IBM Debuts Client Option for Power Systems Virtual Server
IaaS offering lets users move workloads to the cloud with no re-platforming or re-factoring, alleviating cost and migration issues
IBM continues to expand and enhance its Power Systems Virtual Server (VS) capabilities, unveiling a client option designed to modernize, secure and automate business applications and IT operations in hybrid cloud, both on and off premises.
The latest PowerVS offering combines performance, scalability, flexibility and sustainability with top-notch reliability and security. It is a pay-as-you-go subscription model designed to specifically appeal to businesses with Power workloads seeking to quickly and seamlessly deploy new hybrid cloud services.
IBM Power Virtual Server is an IaaS offering with configurable multi-tenant virtual IBM Power servers that has been available since 2019. In a pre-briefing webinar with industry analysts in September, Doris Conti, VP of Power Systems, Product Management for IBM, said the newest IBM PowerVS IaaS solution makes it extremely easy and affordable for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to move their mission-critical workloads to public, private and hybrid cloud environments “without any re-platforming or re-factoring.”
The latest iteration of IBM PowerVS lets customers “maintain the high performance, reliability and security while modernizing at their own pace and matching their capacity needs for on- and off-premises deployments,” Conti said. “We’re alleviating cost, complexity and migration issues.”
SMBs get the benefits of hybrid cloud with a consistent experience, able to connect to their existing IBM Power server infrastructure, with their workload placed at a client site or IBM.
IaaS is a type of cloud computing service that offers essential compute, storage and networking resources on demand, on a pay-as-you-go basis similar to a grid computing or utility-based usage model.
PowerVS IaaS Features, Functions
The IaaS capabilities of the IBM PowerVS support IBM i and IBM AIX either at the client site or IBM and SAP RISE workloads in public clouds. The offerings also support mission-critical enterprise functions including:
- Optimized for the artificial intelligence (AI) journey: It can leverage pre-built AI services from IBM’s watsonx to consume AI faster. Watsonx is IBM’s commercial, customizable, cloud-based generative AI tool and scientific data platform.
- Enterprise-grade reliability and business continuity: Customers benefit from underlying Power architecture delivering enterprise-grade reliability/uptime and availability. IBM’s Power Systems server line offers the highest levels of uptime and availability among 18 different hardware platforms, according to Boston-based research firm ITIC Corporation’s 2024 Global Server Hardware and Server OS Reliability survey, which polled 1,900 organizations worldwide. The study found that 90% of IBM Power10 server (shipping since September 2021) enterprises achieved eight nines—99.999999%—of uptime. This is a nearly imperceptible 315 milliseconds of unplanned, per server, per annum outage time due to underlying system flaws or component failures.
- Critical security features: It features transparent memory encryption and advanced processor/system isolation, and in the future will support IBM’s leading-edge quantum cryptography. Additionally, the cloud solution provides automated, secure backup for AIX and Linux with IBM Storage Connect.
- Enterprise management: Businesses can check capacity and view all resources from a single view; they can also view consolidated billing to see exact monthly costs.
- Efficient, seamless migration: Setup and provisioning is accomplished in hours.
- Replication: SMBs can replicate IBM data across two PowerVS locations or two private cloud local zones.
Customers Choose Their Configuration
When an organization creates an IBM Power Virtual Server, they select a private or public location and define the network environment to enable a secure public network connection from the internet to the Power Virtual Server instance. IBM configures the workspace and makes it available for the client to create a virtual server instance and deploy workload. Connectivity is implemented with a VPN or a Direct Link Connect connection. The public network is protected by a firewall and supports SSH, HTTPS, Ping and IBM I 5250 terminal emulation with SSL (Port 992).
Whether at IBM or a client site, businesses have access to existing IBM Cloud resources, such as IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers, Kubernetes containers, and Cloud Object Storage. The private cloud option connects to the IBM Cloud account network and resources. This is required for operations management; all client data and workloads remain on the client site.
IBM PowerVS Private Cloud: DIY Flexible Consumption, No Upfront Cash
In an interview with TechChannel, IBM’s Conti emphasized that the PowerVS IaaS Public and Private cloud solutions provide “true cloud experiences” via a flexible and economical subscription pay-as-you-go consumption model.
