Our last blog discussed the risks of running IBM Power Systems past end-of-life, including: security and operating system and legal and regulatory risks, violation of customer service level agreements (SLAs), and loss of support by IBM. Although there are a few options when a system reaches end of life, the most efficient and forward-thinking strategy is cloud migration.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why to move your IBM Power workload to the cloud:
Future proofing your IBM Power setups – Since you are running on vendor equipment, the cloud provider not your organization, will arrange for hardware and operating system upgrades and fixes. You only need to worry about your applications.
Paying only for the IBM Power capabilities you need. We had noted that IBM Power shops frequently buy extra hardware to account for future growth. Running in the cloud, shops can contract for the CPU, disk, and memory you need now, instead of what you need three years from now. When growth occurs, you can contact your cloud provider and expand your partitions with additional resources, far more quickly than you can if you own the hardware. You only pay for the hardware you need.
Lower local Data Center costs – When you move your IBM Power application environment to the cloud, you also remove any local Data Center costs associated with your Power system from your environment. Here are some of the functions you no longer have to support locally in your corporate Data Center, because they will be provided by your cloud provider.
- Tape or other media backup units
- Site-to-site VPNs or MPLS networks dedicated to connecting remote sites to your IBM Power partitions. Remote users will now access your partitions through regular Internet lines.
- Backup Universal Power Supplies (UPS’s) or power generation capability dedicated to your IBM Power system.
- Climate control costs, such as air conditioning
- Security costs, including required security for regulatory agencies and network equipment needed to protect your hardware
- Telecommunication costs involved to remote access your IBM Power hardware
Lower personnel and consultant costs – When you host IBM Power systems in the cloud, you need fewer people on site to manage your IBM Power partitions and the networking and security surrounding those partitions.
Easier to provide access for remote locations – New locations added through acquisition or expansion can more easily reach your Power systems through the Internet, rather than having to provide an MPLS spoke and hub network, ethernet lines, or other dedicated telecommunications line for connectivity.
Cloud-based IT Recovery Services – Cloud-based backup, disaster recovery, and high availability services are available from cloud service providers, as a monthly service. Because cloud IT recovery is divorced from owning the individual hardware, companies can move their backup, disaster recovery, and high availability scenarios away from company-owned equipment and perform all their IT recovery services off-site.
Turning capital costs into operating expenses – Running IBM Power systems in the cloud changes your machine costs from a capital expense that must be renegotiated every few years to an operating expense that can be budgeted month to month. Organizations eliminate the capital allocation process and no longer have to finance or buy new equipment every time a machine upgrade is needed.
Easier to handle system outages for maintenance – The vendor handles all hardware maintenance and may even be able to keep your Power system partitions running during a system outage. During hardware upgrades, your cloud vendor can usually switch your IBM i, Linux, or AIX partitions to another machine while the hardware is upgraded.
Partner with CloudFirst
It’s beneficial to bring in a trusted partner who can objectively look at your IBM i operating system and Power hardware and assess your EOL situation. CloudFirst is an experienced consultant who can identify the risks associated with using EOL products, recommend solutions, and help set up an ongoing end of life management strategy.
Questions about your particular end-of-life infrastructure exposure? Contact the experienced IT management and end-of-life consultants at CloudFirst.
