This is my 3rd or 4th posting under the general heading "Platform Committee", but I have not produced any summaries to date.
I do have a 16-page summary/recommendation which will probably grow another 5 to 10 pages. Currently it is too large
and dense for my GroupWise Emailler to handle and I now work with this document using Microsoft Word.
It's not ready to publish yet anyway. I may not release it world wide either. However I am tracking the people who
respond to my queries and these people are being acknowledged, paraphrased, quoted, and thanked in my
working document.
The short story is we are rewriting our #1 application. It will be a web enabled thin client, browser based, multi-tier application.
We will be procuring three basic "enterprise" class platforms. There will be one "back end" database system and two
"front end" web systems. One (1) "front end" will be position on our Intranet and one (1) front end will be positioned
on our "Extranet". The "back end" will stay within the intranet too.
O.K. here's the deal. Management divided the IT department into two committees. We have a "Platform Committee" and we
have a "Toolset Committee". Of the two committees the "Toolset Committees" will be making the most important decisions.
There are two competing toolsets that we could be looking at. These are Microsoft's DNA/COM+/MTS family of tools and the
JAVA family of tools RMI/EJB/Corba/IIOP.
I'm on the "Platform Committee" so I am not that up on the fundamental building blocks of toolsets or the proprietary offerings for
these tools either. I just like to write like an expert. :)
Currently the "Toolset Committee" is looking to the Apache web server and Java for their fundamental building blocks. These tools are
freely available and are also re-packaged by several vendors like Borland, IBM, and Oracle. We will most certainly develop the next
generation of our #1 Application using the Java and Apache software platforms.
The "Toolset Committee" is currently looking at Oracle's IAS and IBM's Webshphere as the two leading candidates. Oracle's IAS runs on
all the major platforms whereas IBM's WebSphere is only listed to run on HP's UX, Sun's Solaris, IBM's AIX, and LINTEL Linux. WebSphere
and IAS use Java and Apache.
Here's the rub. The "Toolset Committee" is leaning towards IBM's WebSphere. They have taken a 2nd look at WebSphere and are planning
a 3rd look for later this month. We talked them into taking a 2nd look at Oracle's IAS and the sales guy Dave Bayless is trying to
arrange another IAS presentation for us. The "Toolset Committee" really likes IBM's development environment and the 3rd party add ons from
companies like Rational. The "Platform Committee" wants Oracle to come in with their 2nd presentation focused entirely on IAS's
development environment. The last time they were here their presentation focused on the 'Portal" pieces of thier product. However it seems
the development side of the coin will be what sells or not sells a given product for us. Dave is looking for people who can properly demonstrate
the development piece of the IAS product for us. We hope it will be as competitive as IBM's WebSphere.
We already have a "back end" investment in Alpha hardware and we probably will not walk away from this platform for our "back end" needs.
So score one (1) sale for Compaq.
[Q]
Does IBM or Compaq have any plans to make IBM's WebSphere certified and available for the Alpha platform? Depending on the decisions
made by our Toolset Committee we could be buying (1) ONE or (3) THREE enterprise class platforms in the near term and the difference
between COMPAQ getting (1) ONE or (3) THREE sales might come down to whether or not IBM'S WebSphere is running or not running on
Alpha chip hardware. In other words we need to make sure IBM's WebSphere product is not deploy able using TRU64 UNIX.
[Q]
I noticed Alpha chips are running at gigahertz speeds and I was told that IBM's HP's and Sun's RISC architecture are all still running
at < 500 megahertz. Is that true or false? We are concerned with speed because Oracle licenses its product by the CPU. I hate
to think it takes two 500mhz SUN chips to equal one gigahertz Alpha chip. Lets see using list pricing the Oracle base prices at
$40k/CPU and if I Oracle 9i RAC these two CPU's its another $20K/CPU RAC-ing charge. So that could be another $60k/CPU
for the Oracle licenses fees using the slower speed CPUs in a scaled out configuration.. Well that's extremely fuzzy math and we
aren't planning on "scaling out" the "back end" so there really won't being any RAC-ing charges to consider. But we are always
looking for good intellectual type property blubs for keeping the "back end' on the Alpha hardware. If you have any good reasons
for doing this or not doing this please let us know.
[Q] We are a Compaq shop and wish to remain Compaq or HP however the merger deal works out. However we may have to
select a new vendor for our "front end" though. Which vendor would you guys select if your "Toolset Committee" decided to go
with IBM's WebSphere product?
1) HP UX
2) Compaq Lintel
3) IBM Lintel
4) Sun Solaris
5) IBM AIX
6) Windows 2000
[Q] Oracles IAS runs on all those platforms and the TRU64 UNIX platform too.
Which way would you guys go? IAS or WebSphere?
[Q] Why doesn't IBM's Websphere run on TRU64 UNIX? You can't grow your business if you are losing 2 out of every 3 sales. What's up with that?
Its just JAVA and Apache after all. We would even consider piloting this if Compaq was interested. Are there any pilots out there?
Sincerely
Kevin Criss
Received on Thu Mar 21 2002 - 19:25:02 NZST