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IBM Introduces New Systems for Small and Medium BusinessesApril 13, 2007; 07:04 AM “Every small and medium business has one thing in common -- the
need to serve their customers and be ready for growth,” said Mark
Shearer, general manager for IBM System i. “Today, IBM is providing
these clients simplified access to a complete system that is
easy-to-manage, easy-to-secure and highly reliable, with built-in virus
resistance, database, storage and systems management technology. With
IBM System i Express, a small to medium business can effectively manage
all functions critical to the business and focus on driving their
business forward, confident that their infrastructure will grow as they
grow.”
Small and medium businesses often operate in lean environments
with little or no IT personnel and limited resources. Yet the typical
small business has, on average, seven servers deployed on site
(1). With Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition being affected
by 120 Secunia issued advisories in the last four years (2), small and
medium businesses are being affected by personnel and resource costs
for patching and managing multiple Windows servers for each function of
their business.
System i Express includes the features most important to small and
medium businesses, such as a simple, built-in workload manager that
allows clients to run and manage multiple applications independently on
one system instead of deploying a new server every time they need
another application, as is typical in Windows-based environments.
System i client ICO RALLY provides materials, accessories and
services for electronic distributors throughout North America. The
company employs 30 people in its Palo Alto and Ontario, California
locations and, until recently, its IT infrastructure consisted of basic
business-management software tools such as QuickBooks, Peachtree and
Microsoft Outlook in a Windows server environment.
“ICO RALLY’s two main business goals are to expand into new
markets and reduce internal costs. We realized we needed to completely
revamp our technology infrastructure to support these goals and, with
the help of IBM Business Partner ESP Solutions, chose the System i as
our platform for growth,” said Glenn Griffith, vice president for ICO
RALLY. “With System i, we have been able to focus on running our
business instead of managing computer operations. The System i platform
is simply more reliable and secure than our previous Windows servers,
and has helped enable us to increase sales by 25 percent and employee
productivity by 20 percent.”
System i Vertical Industry Program
Through the System i Initiative for Innovation, IBM works with
thousands of application providers around the world to bring new
solutions and capabilities to System i, including thousands of new and
updated applications as well as integration with IP Telephony,
PHP language and BladeCenter for those applications. IBM expanded the
Initiative for Innovation this year with the System i Vertical Industry
Program (VIP), one key vehicle through which IBM will make System i
Express available to small and medium businesses. Launched in January,
the VIP is designed to serve customers in select sub-verticals by
working with local Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and business
partners who specialize in specific industries.
Pricing and Availability
The System i Express offerings, the model 515 and model 525,
are expected to be available in late April. The System i 515 Express,
designed for 5 to 40 users, starts at $7,995 and includes 5 user
licenses. Additional user licenses cost $1,250 per 5 users.
About IBM
For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com
For more about System i, visit www.ibm.com/systemi and www.iSociety.org.
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