This blog briefly covers debunking 7 myths about Cloud Hosting IBM i (iSeries, AS400) application.
With all the buzz about Cloud Hosting, there are several misconceptions.
I have been helping clients migrate to Cloud400 IBM i (iSeries, AS400) application Cloud Hosting for years. Many have shared with me their reasons to make the move, as well as their doubts and concerns. Let me highlight the most common reservations I hear and debunk some of the myths about IBM i Cloud Hosting.
Myth 1 – Cloud is just a fad.
Fact: While “cloud” as a term is new, the concepts and Cloud-essential IBM i virtualization and network technologies have been evolving for over three decades. Cloud computing continues to enjoy high adoption rates and investment. Multiple studies reveal enterprises adopting Cloud Hosting at an accelerated pace since 2015. My sense is that you see this, if not at your own organization, then certainly with those of your colleagues.
This is no fad. The outsourced IBM i expertise, cost-savings, expert infrastructure management, redundancy, agility and flexibility make Cloud computing services too compelling.
Myth 2 – Cloud Hosting is more expensive than an on premise server for my IBM i applications.
Fact: It all depends.
If you have an old AS400 that is paid for (may not even have maintenance or software support), are years behind in IBM i/OS400 upgrades, backup tapes go home in your car and you are just looking at your current costs (not including the time you may spend managing the server), Cloud Hosting will never be cheaper than that.
[By the way, if you fall in this category, be forewarned that I have seen unexpected downtime – from weather, fire, water damage, and even hardware failure – shut down an operation from weeks to months.]
On the other hand, if you are following best practices with IT infrastructure, backup, business continuity, consolidation and virtualization, and staying relatively current on software updates, Cloud Hosting is a very cost-effective operational expense.
When you add the IBM i expert support that augments your staff – particularly when your staff is small or your IBM i/OS400 talent is retiring – Cloud Hosting offers a big savings.
Further, when you consider Cloud Hosting also includes hosting at SSAE-18 certified enterprise-class data centers – a standard of security and redundancy that most users cannot justify investing for their on premise server – the overall savings is even more dramatic than just the total cost of an on premise server.
When comparing to the cost of an on premise server and related expenses, we have seen IBM i (iSeries/AS400) application hosting to be 30%-70% less expensive.
Myth 3 – My data won’t be safe in the Cloud.
Fact: Being able to “see and touch” your data on premise doesn’t make it safe. Stored data on premise has more inherent risk (fire, water damage, theft, tampering, temperature, storm, flooding, etc.) than Cloud Hosting. Cloud Hosting by reputable solution providers provide far more security, stability and redundancy. Cloud provides security from top to bottom; paying more attention to such issues as temperature control, around-the-clock monitoring, controlled and restricted access to files. Many Cloud providers have better security than most organizations because of the economies of scale of their business. Generally, these safety measures are way beyond what most clients can afford or implement.
According to Gartner: “To date, there have been very few security breaches in the public Cloud — most breaches continue to involve on premises data center environments. While Cloud providers should have to demonstrate their capabilities, once they have done so there is no reason to believe their offerings cannot be secure.”
It also helps that the IBM i object-oriented architecture is virus and malware resistant (there have been no reported disruptions for this technology from these common threats) as well as the built-in IBM i user profile Department-of-Defense security.
Myth 4 – The Cloud is not reliable.
Fact: No system has 100% uptime and neither does the Cloud. Given the scale, however, Cloud computing services are typically designed to provide high redundancy and availability. While this same level of redundancy/availability is possible to achieve on premise or with dedicated hosting, it’s generally cost prohibitive except for the most critical systems. The Cloud enables a higher level of reliability at a fraction of the cost.
Myth 5 – Cloud Hosting is not fast.
Fact: IBM i data transmission is miniscule compared to common web traffic. At most, each 5250 session transmits 2KB – in most cases far less. This means most clients use less bandwidth than 1/10 of a T1 line. In many cases, our clients see improved performance as they benefit from our newest, fastest IBM i POWER servers and storage virtualization that eliminates the I/O bottle-neck common with most POWER servers.
Myth 6 – Cloud is not for mission-critical use.
Fact: Cloud computing is not all or nothing. It is being adopted in steps and in specific cases. Therefore, it is not surprising that early use cases are mainly not for mission-critical systems, such as test and development. However, most of our clients host their mission-critical business workloads on our Cloud servers – from medical billing, distribution, manufacturing, pharmaceutical ERP, processing insurance claims and policies, tracking TV/Radio ad scheduling and payments, managing jet maintenance with 500 users 24 x 7, and a JD Edwards accounting for a national landscape company with 500+ employees in 19 locations.
Myth 7 – The big hosting companies like Google and Amazon can handle my environment.
Fact: Google and Amazon will not take the IBM i, iSeries or AS400 into their Clouds. In fact, most Cloud Hosting companies do not support IBM i. It’s a very unique niche market.
Even the very few that do support IBM i can be very expensive and may have very limited IBM i skill on staff so you will want to shop to get your best value. When you shop you will find a range prices for IBM i Cloud Hosting.
If You Enjoyed Reading This, You May Also Like Reading:
7 IBM iSeries/AS400 Cloud Hosting Misconceptions
4 Reasons Why IBM iSeries/AS400 Users Move To Cloud Hosting in 2018
Leave a Reply