The new operating system for the System i5 line is the i5/OS V5R4 (Version 5, Release 4), the first operating system upgrade since June 2004. The system, software and new hardware will be available Feb. 14, and iSeries users can upgrade to the new release under their maintenance contracts, said Jim Herring, director of product management and business operations for the iSeries. The System i5 will use IBM's Power5+ dual-core processor, which according to IBM delivers up to a 33 percent increase in performance over current Power5-based iSeries models.

The improvements are just a small part of efforts by IBM to burnish the system's luster. Over the past year, IBM embarked on its iSeries Initiative for Innovation to modernize and expand applications for the platform, as well as improve its marketing with television advertisements.

"From my perspective, I see they [IBM] are doing work," said Trevor McCullough, an information systems project leader at Saint Laurent, Quebec-based footwear maker Genfoot Inc., which uses two iSeries systems. McCullough said IBM has been continuously adding applications the system, which Genfoot remains committed to.

What it needs to do now, he said, is win over people on different systems by keeping prices in check. The biggest iSeries hurdle comes from pricing competition from Wintel boxes, he said. "They still have to address the pricing issues," said McCullough.

Last February, IBM announced a program to provide its iSeries partners with tools to modernize iSeries applications to replace, for instance, a green-screen interface with a Web front-end. Since starting that effort, IBM said nearly 600 applications have been updated, and another 500 new applications have been added. There are now more than 6,400 applications for this system.