IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems - April 2017 - 20
boost digital transformation. Eighty-five percent of business and IT executives believe cloud computing is an essential resource, according to an earlier EMA survey, "Digital and IT Transformation: A Global View of Trends and Requirements" (bit.ly/2l2OwO5). But with cloud, one size doesn't fit all. Varying cloud deployment models can satisfy unique business needs. More than 50 percent of those surveyed consider private clouds to be the best route for their organizations' needs while more than 40 percent favor a combination of public and private cloud, EMA found. The remaining 10 percent said they mainly focused on public cloud initiatives. Every organization must consider a cloud strategy regardless of the deployment type. Each strategy should encompass the form factors and platforms required, security parameters, existing production implementation, new builds, and line of business and IT responsibilities, EMA says. IBM Power Systems technology is well positioned to help clients handle their most challenging cloud requirements. IBM's expanded POWER8* processorbased server offerings for cloud include on-premise cloud options, hybrid cloud support, complimentary IBM Cloud services access and the capability to integrate APIs. In particular, as more organizations explore hybrid cloud, IBM Power Systems servers provide several benefits including: ĀÃ 5DSLGÃDFFHVVÃWRÃFRPSXWHÃ resources for DevOps ĀÃ ([FHSWLRQDOÃSHUIRUPDQFHÃ ĀÃ 6HDPOHVVÃLQWHJUDWLRQÃRIÃ functions and data between on-premise and off-premise applications Why Upgrading for Cloud Makes Sense IBM POWER8 Gives You Choice How can an organization keep its mission-critical production ecosystem viable while modernizing its applications and infrastructure for cloud? That concern, coupled with the need to keep business-facing services operational, and support e-commerce, mobile and other applications, often prevents organizations from upgrading. The latest IBM Power Systems architectures support traditional workloads, all cloud deployment models and digital transformation. "These new systems also deliver a foundation for transforming to production cloud and for leveraging cloud to differentiate and become more agile," according to the EMA study. IBM offers several distinct POWER8 processor-based server classes designed for cloud including scale-out servers and enterprise servers for Linux*, AIX* and IBM i. As noted in the EMA whitepaper, "IBM is fully invested for the long term in delivering a wide variety of cloud services, and the POWER8 systems are intrinsic to this story." The scale-out server line offers clients superior performance and a better return on investment when compared to x86 servers. These Power Systems servers run Linux distributions from Ubuntu, SUSE or Red Hat, and are designed for data- and compute-intensive workloads. In addition to providing support for DevOps testing and daily computing requirements, these servers are often utilized to create private, self-service clouds. Power Systems scale-out servers are used for workload consolidation, hosting applications and databases, and can be used as standalone servers that run Linux, AIX or IBM i. With up to 24 cores and one or two sockets, they provide a good platform for secure data-intense applications. For organizations that must process huge amounts of data or have cloud delivery requirements to process a massive number of transactions, IBM Power Enterprise systems for cloud provide up to 16 TB of memory and up to 192 POWER8 processor cores. These servers, which support Linux, AIX, or IBM i, are designed for cloud and feature the high availability, resiliency, security and performance needed to safeguard data integrity. Clients also have the ability to turn on and off processors and memory capacity as demand dictates. IBM POWER8 processor-based servers also include options Purpose Built for Cloud and Data-Intensive Workloads Because IBM's POWER8 technology-based servers are optimized for big data advanced analytics processing and cognitive-intense workloads in the cloud, clients have the capability to create integrated delivery strategies for a broad array of use cases, workloads and business requirements. Organizations with an onpremise infrastructure can become cloud providers using IBM's elastic consumption automation and self-service options. Clients can use API integration to access compute services in the IBM Cloud. Thanks to client feedback, IBM has created a spectrum of supporting services and technologies that make integration between private and public clouds work smoothly and customizable to each organization's unique needs. 20 // APRIL 2017 ibmsystemsmag.com In a 2017 EMA survey, more than 50% of respondents consider private clouds to be the best route for their organizations' needs 40% favor a combination of public and private cloud
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