Item: IBM Power Virtual Server
Rating: 6
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our bank uses IBM Power Virtual Server to run our heavy data analytics workload for projects involving transaction analysis, risk monitoring, and prospecting. We've also used IBM Power Virtual Server in our development lifecycle for Dev and UAT environments to help with ad-hoc compute requirements during software development.

Pros and Cons

Scalability - easy to spin off more instances as required
Reliability - its critical for us in banking to have a 99.99% uptime SLA and IBM Power Virtual Server provides that
Virtualization - PowerVM helps us with isolation needs to separate data based on entitlements.

Limited tools and not as widely used compared to leading cloud providers
Cost can be prohibitive
Complexity - Managing the cluster requires specialized knowledge
Support needs to improve
Lack of Developer Community to discuss and resolve issues

Return on Investment

Reduced costs for maintaining development and UAT environments
Improved reliability and help achieve regulatory targets for > 99.9% uptime
Save over 2 hours in overnight batch processing

Security

Yes, reliability in an Investment Bank trading environment is critical and IBM Power Virtual Server has helped us meet and exceed our targets. Developers also have more time to focus on delivering projects and spend less time managing or finding resources for their computing needs.

Usability

It has helped us isolate data based on entitlements and other internal bank controls. This has prevented any accidental data leaks or training models on incorrect/incomplete data.

Alternatives Considered

Dell PowerEdge C

IBM Power Virtual Server integrates well with other IBM tools in use with the firm and helps with firmwide support. Security is critical for our business and IBM has a long-standing reputation and expertise in delivering in this area.

Key Insights

Do you think IBM Power Virtual Server delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM Power Virtual Server's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM Power Virtual Server live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of IBM Power Virtual Server go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Power Virtual Server again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, Tableau Cloud

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM Power Virtual Server is well suited for projects that require heavy computing usage and complex data analytics. Also, we have certain periods of heavy usage during the day and IBM Power Virtual Server helps us to allocate our resources appropriately when needed - scaling during peak processing hours and helps us manage our costs better that way.

Reliable and Scalable Computing Provider

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Power Virtual Server