Back in the mid-1970s, IBM Corp created just about the happiest hunting ground in the history of the computer industry when it failed to recognise that low-end users would not be satisfied with pure batch machines forever, and so persisted with its System/3 line of small business systems long after they had passed their sell-by […]
Back in the mid-1970s, IBM Corp created just about the happiest hunting ground in the history of the computer industry when it failed to recognise that low-end users would not be satisfied with pure batch machines forever, and so persisted with its System/3 line of small business systems long after they had passed their sell-by date. The then International Computers Ltd, Univac Inc, Honeywell Inc and others grew fat by bouncing System/3 users into converting to 2903, the 90/30 or Level 62 machines, and IBM only stemmed the haemhorrage when it got wise and launched System/34. Hewlett-Packard Co reckons that history is about to repeat itself with the AS/400, and is so keen for its machines to become recognised as the preferred migration route that it is offering discounts of up to 30% to users that agree to convert. According to the Wall Street Journal, Hewlett will advertise the programme – under the code-name AS/sault – to exchange AS/400s for its servers and workstations in trade magazines, and has persuaded 11 of the top 15 AS/400 software developers to convert their applications to run under its HP-UX Unix. It even dispatched the equivalent of three full-time engineers for months to System Software Associates Inc of Chicago to assist with the conversion effort. And needless to say IBM, the most incompetent company in the industry for managing relationships with its business partners, played into Hewlett-Packard’s hands when it cut off supply of AS/400s to its biggest US reseller, XL/Datacomp, now owned by Storage Technology Corp. The company is now enthusiastic Hewlett supporter and will be offering upgrades to the HP 9000 servers to its 6,000 AS/400 customers. And they will be pushing at an open door: First Boston Corp told the paper that in its latest survey, 68% of 75 AS/400 owners responding said that they were not developing new AS/400 applications and that on a scale of one to 10, they rated the importance of the AS/400 to their future plans at 4.6 this month, down from 5.7 in March.
