In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, enterprises are constantly seeking ways to improve their operational efficiency, scale their infrastructure and enhance data security. The cloud has emerged as a game-changer, offering unprecedented flexibility, scalability and cost-effectiveness. However, migrating enterprise workloads, data and applications while ensuring logical equivalence between the cloud and on-premises environment can be a daunting undertaking. To address these challenges, we are excited to announce our latest initiative to help clients modernize their infrastructure and create a swift migration to IBM Cloud with IBM Power Virtual Server.

Why a Migration Acceleration Program?

The Cloud Migration Acceleration Program is designed to address the need for a simplified, accelerated evaluation and decision-making process for migrating on-premises Power workloads to Power Virtual Server. The program aims to help clients make more informed decisions in supporting their technology transformation:

• Streamlined process: The Migration Acceleration Program offers a process that includes prescriptive guidance, comprehensive business and technical planning and strategic support from IBM onboarding and migration specialists. The program has been adopted by numerous businesses for their cloud migration needs.
• Professional guidance by IBM Expert Labs: Clients receive guidance from technology specialists who have access to proven migration patterns, code, tools and deployable architectures specifically designed for IBM Cloud. Clients have access to technical training, certifications and assessments to enhance their migration capabilities and expertise. This provides clients with the resources and support to navigate their migration to Power Virtual Server.
• Timely and structured: The Cloud Migration Acceleration Program guides clients through a structured process to migrate workloads to the cloud. It includes an assessment, planning and proof-of-value (PoV) pilot workload. The program follows a step-by-step client engagement model with workshops for discovery, planning and solution design.
• Cost savings: Financial incentives are available to help offset migration costs. IBM provides financial incentives in the form of IBM Cloud credits, covering up to 50% of the migration cost. [1] To qualify for the program, clients need to be on the IBM Enterprise Savings Plan.

Moving workloads and applications to the cloud can be a transformative and costly undertaking. However, the Cloud Migration Acceleration Program with IBM Power Virtual Server presents a valuable opportunity for businesses to migrate to the cloud in a manner designed to be cost-effective and efficient. By addressing financial concerns and granting access to essential resources and expertise, we provide support to facilitate both a smooth and economical transition throughout the migration process.

Why migrate to the cloud?

Clients should consider migrating their workloads to the cloud for several reasons:

• Modernization of Power workloads without re-platforming: Firstly, it allows for the modernization of Power infrastructure without the need to sacrifice existing skills, tools or platforms—designed for a seamless transition.
• Infrastructure savings: Migrating to the cloud can help reduce capital expenses associated with maintaining and upgrading on-premises infrastructure. Traditional data centers demand substantial investments in equipment, cooling systems, power supply and personnel to manage it all. In contrast, IBM Cloud operates on a pay-as-you-go model, so businesses only pay for the resources they use. This cost-efficiency positions companies to reallocate their IT budget to innovation- and growth-focused initiatives.
• Greater flexibility: Another benefit of migrating workloads to the cloud is the cloud’s capacity to scale up or down based on dynamic business requirements. The traditional on-premises infrastructure often faces limitations in handling fluctuations in demand or sudden surges in user traffic. However, with the cloud, businesses can scale their resources up or down based on real-time requirements.
• Enhanced business outcomes: Infrastructure modernization can lead to concrete business outcomes. Moving operations to the cloud can help enhance agility through its inherent elasticity, enabling teams to rapidly create new environments, experiment with ideas and drive innovation at a pace not achievable solely with legacy systems.
• Workforce productivity and acceleration: Migration promotes workforce productivity and acceleration, reallocating infrastructure administration labor and accelerating development cycles.

Start reaping the benefits

The Cloud Migration Acceleration Program with IBM Power Virtual Server empowers businesses to migrate their workloads to the cloud. With IBM’s expertise, incentives and methodologies, organizations can transition their on-premises Power environments to IBM Power Virtual Server. The program provides comprehensive planning and strategic support for a successful migration. Migration Acceleration Incentives can address financial concerns for a smooth and cost-effective transition.

IBM Power Virtual Server is designed to offer exceptional performance, scalability and security features. It is designed to simplify the migration process with purpose-built tools and services. Embrace the cloud’s potential with IBM Power Virtual Server and the Cloud Migration Acceleration Program.

References

Please refer to the following resources for additional information:

• IBM Power Systems Virtual Server Guide for IBM AIX and Linux
• IBM Power Systems Virtual Server Guide for IBM i
• SAP HANA on IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers: Hybrid Cloud Solution
• Migration strategies for IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers

[1] Clients on the IBM Enterprise Savings Plan can reduce their cloud migration costs by requesting a Promo Credit incentive to be used for IBM Cloud services. The Promo Credit will be issued within the first six months of the migration process and calculated on a tiered model based on the annual migration cost. 50% of the migration cost for Tier 1 ($500K+ annual costs), 35% of migration cost for Tier 2 ($250K – $500K annual costs), or 25% of migration cost for Tier 3 ($150K – $250K annual costs).