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At the end of the day, replacing the IMSB as preventative maintenance is just like buying insurance against a catastrophic (and really expensive) engine failure). And just like insurance, the different types of replacement options provide car Boxster owners with different levels of insurance they can buy.
Replacing the stock bearing with another stock bearing is the lowest level in that one is only offsetting aging of the original part. It's like changing oil at factory specified intervals.
The Pelican replacement bearing provides better protection because it is a relatively low cost beefed up alternative that presumably will last longer than the stock part.
The IMS Retrofit is the next higher level of insurance - much higher IMHO - against total engine destruction with its ceramic bearings and other improvements that last much longer than the stock bearing.
The IMS Solution is the highest level of protection for the following reason. If the flat design fails, no bearing debris is spread throughout the engine. Moreover, the timing chains don't jump sprockets, which would lead to pistons and valves banging into each other. It's the one option that eliminates one of the possible causes of catastrophic engine failure.
The way I see it is that each owner can decide what level of insurance he or she want to buy. It ranges from doing nothing to installing the IMS Solution. The distinctions are real; they are not band aids by any stretch of the imagination.
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