBM were after the panel discussion. Clearly education and marketing are big items and we’re seeing “i” visibility in both areas almost totally disappear.

I’ve had many discussions with community colleges regarding ‘i’ in their offerings over the past years and it all comes down to a demand issue from them. They need to make sure the class will make if they’re going to offer it…and many have had major issues with the uber unacceptable constraints that IBM placed on the boxes put in community colleges. Can we get those constraints removed in the future and give CC’s much more flexibility on how the systems are used?

What were the conclusions of the panel of how to increase ‘i’ awareness and demand for both product and education on a local level?

Also, what were the conclusions in terms of increasing the software solutions for ‘i’? The vendor space for manufacturing, accounting, process control, education/school mgmt, POS, etc., software solutions is decreasing drastically. Clearly the applications drive the purchasing decision and hardware, o/s, are almost tertiary considerations. What were their conclusions on bolstering the applications suite space?

Don Rima (different than respondent “Don R”)

Now, your second two questions are about evangelizing the i and all of us have a responsibility to do just that. (Remember Guy Kawasaki, when he was at Apple in the late 90’s? His job was to evangelize the brand, because at the time Apple was supposed to be dying). Trevor’s ‘call to arms’ inspired me to not look so sheepish whenever someone asks me what platform I program on (IBM i) or what programming language I use primarily (RPG). I was at a social event this past weekend and it turned out that the gentleman sitting next to me was a CIO at some company. We started talking and it turned out that they run their POS apps on Linux using PHP and Oracle. I said we use the i and it’s great because we don’t need all these servers or database administrators to keep everything running, it runs PHP, AND it NEVER goes down. He seemed genuinely impressed. At least I changed the perception of the i being an old platform.

Sorry, but there are some ‘deadbeat’ RPGers out there who don’t want to learn anything new and are just trying to make it through the next 5 or 10 years to retirement. Hopefully, it’s not too late to bring some young (and young at heart) developers into the fold who are (dare I say) passionate about developing software in general and specifically on the i. I honestly believe that the i solves some major problems in software development today (proliferation of servers, over-engineered frameworks, etc) , and could quite possibly enjoy a renaissance. Trevor’s questions inspired me to start work on some tutorials, and generally become more active, both at work and outside of work.

It’s not that hard to do. You can start by not looking down at the ground when someone asks you what platform you work on.