DataPower: No more XG45, XI52, XB62 and XI50B

You read it correctly folks, as of November 21st, 2014, there will be no more DataPower Service Gateway XG45, no more DataPower Integration Appliance XI52, and no more DataPower B2B Appliance XB62. No reason to be scared though, even with that scary headline I put on purpose (I am sorry about that).

As usual, every October IBM releases some news regarding the next firmware version that becomes available every November. This time IBM announced the firmware version 7.1 and with it, its intention to unify the family of appliances into a single product, the IBM DataPower Gateway.

The IBM DataPower Gateway will come equipped with the same functions the current XG45 comes with. If advanced functions are needed, such as B2B features available only on the current XB62, a software module can be installed to satisfy the requirement.

This is actually good news for companies that already have XG45 and/or XI52 appliances and were planning to acquire more appliances to support B2B functions. With the version 7.1, it will now be possible to install the new software module on the current appliances and take advantage of the B2B functions previously available only on the XB62 appliances.

The DataPower family of appliances is downsizing again, in both models and colors (remember the good times?). From the green XA35, the yellow XS40, the blue XI50, the purple XB60, and the silver XM70, passing through the XG45, XI52, XB62, all black, to only one Gateway Appliance now (color TBD, but I can bet it will be black as well). In spite of that, no feature was left behind, every thing that could be done a few years back can still be done on the current offerings, and that is what really matters for us, DataPower lovers.

Please refer to the official IBM Announcement describing the new offerings in details.