IBM Cloud Pak® for Applications (CP4Apps) is an end-to-end hybrid cloud application platform, providing flexibility for deployments, building new cloud-native applications, refactoring and re-platforming existing applications. Designed to leverage a collection of application runtimes, modernization tools and a Kubernetes container platform to adapt to their landscape needs.
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GraalVM
Score 9.1 out of 10
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GraalVM is a universal virtual machine for running applications written in JavaScript, Python, Ruby, R, JVM-based languages like Java, Scala, Groovy, Kotlin, Clojure, and LLVM-based languages such as C and C++.
GraalVM removes the isolation between programming languages and enables interoperability in a shared runtime. It can run either standalone or in the context of OpenJDK, Node.js or Oracle Database.
Oracle's GraalVM Enterprise is a multilingual virtual machine, which Oracle states…
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Pricing
IBM Cloud Pak for Applications
GraalVM
Editions & Modules
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No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM Cloud Pak for Applications
GraalVM
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Optional
Additional Details
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GraalVM Enterprise is an entitlement with Java SE Subscription at no additional cost.
IBM Cloud Pak for Applications is clearly suitable for modernizing the WebSphere runtime from the heavy, complex and expensive WAS-ND, and to a lesser extent WAS-base, to the super simple, fast and lightweight WebSphere Liberty runtime. I guarantee, once you start using Liberty you'll never look back. Enough cannot be said about how awesome Transformation Advisor is. The output analysis it produces, along with the migration plan and associated artifacts, considerably simplifies both the decision-making process surrounding modernization and subsequent implementation. Without TA we would've made bad decisions by blindly picking unsuitable apps for moving from WAS to Liberty. Using the results from TA we've excluded multiple WAS apps from our immediate plans to migrate to Liberty, saving time and effort that probably would have resulted in a failed migration. We recently used Transformation Advisor to help us successfully migrate an app from Tomcat to WebSphere Liberty. We needed to make some changes to the Tomcat app, but TA helped highlight these required changes. Without TA I'm not sure we would have succeeded.
Its well fit for the environment where applications are written in programming languages supported by GraalVM. It's [a] very powerful and reliable, high-performer Java Virtual Machine that provides the Java Development kit i.e JDK that has the ability to compile the Java apps ahead of time. Maintenance of this tool is simple and it [increases] the efficiency of the product since it requires few resources.
While the licensing is considerably simplified than it used to be, I still find it somewhat confusing. For example, WebSphere Liberty Core has an 8:1 VPC ratio. This is clear when dealing with VMs but it is still not clear to me as to whether we get an 8:1 ratio when running on OpenShift or whether we need to purchase additional OpenShift licenses to support running WebSphere Liberty Core in OpenShift.
Not so much related to IBM Cloud Pak for Applications, but while Transformation Advisor is an indispensable tool to help modernize to the WebSphere Liberty runtime, I wish we could run it against WebSphere Liberty itself. The reason being, we are now using TA as a single repository for our configurations. TA also highlights many potential issues when migrating to Liberty; these issues may also be applicable for apps already running in Liberty, we just don't know it yet.
Like all Oracle tools, you can find a lot of documentation and also write down your questions in a forum. Sadly I don't see too many users so far but I hope it'll keep increasing and in a short period we will have more information and ofc issues fixed. So far, everything I needed I could find easily.
Comparing IBM Cloud PAK for Applications against alternatives highlights its distinct advantages. Its robust support for hybrid and multi-cloud environments enables unmatched flexibility in application deployment, crucial for businesses seeking to leverage various cloud services. This contrasts with platforms that may limit their focus to a single-cloud approach or offer restricted multi-cloud capabilities.IBM Cloud PAK's seamless integration with AI and data analytics, particularly through IBM Watson, provides powerful tools for developing AI-driven applications. This integration is a key differentiator from competitors that might not offer as comprehensive AI and analytics tools, allowing businesses to easily incorporate advanced technologies into their applications.Furthermore, IBM Cloud PAK for Applications prioritizes ethical AI development and compliance with regulatory standards, aligning with OpenAI’s guidelines. This commitment is essential for organizations that value responsible AI practices and need to adhere to strict privacy and security regulations.The selection of IBM Cloud PAK for Applications was driven by its holistic approach to application development, offering a blend of flexibility, advanced technological integration, and a commitment to ethical standards, making it a superior choice for businesses focused on innovation while adhering to ethical and legal standards.
GraalVM is at the top when it comes to executing Java applications in terms of speed. With its amazing fast ahead of its time compiler it helps in reducing the startup time of the applications. Also, the overall performance of the product is increased and reduces the latency as well. It supports multiple languages such as Groovy, Ruby, Javascript, R, Python, Scala, Java, Clojure, and many more.
We have been able to migrate apps away from the expensive WAS-ND to the more cost-effective WAS-base without throwing away our WAS-ND licenses. With a 1:4 ratio of WAS-ND to WAS-base we've been able to we've been able to save in excess of 75% on licensing charges for these apps.
By having a license model based on VPC ratios (1:4:8 - WAS-ND:WAS-base:Liberty core) we've been able to move away from using license pooling resulting in over-allocating (i.e. wasting) CPU cores for each license pool, to using consolidated license pools hosting a combination of WAS-ND, WAS-base and Liberty-core. This has allowed us to reduce our licensing costs accordingly.
Financial: Increased Java container count on the same hardware.
Performance: Decreased cold start time for container startup.
Training: Adopting GraalVM has a learning curve. This requires investment in time and resources. The benefits come through re-evaluating our current deployments for optimization.
