Item: IBM Power Virtual Server
Rating: 10
Author: Kristine Vorobyova-Grudinska

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a System Analyst, I was working with IBM System i and DB2. Power Systems Virtual Server on IBM Cloud for IBM. It is being used by the whole organization, but mostly by IT department that are located in Europe countries. Currently it is planned to upgrade all organisation systems to newer versions of software, an IBM Cloud solution will be used even more after upgrade, but of course upgrade of physical servers is also requered.

Organisation will not upgrade unless they are sure and have gotten feedback from all users about planned upgrades, There can be some problems from users who dont want to change anything in their working enviroment. Power Systems is a great solution for every IT person, but business people are not so loyal to changes, thats why organisation need to provide learning possibilities for business users, and they will discover then, that nothing is to be afraid off, and Cloud can be easily customized based on their needs.

Pros and Cons

Code that was written decades ago can be executed in modern environment
Can be easily customized based on user or business needs
Stable solution with very good performance
No lack of documentation and online information

Cost could be lower
Can be a black box for new IT specialists
Migration process is not so easy..

Return on Investment

Average annual rate of investment increased slightly for a second year of use
ROI is more or less stable and predictable for the next period
Overall business impact is positive

Alternatives Considered

Azure Application Gateway, Azure Databases, Azure Virtual Machines, IBM Db2 on Cloud, IBM i, IBM WebSphere Application Server on Cloud, ODBC Driver for SQL Azure, IBM POWER8 Servers, Oracle Cloud Platform, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Power Automate (formerly microsoft flow), VMware vCenter Server and Google Cloud Dataflow

There are not so much cloud solutions available for IBMi Systems, I have tried some of them, but native IBM solutions are better, it is stable, easily managed, designed especially for IBMi and have very high performance and great scalability. There are tons of online documentation available, and IBM technical support is good.
That's why, it is a very positive experience with Power Systems Virtual Server on IBM Cloud for IBMi, and I will continue to use it in the future.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is very suitable for middle size organizations (banking, manufacturing, logistics, etc.) that are working on old IBM physical servers and want to upgrade and migrate their systems to a newer modern solution. However, it is less appropriate for organizations that are new with IBM technologies, because it can be a black box for their IT specialists.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Feel confident using Familiar	Slow to learn

Easy Tasks

IBMi system maintenance
Software development
Virtualization

Difficult Tasks

Migration

Usability

Power Systems Virtual Server on IBM Cloud for IBMi's overall usability is good, but it can be difficult for new users, some learning is needed, but there are tonns of online documentation.

Real High-Performance Power for IBM System i - Power Systems Virtual Server on IBM Cloud for IBMi Review

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Power System Virtual Server