Today, more iSeries customers are seeking to reduce IT costs by consolidating their computing workloads onto increasingly larger servers. That makes it important for IBM to offer attractive prices on upgrades to its larger eServer i5 models. Fortunately, the computer giant has understood just how important those prices are.

As the following article shows, IBM has made nearly all of the upgrades to its larger i5 models more cost-effective than upgrades that keep customers within the iSeries 8xx family. However, there are some cases where customers will do better by activating a standby processor or two on their existing servers or waiting until IBM comes out with larger i5 models later this year. This could especially be the case for customers whose applications cannot run on i5/OS yet.

With these thoughts in mind, let's look at the upgrade options that Big Blue is offering. Before we do so, however, let me warn you that despite my best efforts to simplify this topic, it is still complicated and difficult. Be sure to give yourself extra time to absorb the content of this article.

Upgrade Options for the iSeries 825

If you own an iSeries 825, you can upgrade your server in three ways. First, you can activate some of your standby processors at a cost of $5,000 per processor plus $45,000 for each processor on which you load OS/400. This is probably your most cost-effective option if you have an 825 Enterprise Edition with standby processors left and you have no need for a server with more than 6,600 CPWs. Second, you can upgrade your Model 825 to a Model 870. This will give you a system with anywhere from 7,700 to 20,000 CPWs. Third, you can upgrade your Model 825 to an i5 570 with anywhere from 3,600 to 11,700 CPWs. This does not give you as much headroom as an 870 upgrade. However, you will be able to upgrade the Model 570 beyond 11,700 CPWs later this year when IBM announces more powerful i5 servers.

As you consider these alternatives, it is important to understand that the rules for upgrading to a Model 570 are different from those for upgrading to a Model 870. Before you can upgrade to an 870, IBM's rules state that your 825 must have all six of its processors activated. If you have not activated all of your processors, you must pay for those activations as well as for the upgrade to the 870. In reality, IBM has recently been allowing many customers to skirt this requirement through special bids and save thousands of dollars in the process. Still, the official policy remains in place.

By contrast, you do not have to activate all of your 825's processors before you can upgrade to the i5 570. You simply upgrade to a Model 570 with the base number of processors activated (one for the 570-0919 and two for the 570-0920). If you want to permanently activate any of the 570's standby processors, you pay $4,400 per processor. If you need i5/OS on an activated processor, you may need to pay $45,000 for the license. In many cases, however, you will not have to do so. That is because you can take any OS/400 license that was running on one of your activated processors on the Model 825 and convert it for free into an i5/OS license running on your Model 570.

For example, let's say that you have a Model 825 with three base processors and one activated processor that is running OS/400. You upgrade that 825 to a 1/2-way 570-0919. The upgrade entitles you to one base processor and an i5/OS license for that base processor. You decide to activate the second processor, so you do so at a cost of $4,400. Since you had one activated processor on your 825 that was running OS/400, you can transfer that license to the activated processor on your 570 and avoid the $45,000 license fee for i5/OS.

Now that we've reviewed the upgrade rules, let's compare prices for some selected Model 825 upgrades. The following table displays upgrades within the 8xx series first and then the new i5 upgrades. List prices and costs per CPW are provided for each upgrade. To determine the cost per CPW of each upgrade, I divided its list price by the number of processor CPWs that it adds to the upgraded server. Please note that for the upgrades from the 3-way Model 825 to the Model 870, I have included the charges to activate the remaining three processors on the 825. As I explained earlier, you may be able to get these charges waived.

¹ Upgrade prices include costs of activating additional Model 825 OS/400 CPUs at a price of $50,000 per CPU.
² Upgrade prices include costs of activating additional Model 870 OS/400 CPUs at a price of $55,000 per CPU.
³ Upgrade prices include costs of activating all CUoD processors at a price of $4,400 per CPU and, where necessary, purchasing additional i5/OS licenses for those activated processors at $45,000 per CPU.

As the above table demonstrates, most of the upgrades to the i5 570 cost significantly less than upgrades to Model 870 servers of comparable size. The cost advantage of the 570 is particularly strong for Standard Edition upgrades. Moreover, since the i5 570 models are in the P30 software price tier and the Model 870 is in the P40 price tier, you will avoid the increases in software license fees that come with an 870 upgrade. In addition, maintenance fees for the Model 570 are thousands of dollars less per year than those for the Model 870.

If you are considering an upgrade to the Model 570, here are some additional rules that will affect your total cost.

• Any Model 825 memory that cards that are 512 MB or larger will migrate to the i5 570. Smaller cards will not migrate.
• All 10,000 RPM and 15,000 RPM disks will migrate to the i5.
• While none of the old SPD I/O towers and drawers can migrate to the i5, most of the PCI I/O towers and drawers will migrate. The only PCI features that do not migrate are the 0578 Expansion Drawer and the 5075 and 5078 Expansion Towers.
• As for other iSeries feature codes, the i5 570 supports many but not all of them. IBM provides a list of the supported feature codes in the announcement letter for the 570.

Upgrade Options for the iSeries 830

There are two different sets of upgrade rules for the iSeries 830. The first set applies to the older 830 models that have no standby Capacity on Demand (COD) processors. The second set applies to the newer Model 830-2349, a server that has four base and four standby processors. All of these servers are upgradeable to the iSeries 825 and 870 as well as to the i5 570. You can also upgrade the 2-way 830 to a 1-way i5 520.

