IBM i remains a vital platform and now many CIOs, CTOs, and IT leaders are faced with the same IBM i challenges regardless of industry focus: how do you evaluate the future viability of this platform, assess the future fit and purpose, develop strategies, and determine the future of this platform for your organization?
Our Advice
Critical Insight
For organizations that are struggling with the iSeries/IBM i platform, resourcing challenges are typically the culprit. An aging population of RPG programmers and system administrators means organizations need to be more pro-active in maintaining in-house expertise. Migrating off the iSeries/IBM i platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to complexity, switching costs in the short term, and a higher long-term TCO.
Impact and Result
The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand their IBM i options and adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform retaining the application support/development in-house. To make the evident, obvious; the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. Options include co-location, onsite outsourcing, managed and public cloud services.
IBM i Migration Considerations
Don’t be overwhelmed by IBM i migration options.
Executive Summary
Your Challenge
IBM i remains a vital platform and now many CIO, CTO, and IT leaders are faced with the same IBM i challenges regardless of industry focus; how do you evaluate the future viability of this platform, assess the future fit and purpose, develop strategies, and determine the future of this platform for your organization?
Common Obstacles
For organizations that are struggling with the iSeries/IBM i platform, resourcing challenges are typically the culprit. An aging population of RPG programmers and system administrators means organizations need to be more proactive in maintaining in-house expertise. Migrating off the iSeries/IBM i platform is a difficult option for most organizations due to complexity, switching costs in the short term, and a higher long-term TCO.
Info-Tech Approach
The most common tactic is for the organization to better understand its IBM i options and adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house. To make the evident, obvious: the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. Options include co-location, onsite outsourcing, managed hosting, and public cloud services.
Info-Tech Insight
“For over twenty years, IBM was ‘king,’ dominating the large computer market. By the 1980s, the world had woken up to the fact that the IBM mainframe was expensive and difficult, taking a long time and a lot of work to get anything done. Eager for a new solution, tech professionals turned to the brave new concept of distributed systems for a more efficient alternative. On June 21, 1988, IBM announced the launch of the AS/400, their answer to distributed computing.” (Dale Perkins)
Review
We help IT leaders make the most of their IBM i environment.
Problem Statement:
The IBM i remains a vital platform for many businesses and continues to deliver exceptional reliability and performance and play a key role in the enterprise. With the limited resources at hand, CIOs and the like must continually review and understand their migration path with the same regard as any other distributed system roadmap.
This research is designed for:
- IT strategic direction decision makers
- IT managers responsible for an existing iSeries or IBM i platform
- Organizations evaluating platforms for mission-critical applications
This research will help you:
- Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
- Assess the fit, purpose, and price.
- Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
- Determine the future of this platform for your organization.
The “fit for purpose” plot
Thought ModelWe will investigate the aspect of different IBM i scenarios as they impact business, what that means, and how that can guide the questions that you are asking as you move to an aligned IBM i IT strategy. Our model considers:
Info-Tech InsightsWith multiple control points to be addressed, care must be taken in simplifying your options while addressing all concerns to ease operational load. |
IBM i environments are challenging
“The IBM i Reality” – Darin Stahl Most members relying on business applications/workloads running on non-commodity platforms (zSeries, IBM i, Solaris, AIX, etc.) are first motivated to get out from under the perceived higher costs for the hardware platform. An additional challenge for non-commodity platforms is that from an IT Operations Management perspective they become an island with a diminishing number of integrated operations skills and solutions such as backup/restore and monitoring tools. The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support and development in-house. | Key challenges with current IBM i environments:
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Understand your options
Co-Location A customer transitions their hardware environment to a provider’s data center. The provider can then manage the hardware and “system.” | Onsite Outsourcing A provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site. | Managed Hosting A customer transitions their legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted, multi-tenanted environment. | Public Cloud A customer can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings “re-host.” |
Co-Location
Provider manages the data center hardware environment.
Abstract Here a provider manages the system data center environment and hardware; however, the client’s in-house IBM i team manages the IBM i hardware environment and the system applications. The client manages all of the licenses associated with the platform as well as the hardware asset management considerations. This is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. This effectively outsources the data center management while maintaining all IBM i technical operations in-house. Advantages
| Considerations
Info-Tech InsightsThis model is extremely attractive for organizations looking to reduce their data center management footprint. Idea for the SMB. |
Onsite Sourcing
A provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site.
Abstract Here a provider will support and manage the hardware/system environment at the client’s site. The provider may acquire the customer’s hardware and provide software licenses. This could also include hiring or “rebadging” staff supporting the platform. This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models. Advantages
| Considerations
Info-Tech InsightsDepending on the application lifecycle and viability, in-house skill and technical depth is a key consideration when developing your IBM i strategy. |
Managed Hosting
Transition legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted multi-tenanted environment.
