AS/400 customers with heads flattened from hitting the ceiling on their present top-end models shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for relief according to users contacted by Computerworld. The paper hears that D models using a new CMOS chip will be announced in late April top replace the B models, and will deliver up to 35% better price-performance on some models, with the top model a dual processor offering two and a half times the performance of the B70. The fact that it is a dual processor means of course a new multiprocessing version of OS/400, and the D models will have an architecture capable of supporting up to six processors – one day. The new release of OS/400 is also expected to include more efficient disk mirroring than with the first release that offered that feature, which was launched last August, which has had users complaining that they needed two machines to get the uptime of one. The single-image multiprocessor version of the operating system is expected to free to existing users – until they upgrade: going from a B50 to a D50 is expected to jump you into a higher model group for software pricing, which means users will have to pay more. All the new models are expected to be available as field-upgrades from the present ones.
