I'm not sure what the exact program number is in Germany. Here, my customers order either:
5769-AS3 WebSphere Standard Edition (this is free on the iSeries),
or 5769-WA3 WebSphere Advanced Edition (this is now $10,000 US).
You need the advanced edition basically for:
1. Enterprise Java Beans applications (EJBs).
2. Scalable and / or distributed WebSphere installs.
Which version do you need?
Unless you are using EJBs, users typically use a front end iSeries Web server running WebSphere, communicating with their production server (with applications and data).
Whether you upgrade your current iSeries to run Web applications with WebSphere, or put WebSphere on a separate one requires engineering review based on your specific situation.
Do NOT automatically assume your existing iSeries processor and memory are enough to run production versions of WebSphere applications!
Another advantage of using a separate iSeries for WebSphere; you can configure it as a 'current' level system (V4R5 or later) with all the right PTFs without affecting your production server (If it needs to remain back level--a requirement some customers have). Doing this on 1 box with 2 versions of the OS (1 for WebSphere and 1 for your production system) would require an LPAR setup.
This was first published in March 2001