IBM mainframe goes for 99 cents

From: William Donzelli <aw288_at_osfn.org>
Date: Thu Feb 24 14:21:11 2005

> It's questionable whether the 4381 should be considered a mainframe,
> though it is compatible with the 370 and 370XA architectures. It was one
> of IBM's midrange systems that was often pushed as an alternative to high
> end DEC VAX systems.

I don't think there is any question about it. Perhaps the low end of the
4300 line is pushing it, but the 4381 was fairly serious. Anyway, the 4381
has just as much RAS as the big machines, and in the mainframe world,
that is pretty much what counts.
 
> Contrary to the eBay description, they did not cost anywhere near $2M, as
> for that kind of money you could get a 303x or low-end 308x. Depending on
> the exact model, the pricing ranged from $200K to $530K for a single
> processor, or around $900K for a dual processor.

$2M for the whole system (DASDs, comm controllers, etc.) is reasonable,
however.

William Donzelli
aw288_at_osfn.org
Received on Thu Feb 24 2005 - 14:21:11 GMT