Which says it is the top distributor of Flex-ES based emulated mainframes, is getting ready to offer a plug-compatible system. The machine, which it calls Liberty, is based on software and firmware from (see our).
T3 Liberty
Platform Solutions firmware and software, HP Itanium hardware
So far, T3 hasn't gone public with its plans, but it has circulated a in which the IBM Business Partner describes itself as "the other mainframe company." Officially, neither T3 nor Platform Solutions seems to be talking about their relationship, which is just as well. T3 bills the machine as a PCM offering built on HP Itanium hardware, which is one way to look at things, while Platform Solutions says its position is that whatever it makes using its code is a PSI machine, regardless of whose hardware is inside the box. A third interpretation may emerge if a deal between EDS and Fujitsu goes ahead. As we understand it, EDS wants to offer Platform Solutions' software and firmware running on Fujitsu Itanium servers as the equipment in its services deals.
To make matters more complicated, T3 seems to be saying it will not only offer the product in its American home market, but also in the EU from offices in the UK, Germany, and Italy. The machine is built to run on 200-240 volts and 50-60 Hz current, so it can work more or less anywhere.
For now, T3 is not talking about MIPS, but the photo it offers suggests a machine with modest power, a box that may overlap its Flex-ES line on the low end and small IBM mainframes on the high end. Our guess is that the four-way Itanium server pictured in the promotional material will yield something like 200 MIPS while running in mainframe mufti. Platform Solutions wants to sell small boxes as well as larger machines directly, providing servers that may range from under 100 MIPS to 2,000 MIPS and possibly higher.
But it all remains kind of iffy. PSI is still perfecting its 64-bit mainframe functionality and has only put boxes that provide 31-bit addressing into field tests. IBM is saying nothing about whether it will let PSI users license its software under general commercial terms, as it did in the case of other plug-compatible vendors. And, with the exception of L. L. Bean, none of the end users who have been testing PSI systems wants to talk about the machine or the deals with IBM under which software has been licensed.
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