Levelling Up from Legacy IBM Power Systems (An EOS Guide)
Time to read: 10 mins
Aging hardware is no small matter in the wider context of a technology roadmap. Unavoidable, costly, and challenging – transitioning from legacy Power Systems can be, technically, very taxing, but with expert insight and guidance, there are still options.
Imagine your organisation has relied on the trusted IBM Power Systems platform for years. As your business grows and evolves, you may face challenges with outdated, or aging, systems. If you’re using older systems, like certain models of IBM POWER9 or earlier, you risk running into issues where maintenance and support become harder to access. This can lead to bigger problems, such as security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, or delays in fixing system failures. When End of Support (EOS) becomes a barrier, the key question is: what’s the next step?
IBM Power Systems users seldom suffer buyer’s remorse because the platform has made a name for reliability. But EOS is unavoidable across all platforms – for EOS Power users the headache of knowing what action to next can be easier than you think. If you have workloads running on IBM POWER9, or earlier (especially on POWER8, POWER7, POWER6, or even POWER5), this EOS guide will help you navigate critical next steps in understanding support options from the market.
If you’re an IBM Power Systems user running one of the following, it maybe time to explore your upgrade options.
- IBM POWER9
- IBM POWER8
- IBM POWER7
- IBM POWER6
- IBM POWER5
Why Modernisation Matters
Modernisation is often about market competitiveness and relevance. For modernised organisations, offboarding outdated hardware is a matter of strategy and should be reflected – in consultation – in your IT roadmap.
Technology refreshes, for example, are the ideal guises for sunsetting aging tin, setting the floor for the next few years with AI-ready, resilient, and agile infrastructure. Artificial intelligence and operational resilience are, our experts suggest, the bookends for the next few years. Your infrastructure will need to be answerable to data-hungry AI projects, resilient, protecting data in all kinds of ways, and resistant to disruptions.
IBM Power Systems, which can meet even the most demanding, performance intensive objectives, is part of what we call, ‘Modernisable’ IT. That means placing the likes of integrated analytics and machine learning for superior performance at your fingertips.
An at-a-glance checklist for modernisation (in-line with infrastructural needs) reveals the top four pitfalls – and the consequences when you operate legacy IT:
- Performance Bottlenecks: Aging hardware can lead to performance degradation, impacting business operations.
- Security Risks: Outdated systems are more vulnerable to cyber threats, putting your sensitive data at risk.
- Vendor Support: EOS systems are no longer receive critical security patches and updates.
- Future-Proofing: Modernisation ensures your infrastructure can adapt to evolving business needs.
EOS IBM Power Systems Options
As captured here, select models of IBM POWER9 Systems are going End of Standard Service, which has, for many, started conversations about avoiding challenges with legacy IT. It means, for those organisations running on IBM POWER9, there has never been a more urgent time to discuss migration plans. Regardless of the model, if EOS is announced, an upgrade is the recommended option.
Upgrading EOS IBM Power Systems
Back in 2023, the sunsetting of IBM POWER8 triggered many businesses to weigh up their options, where we cautioned extended support with third-parties. Systems with withdrawn support means limited upgradability for your hardware in the near future. In any EOS conversation, the most effective option is to migrate to an IBM Power 10 platform.
Don’t Assume Upgrading Is Always Easy
When a system falls outside of support and service windows, missing the deadline to migrate over to a new model, it can become a challenge. A POWER7 user running, for example, outdated AIX versions, will struggle to source future support if they should suffer unexpected downtime or IT failure.
Long story short: it can become risky to migrate away from an EOS IBM Power System.
That’s why CSI’s technical experts recommend, in the first instance, planning IBM Power Systems migrations with care.
‘Upgrade planning’ workshops, from experience, have helped businesses strategically map out future upgrades in line with both their roadmaps and the latest, cutting-edge IBM technology.
“If EOS is announced, an upgrade is the recommended option.”
There’s still time to act if you are currently running critical workloads on a POWER8 system. The window has slimmed down on upgradability for POWER9 with IBM Power 10 being the best natural predecessor for any AI-hungry, high-performance workloads.
When Should I Upgrade EOS IBM Power Systems?
