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Could IBM kill the zEcosystem?
I had a disturbing conversation with a mainframe ISV yesterday. It turns out IBM refused to have a partner discussion with the firm because it had its own product offering in the space. Bad move.
The exec ratcheted up the scare factor when he asked, in all seriousness, whether I knew anything about a secret high level plan by Sam Palmisano or other senior executives to stealth kill the mainframe. How bad does "support" have to be before an ISV starts to ask that kind of question?
IBM is investing tens of millions on education to ensure mainframe skills are sustainable.
IBM is investing tens of millions on marketing to ensure it sustains customer demand for the platform.
But what is IBM doing for the mainframe channel?
You could argue that without an ISV ecosystem a platform isn't a platform at all (a platform being something people build apps too). And if its not a platform its never going to grow.
The mainframe at IBM is something of a corner case, its true. But its still a platform that needs nurturing. zVM is amazing technology- but how many ISVs are writing to it, given licensing constraints?
Its pretty clear from my perspective that the mainframe is pulling through WebSphere sales, rather than the other way around. Anything that drives CICS and IMS workloads should be encouraged. So why is the tail wagging the dog?
IBM Software Group is doing solid work in a number of areas, and I applaud some of its developer partner efforts. But I don't see real momentum in terms of mainframe ISVs.
Would you write a new application for the platform if you thought IBM would nuke you for it?
Its time for a market reset. The last few years have been about trying to prevent ISVs "price-gouging our customers". The Candle acquisition was time to draw a line in the sand. IBM needs to start thinking of ISVs as partners again.
So what if they have a competing product. Does DB2 refuse to support SAP because of Netweaver? SAP is an interesting case because IBM gives it plenty of love when it comes to mainframe support.
Its all about balance. I appreciate IBM needs to keep the zEcosystem honest. But it also needs to keep it healthy.
Time for a serious mainframe partner play, perhaps even a channel czar for the platform. What do you think? Any mainframe ISV readers out there that agree, disagree?
One last thing - the company in question is getting amazing migration support at the moment from another platform player - SAP. What does that tell us?
| by James Governor | November 2, 2005 Permalink |
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Comments
IBM needs to invest in American mainframe professionals and ensure that Americans derive the real economic benefits of mainframe involvement. Why IBM is willing, like so many companies, to chase markets in countries with substandard legal systems, dubious intellectual property protections, and dubious monetary systems is unfathomable.
Companies need to remember that there are plenty of unemployed mainframe professionals who are perfectly willing and able to work- and be willing to pay an appropriate salary rather than look for cheap exploitable youngins.
IBM needs to make it easier for new developers to experiment with, explore, and develop applications in its most interesting and performance-oriented environments- TPF and VM.
IBM needs to come up with a mainframe which will plug into a 110 volt outlet, and not require exotic cooling- and be priced competitively against intel servers that are meant for a datacenter. There is no sound technical reason why this should not be possible.
IBM also needs to be more open about how to program resources on the mainframe like the sysplex timer, QDIO/the OSA network interfaces, coupling facility, and cryptographic facilities. This will encourage the development of innovative operating systems and system applications. IBM's open source flirtations should transfer over to allowing people to really program mainframe system hardware resources. It's odd to have to think of IBM as being more like a proprietary video display card manufacturer in this sort of thing. IBM doesn't have alot to worry about in terms of PC servers somehow learning lessons from this and competing against the mainframe- folks in the PC server world have demonstrated a systematic willingness to disregard good mainframe ideas for years.
The monthly licensing extortion pricing model is a nonstarter for anyone not already hooked. At least VM is not afflicted by this albatross, save for development tools and ancillary facilities like dirmaint. IBM needs to make its operating systems and development tools available under a pricing model oriented towards garnering new business in an affordable manner.
These are the things which if addressed properly, will assure that the mainframe flourishes.
Posted by: mainframe truth | Nov 7, 2005 6:36:25 AM
Previous quote "IBM needs to invest in American mainframe professionals and ensure that Americans derive the real economic benefits of mainframe involvement. Why IBM is willing, like so many companies, to chase markets in countries with substandard legal systems, dubious intellectual property protections, and dubious monetary systems is unfathomable."
Well thought out Einstein! and then after you have removed your IBMs from these "substandard and dubious countries", you can also remove your KFCs and MacDonalds (In the interest of good taste at least) followed by your boeings and everything else.
Posted by: Mainframer | Nov 13, 2005 3:42:31 AM
i dont know about mainframe truth, but i do that KFC and MaccyDs are both substandard and dubious!
seriously though- China is likely to be zSeries biggest geo in very short order. as the country digitises it needs absurdly big systems - mainframe call. this is a trend i identified some time ago and call Scaling The Great Wall. its one of the only places ibm has a runrate of new customer wins.
and Boeing? i preferred them as a commercial airline firm.
and this notion of a dubious monetary system is interesting to. The US is the country with a savage deficit. liquidity is still good, but there are risks associated with it. the USA must export to other countries to be viable economically.
Posted by: james governor | Nov 14, 2005 11:14:57 AM
Both of these are the results of that terrible thing the corporate conciensance. One imaginary, the other imagined.
It's easy to imagine a circumstance where some well meaning middle manager or executive believes that they are doing the right thing by refusing to help an ISV with a competitive product. Sadly they'd be wrong, isn't the first time this has happended in a big company, won't be the last. Happens in them all.
It's also easy for our competition to make up rumours or suggest by inferance that there is some big plan to kill off this, to kill off that. It helps their weak case and hurts us - so no harm done.
These two things often collide, someone who has been rebutted remembers being told a tall-tale, to go some way to get their own back for being rebutted they ask or spread the tall tale... and all too familiar happening.
Meanwhile back in halls, we are still working on getting key new technologies out for zSeries and working on the design for the next round. We agreed a month or so ago some technology advances that I've been pushing for over year. Good news to follow.
In an 11/05 Gartner(Sorry James...) report their major conclusion was "IT organizations will continue to live in a heterogeneous world because no single architecture can
provide a "one size fits all" strategy. Given this, the best that IT organizations can strive for is to make strategic platform choices by determining which options best optimize, utilize and manage resources for the maximum economic return and business benefit."
and thats what we are doing and driving to make zSeries the center of it. I do V12N ask me about it ;-)
We going to meet up for Chrimle then James? I'm in the UK from the 9th to the 29th??
Posted by: Mark Cathcart | Nov 22, 2005 11:13:55 PM