When you upgrade an older Model 830 with no standby processors to any of these systems, you start with a server that has its base processors turned on and its standby processors turned off. You then pay additional charges to activate standby processors. If you need to run OS/400 or i5/OS on a standby processor, you pay a software license fee as well. Those charges are listed in the footnotes of the following table.

These rules also apply to upgrades from the 830-2349, but with some added twists. If you are upgrading an 830-2349 to an 825 or 870, you must first activate all four of your standby processors. That could involve additional charges. Fortunately, you can often get IBM to waive this requirement through a special bid. By contrast, when you upgrade an 830-2349 to the Model 570, you do not have to activate any standby processors. However, if you have activated any standby processors with OS/400 running on them, you get a discount on the i5/OS fees that you would otherwise pay on any Model 570 standby processors that you activate. That discount is 25% off an i5/OS activation for every OS/400 activation that you own.

As an example, let's assume that you have an 830-2349 with all four of its standby processors active and running OS/400. You upgrade to a 2/4-way 570-0920. You activate the two standby processors of the 570 at a cost of $4,400 each. Normally, you would also have to pay for two additional i5/OS licenses at $45,000 per processor. However, since you were running OS/400 on the four standby processors on your 830-2349, you can apply those four OS/400 licenses against the cost of the i5/OS licenses. Since you get a 25% discount per OS/400 license, you get one free i5/OS license for one of your 570's activated processors and save $45,000.

With these rules in mind (feel free to reread them...I know this is tough material), here is a table that examines some selected upgrade paths from the Model 830.

¹ Upgrade prices include costs of activating three additional Model 825 OS/400 CPUs at a price of $5,000 per CPU and paying $45,000 per CPU for three OS/400 licenses.
² Upgrade prices include costs of activating three additional Model 870 OS/400 CPUs at a price of $10,000 per CPU and paying $45,000 per CPU for three OS/400 licenses.
³ Prices for upgrading the 830-2400 and 830-2402 include the cost of activating the second processor on the 570-0919 at a cost of $4,400 and purchasing an additional i5/OS license for $45,000.
⁴ Prices for upgrading the 830-2400 and 830-2402 include the cost of activating two processors on the 570-0920 at a cost of $4,400 per CPU and purchasing two additional i5/OS licenses at a cost of $45,000 per license. Prices for upgrading the 830-2439 with 8 active CPUs include the cost of activating two processors on the 570-0920 at a cost of $4,400 per CPU and purchasing an additional i5/OS license for $45,000.

As the above table indicates, many of the upgrades from the Model 830 to the Model 570 cost significantly less on a per CPW basis than upgrades to 825 and 870 models with comparable performance. It is true that the upgrades to a 570-0919 or a 570-0920 with just the base processors activated cost more on a per CPW basis than an upgrade to a comparable Model 870. However, remember that the 570 is in the P30 software tier instead of the P40 tier of the 870, and that the 570 has much lower monthly maintenance costs. These advantages will probably make most 570 upgrade options more cost-effective.

As you consider your options, keep in mind that you cannot migrate any of your Model 830 memory to the 570, so you will have to pay for new cards. You can, however, migrate the same disk drives and I/O towers that I mentioned earlier. For other feature codes and peripherals, check the eligibility list in the IBM announcement letter.

Upgrade Options for the iSeries 870

There is only one Model 870 that you can upgrade to the i5 570, and that is the 5/8-way 870-2489. This model upgrades to the 2/4-way 570-0920. Since the 870-2489 and the 570-0920 cover roughly the same performance range, you have two upgrade options.

First, you can activate standby processors on your 870-2489 to get extra performance. That will cost you $10,000 per processor activation and $45,000 per processor for each OS/400 license.

Second, you can upgrade to a 570-0920 for an upgrade fee that will give you two base processors and two standby processors. You can then activate the standby processors for an additional $4,400 per processor and $45,000 per processor for each i5/OS license. If you run OS/400 on any activated processors on your 870-2489, you can transfer those licenses on a one-to-one basis to the 570-0920 and waive the $45,000 per processor license fees. The following table provides upgrade examples that illustrate these rules.

As you can see, the upgrade to the 570-0920 Standard Edition is a value compared to activating standby processors on the 870-2489. By contrast, it costs less to activate processors on an 870-2489 Enterprise Edition than it does to upgrade it to a 570-0920. Then again, the 570-0920 provides certain capabilities that the Model 870 does not, such as support for AIX logical partitions and facilities such as Memory on Demand. This may tip your decision toward the 570.

Please keep one other cost consideration in mind for these upgrades. You cannot migrate your Model 870 memory to the Model 570. That, plus replacement costs for the occasional feature code or two, could play a factor in your decision. Again, check the feature code eligibility list in the i5 570 announcement.

Had Enough?

By now, I imagine that many of you are reaching for bottles of aspirin--or perhaps something stronger--to ward off the headache that this truckload of information is giving you. As I warned, studying upgrade options is not an easy task. Still, I hope this article has given you the tools you need to ask your IBM representative the right questions and the knowledge you need to avoid costly mistakes. To all of you who are facing upgrades, good luck!

Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology.

Also Read

The Effects of COVID-19 on the IBM i Ecosystem

Dissecting the HelpSystems IBM i Marketplace Survey

IBM i Receives Package Manager Support