IBM’s V5R4 End of Life Date…Too Long, Too Short, or Just Right?

Posted on by Joe Hertvik

After the exultation over IBM announcing end of life for V5R4 comes one dissenting voice:

In an article published today called IBM i V5R4 Deadline Still Too Soon, Mel Beckman of the System i Network argues that there are a fair number of customers who still can’t upgrade to V6R1 before September 30, 2013. When compared with these other long-lived products that are still supported, Mel says that IBM could actually reap some good will by forgoing its premium price for continued V5R4 support after end of life:

  • Cisco IOS 12.4
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003
  • Windows XP
  • NBC’s hit comedy, The Office

Just kidding about that last one. I think Mel actually was referring to How I Met Your Mother😉

Of course, not everyone is on board with this idea, as at least one popular pundit immediately tweeted that no, IBM’s V5R4 end of life date is too far out, not too soon.

D’OH!

Read the whole piece here, if you’re interested.

Also feel free to post a comment if you’re one of those people who can’t upgrade by September 30, 2013. I’d be curious to hear from people in this situation.

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Joe is the owner of Hertvik Business Services, a service company providing written white papers, case studies, and other marketing content to computer industry companies. He is also a contributing editor for IT Jungle and has written the Admin Alert column for the past ten years. Follow Joe Hertvik on Twitter @JoeHertvik. Email Joe for a free quote on white papers, case studies, brochures, or other marketing materials.
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3 Responses to IBM’s V5R4 End of Life Date…Too Long, Too Short, or Just Right?

  1. Steve Pitcher says:
    February 23, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Any hard date forces a little tension for change. I’m all for it.

  2. Joe Hertvik says:
    February 23, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    I tend to agree with you. For the ones that are planning to move up, a hard date is the encouragement they need. One of the experts even said something to the effect that there’s a lot of shops who aren’t allowed to update until they see the end of service date.

    Because if you don’t have a hard date, you can put it off forever.

  3. Joe Hertvik says:
    February 23, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    I just checked and it was Steve Will, Chief Architect for IBM i who made the comment about customers needing an official EOS date to move up. In his article on the V5R4 End of Service date announcement, he said:

    “Over the past year or two, I have heard many customers and ISVs say that they really need to have an official V5R4 End of Service date. Some organizations will only consider a move to another release when their current release has that end date. So, despite wanting the great new column-level encryption support, or image management support, or performance improvements, they need the impending end of service to push them that last little bit toward an upgrade.”

    So I guess IBM just had to make a choice as to the best path to follow here. Enable those who want to move up or worry about those who say they need more time.

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