Friday, February 19, 2016

Hardware withdrawal of zEC12, zBC12 and zBX Model 004

It’s become customary by now, the announcement of one system is accompanied by the End of Marketing announcement of the previous generation, in this case the zEC12 and the zBC12 : 'Hardware Withdrawal: IBM zEnterprise EC12, IBM zEnterprise BC12, and IBM z BladeCenter Extension (zBX) Model 004 - some replacements available (ZG16-0021)'

However, it’s a bit more complicated this time because what used to be a two step operation is now somewhat of a three step generation. Remember with the z10 EC and z10 BC or with the z196 and z114.
First there was the End of Marketing of the system itself and all hardware MES upgrades like disruptively adding memory, adding books or I/O cards.
And secondly, a year later, all LIC upgrades like e.g. adding a processor within the same book or drawer, non-disruptively adding memory was ended as well.
This is again the case with the zEC12 en zBC12, except that six months before the first step all delivery of and upgrades to a z12 are no longer possible “for the listed RoHS Jurisdictions”. This includes, I think, most of the European countries. So, this is how the withdrawals go

June 30, 2016 : RoHS jurisdictions
  • All Models of the zEC12 and upgrades towards them
  • All models of the zBC12 and upgrades towards them
December 31, 2016 : all countries
  • All Models of the zEC12 and upgrades towards them
  • All models of the zBC12 and upgrades towards them
  • Model conversions and hardware MES features applied to an existing zEC12 or zBC12 server
December 31, 2017
  • Field installed features and all associated conversions that are delivered solely through a modification to the machine's Licensed Internal Code (LIC)

You know I mentioned before that I thought the End of Marketing for previous generations was quite tight from a customer point of view. Here’s a brief overview.

Click on image for larger version

I also mentioned the zBX 004. Well, as of March 31, 2017 the last zBX Model 004 will have been marketed and no more upgrades from previous models will be possible either. I guess no further comment is needed with regards to the zBX ?

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