IBM i (iSeries/AS400) POWER 10 Overview For Small-to-Medium Users

The purpose of this blog is to provide a high-level overview of the new IBM POWER 10 Announcement.?While technology experts will marvel at the extraordinary achievements and capabilities, my clients want to get a sense of “how much do I spend to upgrade to the new POWER generation.”?Short and sweet, this is what I am presenting.?

Disclaimer: IBM i is an operating system. iSeries and AS400 are servers. I use these terms interchangeably, like my clients do, to make it easier for folks to find this kind of information on the web.

Finally, IBM announced the POWER 10 server for Small-to-Medium (SMB) users on July 14, 2022.

The announcement includes huge new technology enhancements.

Many IBM POWER users will benefit from these new POWER 10 options.

So, what does this mean to SMB IBM i users?

First, IBM i POWER servers have two software tiers: 1) P05 and 2) P10.

POWER 10 P05 Software Tier Options

Most IBM i SMB users are P05 software tier. This tier category satisfies IBM i users with up to 500 users that may have 800 GB of storage. It is especially well-suited for users that have custom RPG software with a heritage from S/3X.

The new POWER 10 P05 tier has basic options.

While this tier has up to 4 active cores, 1 core active with IBM i should satisfy most users.

First, IBM i users must be at least at V7.3, if not V7.4 or V7.5. Older versions of IBM i are not supported on Power10.

RAM memory choices include 32GB and 64GB. That is it.

While most users in the P05 tier could be satisfied with 8 GB RAM … in many cases, as little as 4 GB... the smallest POWER 10 9105-41B RAM increment is 32 GB. And, the largest RAM increment is 64 GB.

Storage choices include 800 GB, 1.6 TB and 3.2 TB NVMe mirrored flash drives. These are IBM’s newest solid state storage devices, so new POWER 10 P05 users will see a big performance improvement.

SCSI attach is not supported. For backup you have a choice for LTO-7 or RDX. I personally favor LTO. Over the last 5 years, most of my customers with RDX complain how slow the RDX is. I share this feedback about RDX because I do not like customer complaints … particularly that are out of my control.

To be sure, for many SMB users, the new POWER 10 has far more performance than they really need. All the same, these are the entry choices for the next new generation of POWER server that may have IBM support for 7-10 years. (I cannot say that for sure. So far, I have seen the legacy POWER 7 servers have up to 10 years of IBM support.)

My sense from the early configurations I have done for my clients, is the server price is about $24,000. After you add an external tape drive, software and entitlement migration, and 3 years of support, the selling price may range between $40,000 and $50,000.

POWER 10 P10 Software Tier Options

Like the P05 tier, P10 tier IBM i users must be at least at V7.3, if not V7.4 or V7.5.

The P10 software tier offers IBM i POWER 10 users more options.

For example, P10 currently supports up to 512 GB RAM memory. By the end of 2022, this IBM POWER server will offer as much as 1 TB.

Let me narrow the focus of the P10 software tier for my typical client.

Most have 1 core active with IBM i. I have a few with 2-3 active cores. The P10 software tier offers up to 8 active cores. Even so, rated at about 26,000 CPW per core, 1 active core will more than satisfy most P10 tiered users.

The main server chassis can support 16 NVMe solid state flash drives in increments of 800 GB, 1.6 GB, and 3.2 TB. Essentially, most P10 users will be satisfied with storage without a need for either an expansion chassis or a SAN.

While the P10 tier server has more options that I can easily summarize, let me just share that based on the initial configuration I have done for clients, the server can range from about $45,000 to $65,000. After you add an external tape drive, migrate software and entitlements and 3 years of support, the selling range is around $80,000 to $100,000.?

P10 software tier users need special assessment to properly configure a new server. Consequently, I cannot go in to much depth in this summary because each user’s needs are so varied.

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