Archive: July, 2006

IBM enjoys rebranding products to keep them relevant and current to the user population. For anyone who is yet to ‘catch up’ the following is a quick summary of some products that share ‘dual personalities’. System 390 = zSeries = System z (Mainframe) AS/400 = iSeries = System i (Midrange OS/400) RS/6000 = pSeries = [...]

Pricing does NOT include the following: GST Delivery Installation Plain English Terms and Conditions Apply. Subject to prior sale. Call us on 1800 777 111 and quote “IBM Specials” for more information on the following items. IBM Servers IBM 7025-F80 2w450MHz, 2GB, 6x18GB disk, RAID adapter, 12/24GB tape $7,800 IBM 7038-6M2 pSeries 650 4w1.45GHz, 8GB, [...]

Pricing does NOT include the following: GST Delivery Installation Plain English Terms and Conditions Apply. Subject to prior sale. Call us on 1800 777 111 and quote “Sun Specials” for more information on the following items. Sun Servers (0x0x0) Sun Fire 15K $45,000 Sun Fire 6800 $15,500 Sun Fire 4800 $8,850 Sun Fire 3800 $6,500 [...]

At Computer Merchants we are often asked where our second hand equipment comes from and how old it is. These may seem like important questions but the most important question is really “Will I be able to put the equipment under maintenance cover with my maintenance supplier?” This is important because once it is covered [...]

Our Mission Statement Delivering great personalized service since 1979 - our people, values and systems guarantee you are happy with the end result.  Since 1979 You’ve told us that it’s important to you that you feel safe in dealing with a company that is going to be around for a long time. Since 1979 many of [...]

One size fits all – yes, so long as you’re all the same size! Have you been caught before buying a product that has all the bells and whistles even though you only need some of the functions or features that it offers? Maybe you paid a premium price for the item because those functions [...]

We all know how daunting it feels when we need to upgrade to a bigger box or add a something to your existing hardware. At the moment it’s working OK. You’ve had no problems since last time the power went out, unless of course you’re lucky enough to have a generator… But you can see [...]

With increasingly shared hardware between iSeries and pSeries machines many of you are asking questions about how to compare performance. IBM System p Traditionally, IBM Unix used the ROLTP to compare performance. Due to huge performance increases in recent years, the ROLTP has been replaced with rPerf’s, where 1 rPerf = ~ 25 ROLTP Remember though, [...]

Restriction Of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is the restriction of hazardous substance materials found inelectrical and electronic products. The EU wants to restrict the use of six substances and the restriction will come into the market from 1st July 2006. The 6 hazardous substances: Lead (Pb) Hexavalent chromium (Cr +6) Mercury (Hg) PolyBrominated Biphenyl (PBB) Cadmium (Cd) [...]

Wasn’t it a great catwalk model that was once quoted as saying “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000″. It sometimes seems as if this is the case for many IT companies who will bend over backwards if it looks as if a big deal is on the table, but at other [...]

Batteries on Sun StorEdge A1000, A3500 and T3 Storage arrays When a battery has failed or when a battery has reached its “Life Span” and requires replacement as per the maintenance schedule, it is very important that you reset the “Battery Age”. If you don’t reset the “Battery Age”, your system may continue to report [...]

I just received my USED machine - who will unpack it? Over the years, Computer Merchants have worked closely with freight company Hi-Tech Express to ensure that your equipment is handled with the highest care. If you’ve received a machine from us lately, you may have noticed we are using a new kind of carton called a [...]

You might be wondering how filling in our Customer Satisfaction Survey will benefit you now and in the long run. Well, these surveys are a great way to tell us how you really feel about the way Computer Merchants operates. This ensures we provide, and continue to meet and exceed your expectations. What happens to the surveys? Your surveys [...]

You might wonder what a telescopic box is and why it would be of any interest to you. Let us tell you! As you would know it is essential that all equipment is packed well. Poor packing can lead to your equipment being damaged and that can be a nuisance in terms of the extra [...]

What Is Orphan Data? (and why you need to know about it) Orphan data is the data that is created after your last back-up. If you experience an outage on your IBM iSeries system, then this data will be lost because it has not been backed up to tape. The questions you should now ask yourself [...]

Are you sick of getting spam email like we were? Computer Merchants had a time when some people were receiving 200 unwanted emails every morning. Valuable time was being spent wading through them to find the emails that were relevant. In one case we had accidentally deleted an email from a customer. Does this sound [...]

Pricing does NOT include the following: GST Delivery Installation Plain English Terms and Conditions Apply. Subject to prior sale. Call us on 1800 777 111 and quote “IBM Specials” for more information on the following items. IBM Systems IBM 9406-800-2463-7400 OS V5R2 CPW 24/300 CPW Tier: P05 2GB Memory 140GB Disk 30/60QIC Tape Raid, DVD-ROM, [...]

Still in System 36 Mode? Do you still run in System 36 mode and plan to upgrade to a newer machine “sometime”? If so, here is a very important piece of information you need to be aware of… S/36 and S/38 Migration (OS/400 Option 4) and S/36 Migration Assistant (OS/400 Option 11) have both been [...]

Just like we keep up to date with the maintenance of our home with items like insurance and rates etc, it’s also important to remember to do the same with your IT infrastructure. Here’s a short checklist you might want to go through to check that you’ve got your house in order. Software Is your [...]

When you purchase a second-hand IBM iSeries server from Computer Merchants, you can be confident that you receive it ready to turn on and start loading your data right away. The key steps we take when preparing an iSeries machine for you First of all the disks are initialized. Licensed Internal Codes (LIC’s) are loaded. OS/400 [...]

We are often asked the question: “How long will my Hardware and Software be supported with IBM?” As we have recently seen, the models 170, 250, 7xx and earlier members of the iSeries or AS/400 family have been taken off support for V5R4. That is, V5R3 is the last version of operating system that is [...]

At Computer Merchants, we take your business seriously The first line of our Plain English Sale Terms and Conditions states: “To guarantee you are happy with the end result.” In practice this means all efforts are focused on ensuring all delivery and installation activities happen in the right order and are performed to your satisfaction. [...]

That’s a question we often get asked here at Computer Merchants. The answer of course depends on: where you are, what you’re after and what we have in stock at the time. There have been many times when we’ve helped a customer get out of a sticky situation. Here’s a recent example involving an Auckland [...]