By William Fellows
IBM Corp reworks the low-end of its S/390 mainframe line this week with the Multiprise 3000 ‘Planter’ follow-on to the 2000 series. Planter uses restricted versions of the 9672 G5 CMOS processor running at a slower clock speed and with less cache memory, and features integrated disk arrays. Performance is estimated at 60 MIPS. It’s designed for middle-market companies with 500-plus employees.
Analysts don’t believe IBM makes money on Multiprise, but despite low volumes Big Blue has said it will continue to build Multiprise systems as long as there is demand. Analysts reckon half of the Multiprise base are potential AS/400 customers, and a quarter would see Unix as a natural migration path and the rest Windows NT.
Using G5 CPUs means that Planter gets all the Java support IBM’s largest mainframes provide. The 2000 series uses G2/G3 processors. Instead of the 18 systems which make up the Multiprise 2000 line, there are just three in the 3000 series, H70, H50 and H30. The two largest systems will deliver 200 and 100 MIPS respectively.
Planter is the upgrade to the current Integrated Server, model 3006 and the successor to Multiprise, even though it retains the brand name. Planter uses PCI cards to provide networking and related functions. Technology News of America reports that like the Integrated Server (but unlike Multiprise 2000) Planter will use an OS/2 subsystem running on an Intel chip, for networking other I/O functions. But, like a Multiprise, the planter will have an S/390 System Assist Processor to perform some functions that are managed by the Intel engine in an Integrated Server, it says.
Planter software will reportedly costs about half as much per MIPS as software on other mainframes of similar power. Licensing is said to be more complicated. They are pre-loaded with OS/390 2.8, VM and VSE. The internal disk storage seems to have slipped as the systems are available this month while the arrays will ship before year-end. á
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