Futuro del 400..(o como se llame en 2020)

Linea de tiempo planificada para el System i - (En IBM System Magazine)

Steve Will, Arquitecto Jefe del System i,  publica en IBM System Magazine (30 de marzo) un artículo explicando la planificación de futuras versiones del System i (AKA AS400, i Series, System i...), que extiende el ciclo de vida de los sistemas hasta dos próximas versiones como planes inmediatos, llevando su ciclo de vida hasta más allá de 2025: la corriente versión aparece planeada hasta 2020/2021, y confirma que están trabajando en dos siguientes versiones (Next i+1/Next i+2). La primera, con cambios que expanden características ya en desarrollo, y la siguiente, determinada por cambios mayores no contenibles en la primera.

(...) we have two major releases under development right now. The 7.2 release came out less than a year ago, and we’ve been working hard on its following major release – called “i next” on this chart. But, we have items that we know cannot fit into “i next” but which require a major release, so we are working on the one after that, “i next +1.” 

 Lo más importante del artículo de Will es la indicación del compromiso de IBM con el sistema, y de su potenciación en el marco de la evolución tecnológica actual:

The key to understanding this next chart is to recognize when there is a known, committed date and when there is just a direction. A known date is represented when the horizontal line has a vertical end. For example, IBM i 6.1 was released in 2008, and its announced end of service is in 2015; both ends of that line are vertical. But while IBM i 7.2 came out in 2014 (vertical left end) the end of service date is indicated by an arrow, meaning we have not announced anything.

However, if 7.1 and 7.2 are each supported as long as 6.1 and V5R4 were, then 7.2 is going to be supported out into the 2020s.

And, very importantly, I told you that we have two more releases actively under development right now. When will they be released? Well, the ends of those lines are arrows, so we’re not saying yet. The availability dates could still change, but clearly, we don’t tend to deliver new releases any sooner than two years these days, and sometimes it’s longer than that. So, “i next” and “i next +1” will come out sometime, and if they also are supported for seven years, well, we’re more than 10 years out into the future now.

Furthermore, on the previous chart, we discussed that new capabilities are coming out in between releases. This means that the “Support” chart does not indicate only “support” but also a timeline for delivery of new function via TRs.

 Frente a la socarrona afirmación (repetida frecuentemente) de la obsolescencia del equipo, creo que realmente tendríamos que pensar más en la obsolescencia de las perspectivas con que se planean desarrollos sobre la plataforma: cada vez me siento más inclinado a abandonar definitivamente cualquier referencia al "400", considerando la distancia entre aquello que estaba disponible en el 400 hace veinte años, y lo que es posible hacer hoy en el "i":

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