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So here I am leafing through the pages of this week's issue of PCWeek, when
I come upon a BIG 3 page ad which starts on page one as follows:

"IBM announces a web server that can handle 20 million transactions a day.
 Can support up to 50,000 users. Can deliver 99.999% availability.  And is
a hacker's worst nightmare."

Now that they have your attention, you flip the page over and you are
greeted with a full two page spread.  On the right hand page, you have a
full page color picture of an IBM S/390.  At the top of the page the
caption reads: "Congratulations.  You already own it."

The left had page is virtually all text, beginning with the phrase
"Surprise, it's your IBM S/390 enterprise server."  The remainder of the
text extols the virtues of the S/390, calling it the best and most reliable
web server available.

Here are a few snippets that I found interesting:

"So the large enterprise server you bought a while back has become the best
Web server available."

"After three decades of transformation, the IBM S/390 server sets the
standard for e-business transaction serving."

"Now server companies are claiming mainframe attributes for their UNIX and
PC servers (in fact, chances are that at least one of your PC or UNIX
servers is down right now)."

"Run a data mine, not a server farm."

"And in the environment of enterprise computing, it's a mathematical fact
that enormous complexity equals enormous costs. . ."

"IBM can provide a way to get your existing set of servers consolidated and
to train your staff to manage and continue the process."

If I were a decision maker in a company that had an S/390, I would be
calling a meeting right about now.

Now, I look at the overall contents and tenor of this ad and I say to
myself, hum, replace "S/390" with "HP 3000", "IBM" with "HP" and "three
decades of transformation" with "25 years of transformation" and voila, a
great ad.

Nah, it will never happen.

Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP America, Inc.
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com                             www.hicomp.com