If facing imminent EOS – an announcement officially released by IBM – then it may be time to consider retiring aging IBM Power Systems hardware. Take this time to consider key factors, like performance, compliance, and risk management – and, critically, upgradability into the near future.
The best option is to proactively plan a migration away from outdated hardware – and stay, where possible, within the officially advised timelines to upgrade to new systems. Conventionally, IBM will advise its user base, from the moment of an EOS statement, that there’s limited time to migrate (this can be inside a year, or slightly greater). One popular option to avoid missing those deadlines is to talk with an MSP (… did you know IBM Platinum Partners are market favourites for this kind of recommendation?) and map out deadlines to help execute a migration and focus on updating infrastructure to be future-ready.
CSI’s Lead System Architect – IBM Power Systems, Mike Leigh, mentions how this kind of conversation, around EOS IBM Power Systems, is more common than you might think. Here’s how EOS can become a headache for your IT department.
He mentions how:
‘Operating EOS kit can sometimes feel like living on a remote island. Once hardware sunsets, the sinking feeling around what should I do next creates more challenges, more space for error, more line items against your budget. It’s a kind of stranding, where offboarding EOS becomes harder the more aged the hardware – becomes harder to migrate seamlessly into a new model. There’s a valuable lesson in how quickly EOS hardware, like a lonely island, starts to feel removed from the rest of your roadmap.’
It is key to tackle EOS initiatives with strategy and the right frame of mind. He continues to observe:
‘When it comes to your IBM Power Systems infrastructure, we often see that the system’s reliability mask necessary upgrade opportunities. There is a solution, but it requires a lot of technical advice and time to move away from old hardware. It’s best to plan ahead and talk to the right people at the right times.’
Why AI Might Change Your Mind About Infrastructure
Given the interest in AI adoption in the current market, the attention and interest in artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch, which will eventually spread and influence your IT decisions on a regular (at least yearly) basis.
AI is popular for a wide range of reasons, including:
- The pressure to innovate
- The possibility of automating mundane, time-consuming manual tasks
- The drive to create operational efficiencies
- The cost benefits
Stepping back for a moment, the great ‘AI race’ of 2024 has many decision makers rethinking the art of the possible with their most critical IT platforms. AI is data-hungry, requires compliance, and a strategy to execute properly. Failing that, AI projects will inevitably struggle to produce ROI – let alone wider operational adoption. Market research even suggests that at least 80% of AI projects will fail – or have been unsuccessful – in recent years. This is almost double the fail-rate of any other IT project in modern business.
Infrastructure is a critical first step in AI adoption.
Did you know… IBM Power Systems are renowned for productivity gains, managing exacting workloads, and handling hybrid cloud and AI projects?
One study concluded how clients running hybrid IT infrastructure delivered up to 3x higher ROI across five years (from digital transformation projects) when compared with those who did not. The bottom line: infrastructure can make the difference to how successfully you deploy AI projects, or even to your ROI.
If AI is on your mind, you might find it helpful to understand why partnering with a UK MSP is a great first step to adoption – the UK is emerging as a hub for this kind of technical innovation. Read the full story here.
Not only will a migration avoid the common headaches with EOS systems, but your new risk-free, fully support system is AI-ready!
Start Planning for IBM Power Systems EOS
IBM Power Systems are market-leading, in constant innovation and it’s a platform renowned for supporting some of the world’s most exacting workloads. But facing EOS can be challenging, especially if the support windows have been withdrawn. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for migrating EOS hardware, which is why we offer no-obligation conversations about IBM Power Systems and strategic upgradability mapping sessions.
If you are thinking about upgrading from a now–outdated IBM Power System, you can move to IBM Power10 in the CSI PowerCloud. Not only is this option opex-based, but CSI’s services are fully managed, including maintenance and patching – even backups and DR. With our trusted IBM Power Managed Services, you can avoid a skill shortage issue and release your headcount from the burden of daily operations (which means no tying up scarce capex!)
Whether you want to discuss troubleshooting EOS-related issues, software support (AIX or IBM i legacy versions creating a headache?), or upgrades, we can help. CSI work with clients all over the world to ensure they operate high-performant and effective IBM Power Systems.
Talk to an expert today.
About the author
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