The IaaS solutions are fully owned and operated by IBM, Conti said. IBM is removing the financial barriers to deployment for SMBs, which often lack the capital expenditure monies of their enterprise counterparts.
“Customers can try PowerVS for free with a $2,000 USD IBM Cloud credit, and try it on their own pilot workload to see which solution and options best suit their specific needs,” Conti said. “To move forward on either option, they can offset migration costs by leveraging funds from IBM or partners for the migration.”
While both options are fully metered with no upfront costs, customers who choose the private cloud option must make a three- or five-year commitment with an option for a one-year renewal. The at-client offering also requires companies to make a committed monthly spend, which they can calculate by using the estimator tool IBM provides.
Conti said the IBM PowerVS supports IBM i, AIX and SAP RISE workloads to reflect the reality that businesses run a mix of mission-critical environments. All IBM Power clients likely “have cloud in some form, and for their Power workload, they can choose a Power cloud with the same architecture, public or private cloud,” Conti said. “Over time, IBM anticipates that customers will deploy cloud in both environments.”
Currently, Conti said, IBM PowerVS offerings have “a lot of momentum.”
“We’ve got over 650 clients in production, provide HA and DR and the PowerVS group has seen double-digit revenue growth in the last several quarters,” Conti said.
Customers, Analysts Weigh In
Customers and industry analysts had a positive view of the latest IBM PowerVS solutions.
Richard Milione, co-founder and managing director of CNX Corporation, a Chicago-based firm which makes the Valence application developer platform, had high praise for IBM PowerVS, saying it “ticked all the boxes: for performance, reliability, security, ease of use, manageability at an extremely aggressive price point.”
CNX has deployed IBM PowerVS with the IBM i operating system to run its Valence enterprise application development platform for over a year out of IBM’s Power data center in Dallas. Milione extolled the system’s performance, reliability and security.
“We’ve had zero issues. The IBM PowerVS has a lot of built-in redundancy; it’s been super reliable, and that carries over to the cloud systems,” Milione said. “I can’t recall any systems failure that was not our own fault.”
CNX initially deployed PowerVS during the COVID pandemic when their employees were working from home, which necessitated a cloud-based solution. CNX required a private cloud that enabled them to “VPN in from anywhere” while delivering ease of deployment, manageability, security and the ability to try specific configurations in advance.
“IBM let us try everything in advance, which is unusual. I give them credit for the UI, which is extremely easy to configure. In the rare instances where I had a question, IBM technical support responded very quickly,” Milione said. This is crucial, since he also acts as a CNX IT administrator.
“The UI is intuitive and responsive, and the scalability is a total dream,” Milione said, noting he can easily add memory and disk units, and make most configuration changes on the fly without having to take the servers offline. “It’s super easy. Everything just works.”
Milione said CNX found the cost of the IBM PowerVS “shockingly affordable.”
“We paid nothing up front. We were able to view the monthly subscription costs right on the screen as we configured the various elements of our deployment,” Milione said. “We got up and running right away.”
Milione also rated IBM PowerVS security as “excellent,” stating that IBM security is “the closest thing to foolproof.”
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, a Bend, Oregon-based advisory firm focused on hardware infrastructure, cloud and AI, gave a thumbs-up to IBM’s latest PowerVS initiative, praising its performance and security.
“This is an excellent move on IBM’s part to fortify the cloud-based IaaS and on-premises and off-premises datacenter features of IBM PowerVS for SMBs and midsized users,” Enderle said.
He noted that this type of initiative is “exactly what IBM needs to do” to retain its customer base and appeal to new customers. Enderle also praised IBM for its economical, no up-front purchasing cost model.
“Smaller organizations are often short on capital funds for new equipment purchases. The flexible ‘try before you buy’ and ‘pay as you go’ pricing model IBM has is very appealing to prospective customers,” Enderle said. “The Power servers are one of the greatest, under-appreciated values in terms of cost, performance and security in the industry.”
He added, “IBM Power servers deliver indisputably superior performance, scalability and security at a very economical price point.”