Editors note: This article was written many years ago, but we have deliberately not refreshed the system names as they have evolved. Everything written here, about the IBMi, the system previously known as the AS400, still stands..

Here are a few of the reasons for each new generation of the AS/400's continued success as a platform for business applications:

Your e-business server might be one physical server or it might be several physical servers working together. It runs the important "plumbing" that handles Web traffic: an Internet protocol like TCP/IP and Web serving software like the IBM HTTP Server for AS/400. Your e-business server needs to support dynamic Web transactions that integrate with your line of business applications and data. Usually, Web application server software, like the IBM Websphere Application Server, provides this capability. Finally, a good e-business server needs to support industry standards, like Java, to give you the flexibility to deploy your e-business applications on whatever server platform you choose.

System Security

AS/400 security features are second to none, it is no exaggeration to say that the AS/400 is one of the most secure platforms available today. Security is integrated into AS/400 architecture and protects your e-business from hackers and viruses. AS/400e is a recognized leader in security.

"There has never been a recorded virus on the AS/400 in its entire history." Can any other machine make this claim?

JAVA

"Born to be Java" might be the AS/400 theme song. AS/400 architecture, with an independent machine interface that separates software from the underlying hardware, perfectly matches Java architecture, with a Java virtual machine that gives it platform independence. With AS/400e, you get the full 100% pure Java benefit of platform independence plus the added benefit of AS/400 optimization for high performance and enterprise-strength capability.

INTERNET SERVER

OS400 includes a complete web-server product with advanced security and application development: The built-in 5250-HTML Gateway allows AS/400 applications to be accessible by any Web browser with no code changes. Remote users can query the AS/400 database with Web-enabled applications. AS/400's integrated security features ensure protection against un-authorized access and provide secure transmission of sensitive data.

EBUSINESS

AS/400 supports native TCP/IP along with SNA and IPX/SPX. APPC applications can be run over TCP/IP. Sockets application can run over SNA. POP3 and MIME support permits the exchange of mail with the Internet and PC-based mail products. DRDA and open client API's allow remote databases to share information. It will act just like an Windows Server, presenting its own disk space in FAT32 format. In short, it will talk to virtually anything, virtually anywhere with virtual ease.

Integration of the many system components that your e-business needs -- database, backup and recovery, systems management, TCP/IP, Web serving, Java, and more. They're built into AS/400 for a single price. And they're designed and tested together so you don't need to spend your valuable resources making sure the "plumbing" and "electricity" of your e-business server are compatible with each other.

Speed to deploy because e-business is about seizing the moment before someone else does. The integration and "built for business" attitude of AS/400e translates into less work for you when it comes to getting an application up and running. And lower cost to administer over the long run.

DATABASE

DB2/UDB for OS/400 is one of the most widely used multi-user RDBMs in the world. It includes such essential features as referential integrity, stored procedures, triggers and two-phase commit, to provide the capabilities required to support mission-critical applications. DB2/400 supports ANSI SQL, DRDA, DAL CLI and ODBC. Also, DB2/400 is integrated into the hardware and operating system, not an add-on layer.

Advanced parallel technologies and query optimization make it possible to support vast data warehouses the storage capacity of the high-end AS/400 range is already up in the Terra-bytes!

AND FINALLY

The architecture of the IBM AS/400 makes it easy to upgrade disk, memory or processor, or add workstations, with minimal impact on applications. The AS/400's virtual machine insulates business application software from the underlying hardware - so you can start small but respond to success without having to rewrite applications or learn a new operating system. With the same operating system (OS/400), AS/400 boasts a 30x range in server capacity... and of course, you can grow your AS/400's across as well as up.

With 99.999% availability the AS/400 is consistently rated by independent consultants as the lowest cost-to-own platform for both host-centric and client-server applications, due to ease of use, scalability and advanced systems management capabilities.