IBM i cloud migration makes sense for many reasons and offers numerous benefits for organisations seeking the reliability, availability, security and cost-effectiveness that the cloud has to offer.
Fortunately, there has never been a better time to consider migrating your systems, valuable data and apps to the cloud. It’s important to keep in mind that the cloud hosting provider you select will make all the difference as you embrace cloud technology and its many advantages. But how do you select a hosting company, and what should you consider when choosing a qualified cloud service provider?
Among the attributes to keep in mind regarding a cloud hosting provider, the following are perhaps the most important:
1. Availability and Reliability
- Cloud IBM Power Systems hardware resides in secure, hardened data centres
- Cloud data centres provide redundant and fault-tolerant systems for power, HVAC, fire suppression, telecommunications lines and 24×7 security
- Data centre availability is also high, from 99.99% to 100% uptime guaranteed
- In addition to the data centre itself, service providers should also provide redundant infrastructure, clustered firewalls and switches, and standby recovery systems with a guaranteed SLA
2. Security and Compliance
- Cloud providers will satisfy all physical audit compliance requirements concerning the environment hosting your IBM i
- Cloud security, reliability, governance and availability capabilities exceed what most companies can provide on-premises
- Additional security services such as periodic risk assessment and security applications can be installed on your IBM i to ensure continuous protection. These capabilities should satisfy physical infrastructure security and compliance requirements for auditors and insurance companies.
3. Lower Data Centre Operating Costs
- Data centre costs shrink or disappear when migrating IBM i systems to the cloud.
- Organisations have already migrated many applications to cloud environments, including migrating email to Office 365, personal directories to OneDrive and Microsoft applications to Azure. Other businesses still host multiple Microsoft servers on-premises along with IBM i, AIX and Linux servers on Power hardware.
- If you are renting rack space at a co-location facility to house IBM Power Systems, you may be able to eliminate or repurpose that space. Savings may be doubled if you are also running a target IBM i high-availability server and migrate your HA setup to the cloud.
4. Transforming Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) into Operating Expenses (OPEX)
- A capital expenditure occurs when your business buys or leases an IBM Power System and associated software. After purchase, the business can only deduct a portion of its depreciated investment each year.
- IBM Power Systems and support have a limited lifespan. Many organisations outgrow their Power hardware in three to five years, triggering an upgrade and another CAPEX approval process.
- If you lease Power hardware, you must renegotiate the lease when it expires. This upgrade cycle is expensive and capital-intensive.
- IBM frequently offers one to three years of IBM hardware and software maintenance when acquiring a new machine. After expiry, organisations must buy extended hardware and software maintenance or lose support. Because older machines are more expensive to maintain, the longer you keep an IBM Power System, the more costly maintenance becomes.
- When moving IBM i servers to the cloud, your provider receives a monthly fee for using their hardware and IBM i software. Your former CAPEX expenditure transforms into an operating expense (OPEX) that can be deducted from the bottom line every year it’s incurred. You no longer need approval for upgrades or maintenance, as the vendor upgrades and maintains the host machine and operating system for you.
5. Service Management and Admin Support
- IBM i cloud providers can also provide system management and administration services
- Companies face retiring staff and challenges finding replacements
- Often the system administrator role is secondary, and they have other functions within the company
- Support for advanced configuration and performance tuning
Ready to embrace the cloud with a proven, respected IBM i cloud hosting provider? A CloudFirst representative can introduce you to the benefits of the cloud, work with you to determine your specific needs with a risk-free assessment and show you how migrating your data to the cloud can make a difference in managing and protecting your critical data and apps. Contact CloudFirst today.