New pre-configured private cloud platform, innovative cloud-consumption payment model, and more Red Hat software now supported on IBM Power Virtual Servers
ARMONK, NY – February 23, 2021 – IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced availability of Red Hat software on IBM Power Systems as well as new IBM Power Systems hardware. These announcements further expand IBM Systems commitment to help clients modernize by empowering them with the latest tools from Red Hat to develop cloud-native applications and deploy them into hybrid cloud environments.
Today’s announcements include:
- Expanded Red Hat Capabilities on IBM Power Systems – IBM Power Systems will now feature Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Power Virtual Server leveraging OpenShift’s platform-agnostic installeri, Red Hat Runtimes, and new certifiedii Red Hat Ansible
- New IBM Power Private Cloud Rack Solution – Providing clients an optimized, production level environment to modernize traditional environments to cloud native applications, the IBM Power Private Cloud Rack combines on-premise hardware, a complete software stack of IBM and Red Hat tools, and installation from IBM Systems Lab Services to deliver 49% lower cost per request x86iii.
- Extended Cloud-Like Capacity Scaling on IBM Power Systems – Enhancements to IBM Power System’s capacity management to quickly scale processing power across the hybrid cloud on Linux, IBM i, and
“Twelve months ago, IT practitioners faced a vastly different landscape before the world was transformed by the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said General Manager of IBM Cognitive Systems Stephen Leonard. “But despite the challenges, they recognize that a hybrid cloud approach can offer 2.5x the value derived from a single public cloud, as measured by IBM’s Institute of Business Valueiv. IBM Power Systems, along with the greater IBM Systems portfolio, plays a critical role in this transition to hybrid environments.”
IBM Power Systems and Red Hat Drive Client Success with Hybrid Cloud
Shree Cement Ltd., one of India’s largest cement producers with nearly $2 billion in revenue last year, selected IBM POWER9-based IBM Power Systems to run a combination of Red Hat and AIX to help them modernize their IT infrastructure with hybrid cloud. When Shree needed to streamline their supply chain while also increasing its computing capacity, they knew they needed to refresh their existing Oracle- based infrastructure.
“We were in the midst of technology modernization and were looking for a dependable IT infrastructure support that could deliver 24/7 capabilities and integrate the operations, logistics, resources, export- import supply chain, said Manoranjan Kumar, Chief Information Officer, Shree Cement Ltd. “The two operating systems on IBM Power Systems, namely IBM AIX and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, helped us move away from vertical business silo approach. This allows us to operate horizontally across thecompany to bring in synergy amongst multiple manufacturing plants to drive business results and ensure business continuity even during the migrations.”
Shree Cement wanted to build around an infrastructure that would allow them to scale with future business expansion while maximizing the utility of their hardware, and by selecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM Power Systems, Shree Cement has laid a foundation that positions them to capitalize on the expanding hybrid cloud capabilities from IBM Power Systems and Red Hat, such as:
- Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Power Virtual Server – Recognizing that OpenShift is a critical part in helping organizations build an agile hybrid cloud, the container platform is now available on IBM Power Virtual Server leveraging OpenShift’s platform-agnostic installer1. The IBM Power Virtual Server is an enterprise Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering built around IBM POWER9 and offering low-latency access to over 200 IBM Cloud services. In addition, IBM Power Virtual Server clients can now run leading business applications like SAP HANA in an IBM POWER9-based
- Red Hat Runtimes on IBM Power Systems – To help organizations and developers create cloud-native applications, Red Hat Runtimes is now supported on IBM Power Systems. Red Hat Runtimes is a set of products, tools and components designed to develop and maintain cloud-native applications. Now, developers looking to create cloud-native applications on IBM Power Systems have access to leading open-source frameworks and runtimes that provide a single development experience for hybrid applications spanning IBM Power Systems and other platforms.
