Letter from the Editor > Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

I recently received one of those “get to know you” surveys that I so dislike. However, unlike the normal litany of meaningless questions, this one focused on where you were 10 years ago.

Who normally has a good grasp of where they were in their lives exactly 10 years ago? I’m usually not one of them, but this time I knew: 10 years ago this month I graduated from high school. While I don’t remember all of the specifics surrounding that event, what remains etched in my memory is this sense of anticipation. The future was coming on the next wind, it seemed, and who knows where it would take me.

Looking back on the journey since then has been both thought-provoking and a little perplexing. I say perplexing because it begs the question, “Where does the time go?”

IBM knows exactly the course it’s tread for the past 10 years, for that’s how long it’s been planning the unification of the System i* and System p* platforms. And with the graduation of these two into the new IBM* Power* Systems platform, that sense of anticipation first felt 10 years prior has come to fruition in an exciting new spread of servers and capabilities for Power Systems users. The future has arrived.

For instance, customers now have access to three operating systems—Linux*, AIX* and i (formerly i5/OS)—and thus even more computing options, on the newly rebranded line of Power Systems servers. The low-end Power 520 Express and Power 550 Express have been repurposed for better performance, as has the new Power 570. IBM also introduced two new cutting-edge servers, the Power 575, which uses an innovative cooling technique while still offering premium performance and speed, and the Power 595, the world’s fastest UNIX* server. When you throw in advancements on everything from improving Advanced POWER* Virtualization to PowerVM* and a newly unified sales and support strategy, it’s easy to feel the crackle of excitement in the air.

We’re introducing as many of these upgrades as we could fit into this issue. The cover story, “The Gift of Power,” outlines the major changes this unification brings. IBMer Charlie Cler outlines PowerVM in “Virtualization Across Three Operating Systems”. And Technical Editor Jaqui Lynch explains the capabilities of the new Power 520 Express and Power 550 Express servers in this month’s Tips and Techniques column.

I find while it’s helpful to look back 10 years, it’s more important to make sure to focus on the future. Exciting things await us there.

James Proescholdt, Managing Editor
jproescholdt@msptechmedia.com