Seems like IBM has just redefined the word complexity
First, its interesting to make such a misleading statement as "IBM still derives the bulk of its prestige and profits from systems" but then again, perception drives reality .
Has anyone looked at IBM's latest Financial reports? http://www.ibm.com/annualreport/2011/bin/assets/2011_ibm_annual.pdf
>60% of IBM's annual revenue is derived from selling services and is growing rapidly every quarter while Systems and Technology is just ~18% of IBM's revenue stream. IBM's business goal is to sell services where the software and "technology" will drive more services.
So clearly this announcement isn't about better technologies to make it easier, less complex for data centers, otherwise, these customers wouldn’t need any of those expensive (IBM) services. Too much choice, too much flexibility, too many options only increases complexity. It’s the IBM Trojan Horse. After all, the code name of this project "Project Troy" is quite meaningful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse
So although, these new PureSystems sound "great on paper", the reality is, you're gonna pay for IBM services to get these systems installed, working and running. Otherwise, IBMs IGS would be impacted.