AI and cloud technologies are having a disruptive impact on IT, affecting everything from compute and storage requirements to developer tools. As a result, the hardware you procure today should not only meet your expectations, but it also should prepare you for what comes next. With that consideration in mind, an assessment of your IT infrastructure can give you insight into how you might refresh the following areas within your IT infrastructure and where IBM can help.

Get cloud enabled

Is a transformation to a public or private cloud on your agenda? As you transition to a cloud infrastructure, you need the ability to handle flexible consumption models, changing customer needs and cloud-based application development. Your developers need a platform that lets them use the operating systems and languages they are already familiar with and access the latest open source tools to maximize productivity.

Look for cloud-enabled servers designed to meet these needs. For example, IBM Power Systems servers are designed to provide the operating system and language flexibility needed for enterprise cloud transitions, and IBM Z gives you an open, secure hybrid cloud to facilitate collaboration and agile developments.

Cloud enabled can also mean extending the value of your enterprise applications, connecting these systems to cloud services with secure container technologies and microservices to rapidly deliver new services.

Become AI ready

Have your organization’s business leaders suggested recruiting a data scientist or otherwise strengthening AI analytics capabilities? Deep learning, machine learning and AI are now more accessible than ever, and an increasing number of enterprises are capitalizing on these technologies for added business value.

Running a proof of concept is one thing, but when an organization is ready to deploy an AI solution into production, the right processor architecture and server hardware are essential. IBM Power Systems servers enable the performance and leading-edge AI innovation that data scientists want, without the labor-intensive demands of large x86 server farms. In addition, by combining IBM PowerAI software for deep learning with Power Systems servers, enterprises can rapidly deploy a fully-optimized platform for AI.

Gain insights into your data

Your business is driven by data and harnessing the power of your data is critical to your competitive advantage. IBM offers a broad portfolio of storage solutions to help you distill insights from your data. We also enable new insights about your data.

IBM Spectrum Storage Insights software can provide a new level of visibility across your storage environment to help manage complex storage infrastructure and make cost-effective decisions. It combines the deep experience of IBM data management leadership with proprietary analytics from IBM Research. As a cloud-based service, IBM Spectrum Storage Insights enables organizations to deploy quickly and save storage administration time while optimizing the storage environment.

Consider your storage options

Storage isn’t just about big external hard drives anymore. Storage today is encapsulated in a wide array of technology options that optimize the analysis and processing of a range of data types from myriad sources. Multiple options need to be considered, and different workloads call for different solutions:

• Flash storage is engineered to meet modern high-performance application requirements for data with a high frequency of use. Next-generation IBM Flash storage includes innovations such as inline data reduction with no performance impact.
• Software-defined storage (SDS) is the foundation for digital transformation. It helps you to manage data growth and enables multicloud flexibility by providing an agile and operations-friendly infrastructure.
• Hybrid storage arrays enable you to control costs with an optimized mix of storage media. With nearly unlimited configuration options, you can tailor a system to your needs.
• Tape storage for infrequently accessed data helps to improve your data economics. IBM offers drives, libraries, virtual tape systems and IBM Spectrum Archive software that make tape as easy to use as disk storage.

Protect your valuable data

As businesses adapt to capitalize on digital transformation, trust will be the currency that drives this new economy. How can you earn that digital trust? The new IBM z14 mainframe shows the way forward. It enables organizations to pervasively encrypt all data, at rest and in motion, without changing application code. The result is data security at a lower price point than competing solutions.

Unleash the mainframe

IBM Z has always been known for its incredible speed, reliability and as a secure way to process massive transaction volumes. But each new generation of the IBM Z isn’t just an upgrade—far from it. Rather, it’s a whole new system with advanced capabilities to address new challenges. For example, running machine learning on the latest-generation z14 mainframe enables you to transform your data into insight with no data movement—processing isn’t slowed, and data isn’t exposed to risk.

Keep these six key areas in mind as you assess and update your infrastructure to meet new technology expectations. If you need immediate assistance with a project, you can also reach out to an IBM representative or Business Partner to find out more about how we can help you today. For more ideas, visit us here.