How many as/400, iSeries, and i5 boxes are in use in the world? The quick answer, coming from IBM, is about 400,000. IBM isn't 100 percent confident in those numbers, but they aren't so bad when you consider the age of the brand, not to mention the backward compatibility. The "in use" portion of the question is tricky. It's like asking Ford Motor Company how many F-Series pickups are in use today. So what if you learn that Ford has more 1996 units still working than the competition? What does that really get you? Does it bode well for industry health? Maybe this is a better question: How many iSeries customers are actively (as opposed to passively) using the iSeries? IBM's former iSeries marketing vice president Cecelia Marrese (Peter Bingaman is her successor) mentioned at the Town Hall meeting at COMMON in Toronto last fall that IBM had approximately 250,000 AS/400-iSeries customers, 80 percent of whom IBM thought were dormant. By dormant, Ms. Marrese meant those customers hadn t upgraded or done anything noticeable to IBM relating to their AS/400s for five years or so.
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