Why Do “End of Life” IBM i (iSeries/AS400) Users Select Cloud Hosting?
This blog discusses considerations for those thinking about outsourcing “end of life” or “sunset” IBM i applications.
My partner and I were recently reviewing our hosted client base. We noted a growing trend of IBM i users moving to our IBM i hosting service as part of their “end of life” application strategy.
Our Go-Live Satisfaction Survey reveals common reasons why IBM i users pick hosting for “end of life” applications.
We want out of the hardware management business. Clients often tell us they want to get out of the hardware management business. They want to outsource their hardware management but still want expert IBM i support.
Sometimes they want to focus on their primary applications or implement new applications. Hardware management dilutes their resources.
Many clients have limited or no in-house IBM i expertise. Faced with aging support staff, retirement or inheriting applications from other departments, clients want a hosting service with IBM expertise to manage their server, backups and OS updates.
Cost Savings. IBM i clients commonly site cost savings as a major reason to move to hosting.
Savings vary depending on the server, related IBM hardware and software support options, data center costs, and peripheral services like offsite tape storage and disaster recovery options.
Clients note that hosting is generally 30%-70% less expensive than their on-premise server. The savings can translate from $5,000 – $50,000+ per year.
IBM i hosting provides the needed resources (CPU performance, RAM memory, storage and security) to run your applications. A safe, disaster-resistant data center with extra redundancy (SSAE-16) hosts our servers. We have expert staff with 28 years of IBM i experience. Hosting includes IBM hardware and software support, regular backups, software updates and a range of affordable disaster recovery options.
Support For A Range Of IBM OS. Clients come to us with a range of IBM i, i5/OS, and OS400.
We have experience from V3R1 to V7R2 – a far wider range of OS than most others that host.
We find clients are “locked in” to legacy versions of IBM i OS. Some cannot upgrade to newer OS levels because years of software modification make upgrading too expensive. Others cannot upgrade because of discontinued software support with their legacy software provider.
Whatever the reason, we have found ways to take care of these legacy OS challenges.
Operational Expense. Cloud hosting is an operational expense…not a capital expense.
Cloud hosting offers flexible terms which can be terminated at the clients convenience, if and when they are ready to pull the plug on their IBM i applications.
Convenience. Clients favor one key supplier to coordinate all the IBM i server management and support.
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