The discount that comes with the Solution Edition certification is substantial. A base Model 550 with two out of its four cores activated and i5/OS Enterprise Edition enabled on those two cores costs $266,000. Even without activating the other two cores, this machine has more than enough oomph for the majority of OS/400 shops running applications like those being offered by the dozen certified Solution Edition vendors.
The Solution Edition of the i5 has full 5250 green-screen capability and is priced at $206,000 in the same base configuration, which amounts to a 23% discount on the base i5 hardware. The Solution Edition is available only on the Model 550, which is in the P20 software tier and is therefore aimed at companies that need to support a large number of users, relatively large batch jobs, and myriad applications on a single box.
Agilysys, a specialist in hospitality applications used by hotels, and Jack Henry & Associates, which provides software to run banks and credit unions, both announced last week that their respective applications have been certified for the Solution Edition promotion.
Agilysys and Jack Henry join a who’s who list of OS/400 vendors that have been certified in the Solution Edition program, including Clear Technologies, Integrated Distribution Solutions, International Business Systems, Intentia International, Lawson Software, Manhattan Associates, MAPICS, PeopleSoft, and SSA Global. Hopefully, IBM will pick up the pace and bestow this discount on many more dozens of midrange application vendors.
