Vendors are all positioning themselves to leverage IT buildouts, both in greenfield markets and in existing accounts. Although IBM continues to be the market leader, it has been losing share, as Figure 1 shows. That slide is what Big Blue hopes its new roundup will stop. The past several years were tough on vendors, mostly due to Y2K-related lockdowns, but the future looks brighter. It seems that there is something old, something new, and, of course, something blue.
Price depends on configuration options and application workloads.
The new series don t actually replace any previous models rather, they supplement them. Customers can still order from either price list, but the new boxes come with a wider, more flexible array of services and options. IBM salespeople presumably will focus attention on scalability benefits across the four series. One vendor in particular isn't too happy with IBM s new brand. Technauts has notified IBM that it will take steps to protect its established brand name from infringement.