Agreed. Lots of companies have this 'call our sales department' strategy prior to giving you any information at all. That's always been a great way to lose my business, and indirectly the businesses for which we consult. But that's perfectly ok with me. If a company is not willing to list their prices up front then that's a good indication that they are not competitive.
Besides that, some of the atrocities that I've seen IBM and their partners commit are a good warning that you want to stay far away from them. Lest you be Watsonized and made dependent on marketing-masquerading-as-technology.
The last time I checked (which was quite a while ago) you could configure and price at least some categories of POWER servers on IBM's website much like you can with Dell or any other x86 vendor. The big difference though was in the amount of sticker shock when you see the bottom line price.
Besides that, some of the atrocities that I've seen IBM and their partners commit are a good warning that you want to stay far away from them. Lest you be Watsonized and made dependent on marketing-masquerading-as-technology.