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Technology Stocks : IBM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yard_man who wrote (3457)	7/10/1998 2:35:00 PM
From: J R KARY	Respond to of 8218

IBM wants Gateway ? IBM wants another consent decree ? I need to ask current Blues . Has IBM moved away from always feinting left and moving right ? No ? ok , here's the feint to the left: zdnet.com " When shares of Gateway Inc. surged $3.25, or percent, to an all-time high of $59.75 on Wednesday, a number of observers said Wall Street was reacting to renewed whispers that IBM may attempt to buy the direct PC maker as it steps up its battle with Dell Computer Corp. " One more question . Has IBM stopped buying everthing at half price ? No ? ok , continue to buy apples with your IBM dividends . Jim K.

To: yard_man who wrote (3457)	7/10/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: Arrow Hd.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8218

The issue of whether alternate platforms can assume at some point the work that mainframes do in general, and for the Internet in particular per the previous discussion, is a topic that has been debated on this thread quite a bit. It is not an easy topic to cover in a few paragraphs. Anyway, what is usually compared is some piece of the system such as chip speeds, software, etc. To understand the dilemma that an alternate platform faces you have to look at what is referred to as the "Specified Operating Environment". It is how the hardware architecture and its software interface including the microcode that is within the hardware. The alternate platform has to have a solution that meets the function, performance and capacity of the mainframe SOE and be compatible to the billions of lines of application code that customers (the Internet customer group would include AOL, access providers, etc.) already own and run under mainframe operating systems like MVS. And the mainframe development labs get the latest stuff first and have been able to bring the total cost of computing down to a level that competes with alternate platforms on a cost per transaction level. So technically speaking, they have a monopoly since they can handle workloads nothing else can do. They continue to provide technical leadership with encryption, reliability, serviceability, etc. with centralized management. And the price is right. In 1990 mainframes sold for 100K per MIP. Today it is below 10K per MIP and still falling. The critical mass is too large for wholesale replacement and everyday more workload and applications are added making it even less likely there can be a quick move from mainframes even if a technical solution existed. The only area that is exposed is the few thousand customers who still run old, non-Y2K compliant mainframe hardware with VM or VSE who are in the 5 to 20 MIP range. They have to make a move and upgrade their hardware, probably the software version, and check all of their applications. For these customers a change to the AS/400 or another platform will certainly be considered. Beyond that the mainframe business has never been better.