Abstract This type of arrangement is typically part of an application migration or transformation. In this model, a client can “re-platform” the application into an off-premises-hosted provider platform. This would yield many of the cloud benefits however in a different scaling capacity as experienced with commodity workloads (e.g. Windows, Linux) and the associated application. Advantages
| Considerations
Info-Tech InsightsThere is a difference between a “re-host” and “re-platform” migration strategy. Determine which solution aligns to the application requirements. |
Public Cloud
Leverage “public cloud” alternatives with AWS, Google, or Microsoft AZURE.
Abstract This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger migration or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models. In this model, client can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings “re-host.” This would yield many of the cloud benefits however in a different scaling capacity as experienced with commodity workloads (e.g. Windows, Linux). Advantages
| Considerations
Info-Tech InsightsThis model is extremely attractive for organizations that consume primarily cloud services and have a large remote workforce. |
Understand your vendors
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Info-Tech InsightsCreating vendor profiles will help quickly filter the solution providers that directly meet your IBM i needs. |
Vendor Profile #1 | Rowton IT | |
Summary of Vendor “Rowton IT thrive on creating robust and simple solutions to today's complex IT problems. We have a highly skilled and motivated workforce that will guarantee the right solution. Working with select business partners, we can offer competitive and cost effective packages tailored to suit your budget and/or business requirements. Our knowledge and experience cover vast areas of IT including technical design, provision and installation of hardware (Wintel and IBM Midrange), technical engineering services, support services, IT project management, application testing, documentation and training.” | IBM i Services
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URL Regional Coverage: |
Vendor Profile #2 | Connectria | |
Summary of Vendor “Every journey starts with a single step and for Connectria, that step happened to be with the world’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank. Followed quickly by our second client, IBM. Since then, we have added over 1,000 clients worldwide. For 25 years, each customer, large or small, has relied on Connectria to deliver on promises made to make it easy to do business with us through flexible terms, scalable solutions, and straightforward pricing. Join us on our journey.” | IBM i Services
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Regional Coverage: |
Vendor Profile #3 | Mid-Range | |
Summary of Vendor “Founded in 1988 and profitable throughout all of those 31 years, we have a solid track record of success. At Mid-Range, we use our expertise to assess your unique needs, in order to proactively develop the most effective IT solution for your requirements. Our full-service approach to technology and our diverse and in-depth industry expertise keep our clients coming back year after year. Serving clients across North America in a variety of industries, from small and emerging organizations to large, established enterprises – we’ve seen it all. Whether you need hardware or software solutions, disaster recovery and high availability, managed services or hosting or full ERP services with our JD Edwards offerings – we have the methods and expertise to help.” | IBM i Services
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URL Regional Coverage: |
Activity
Understand your vendor options
Activities:
- Create your vendor profiles
- Score vendor responses
- Develop and manage your vendor agenda
This activity involves the following participants:
- IT strategic direction decision makers
- IT managers responsible for an existing iSeries or IBM i platform
Outcomes of this step:
- Vendor Profile Template
- Completed IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool
Info-Tech Insights
This check-point process creates transparency around agreement costs with the business and gives the business an opportunity to re-evaluate its requirements for a potentially leaner agreement.
1. Create your vendor profiles
Define what you are looking for:
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Vendor Profile Template | [Vendor Name] | |
Summary of Vendor [Vendor Summary] | IBM i Services
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URL Regional Coverage: | *Insert the Vendor Logo* |
2. Score your vendor responses
Use the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to manage vendor responses. | |
Use Info-Tech’s IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to systematically score your vendor responses. The overall quality of the IBM i questions can help you understand what it might be like to work with the vendor. Consider the following questions:
Once you have the vendor responses, you will select two or three vendors to continue assessing in more depth leading to an eventual final selection. |
Info-Tech Insights
Watch out for misleading scores that result from poorly designed criteria weightings.
3. Develop your vendor agenda
Vendor Conference CallDevelop an agenda for the conference call. Here is a sample agenda:
Commonly Debated Question: Many organizations worry that if vendors can identify each other, they will price fix. However, price fixing is extremely rare due to its consequences and most vendors likely have a good idea which other vendors are participating in the bid. Another thought is that revealing vendors could either result in a higher level of competition or cause some vendors to give up:
| Vendor WorkshopA vendor workshop day is an interactive way to provide context to your vendors and to better understand the vendors’ offerings. The virtual or in-person interaction also offers a great way to understand what it’s like to work with each vendor and decide whether you could build a partnership with them in the long run. The main focus of the workshop is the vendors’ service solution presentation. Here is a sample agenda for a two-day workshop: Day 1
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Use the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Scoring Tool to manage vendor responses. |
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