- New Red Hat Ansible Modules – Red Hat Ansible, made available on IBM Power Systems last year, is an open-source based tool that allows for simple automation of common IT jobs, freeing up IT administrator time as well as compute resources. IBM Power Systems has added 22 new Ansibles modules that bring new automation capabilities for common tasks like Patch Management, Security Management, OS & Application Deployment, Continuous Delivery, Centralized Backup and Recovery, and Virtualization Management & Provisioning, bringing the total number of POWER-supported Ansible modules to 102, and they have been downloaded over 11,000 times on GitHub as of February 23,
Simplified Deployment and Management of Hybrid Cloud
To help clients not only quickly deploy a hybrid cloud, but also scale with agility to respond to spikes in demand, IBM is announcing two new technologies designed to bring simplicity to hybrid cloud deployment and management:
- The IBM Power Private Cloud Rack Solution – A pre-configured system with compute, storage, networking and pre-installed software to match an organization’s existing infrastructure, be it based around Linux, IBM i, or AIX, to help organizations operationalize their cloud management and provide an IaaS environment to help clients accelerate development and operations for Kubernetes container-based cloud-native applications with Red Hat OpenShift Container
- Cloud-like Capacity and Pricing Across the Hybrid Cloud – IBM had already enabled scalable capacity for select on-premises IBM i and AIX IBM Power Systems servers, allowing users to
unlock additional compute cores as needed and get cloud-like consumption-based pricing. Now, IBM is extending that ability to the hybrid cloud by piloting hybrid capacity credits, which can be purchased and used to unlock capacity on on-premises servers as well as IBM Power Virtual Servers. IBM is also working with other ecosystem partners to further extend dynamic capacity across multiple Linux distributions.
“IBM’s latest expanded support of their hybrid cloud and application modernization initiatives will enable our customers to easily attain the efficiencies and flexibility of combining on-premises and cloud solutions using the latest open source and tooling,” said Jim Dixon, Vice President, Software & IBM Power Systems at Mainline Information Systems. “Availability of hybrid cloud credits and appliance-like options of hardware and Red Hat software solutions, combined with Red Hat OpenShift consistency between on-premises IBM Power Systems and off-premises clouds, will surely offer ease of entry into this new and important IT paradigm.”
IBM IT Infrastructure Continues to Evolve for Hybrid Cloud
Later this year, the next generation of the IBM Power Systems servers based on the IBM POWER10 processor, which was built from the ground up for hybrid cloud, will debut. In addition, later this year the next generation of the AIX operating system, version 7.3, is expected to continue the legacy of innovation with enhanced capabilities that deliver the resiliency, security, and scale needed for the hybrid cloud.
To round out a hybrid cloud ready infrastructure, IBM Storage recently announced new entry-level IBM FlashSystem models with comprehensive container support as well as support for Red Hat OpenShift and Ansible, while IBM Z and IBM Power Systems also announced new hybrid
cloud container offerings for IBM Z across Red Hat OpenShift and IBM Cloud Paks.
For more information on IBM, please visit http://www.ibm.com.
For more information on IBM IT Infrastructure, please visit https://www.ibm.com/it– infrastructure/power.
ii Red Hat Ansible certification involves Red Hat testing the Collections developed by IBM and a commitment to provide enterprise support. The Collections for AIX and IBM i are maintained and supported by IBM.i Red Hat Knowledge Base article, “Deploying OpenShift 4.x on non-tested platforms using the bare metal install method – https://access.redhat.com/articles/4207611 [2] Power Systems encryption based on IBM Hyper Protect Crypto Service, the only service in the industry built on NIST FIPS 140-2 Level 4-certified hardware.
iii The results were obtained under laboratory conditions, not in an actual customer environment. IBM’s internal workload studies are not benchmark applications. Prices, where applicable, are based on U.S. prices as of 09/20/2020 from IBM and x86 hardware pricing is based on IBM analysis of U.S. prices as of 09/20/2020 from IDC. Price comparison is based on a 3-year total cost of ownership including HW, SW, networking, floor space, people, energy/cooling costs and three years of service & support for production and non-production (dev, test and high availability) environments.
iv Based on IBM internal, cross-industry assessment