Skytap Cloud Will Run IBM i Alongside AIX, Linux and Windows Workloads, Delivering the Broadest Support for Enterprise Applications in the Cloud
SEATTLE – November 27, 2018 – Skytap, Inc., a global cloud provider, today announced an open preview program for Skytap Cloud in support of the IBM i operating system. Skytap is expanding its unique ability to accelerate the cloud migration and modernization of applications that run on a variety of operating systems, including AIX, IBM i, and Linux on Power. Skytap Cloud also supports legacy x86, Linux, and Windows applications that cannot run in hyperscale clouds without significant re-architecting. Skytap Cloud’s unparalleled capabilities for migrating and modernizing enterprise applications in the cloud are driving rapid adoption by hundreds of enterprise customers, including top 10 global companies in retail, healthcare, and financial services.
IBM i has been powering business applications for more than 30 years, including enterprise resource planning, human resources systems, databases, and a range of homegrown applications. According to industry data, Global 2000 companies running IBM i applications represent more than $12 trillion in combined annual revenue. This data also shows that approximately 32 percent of the Global 2000 are running AIX, 36 percent are running IBM i, and 21 percent are running both.[1]
Further underscoring the prevalence of IBM Power, HelpSystems, a large, independent software and services provider, found that more than 72 percent of enterprise respondents to its 2018 survey are running more than half of their business applications on IBM i. As urgency mounts for businesses in every industry to use cloud as a primary lever to greater innovation, IBM i-based applications need a route to cloud that can modernize the infrastructure, processes, and architecture of these often mission-critical workloads. Skytap Cloud’s industry-first, global public cloud support for IBM i will further extend Skytap’s unique capabilities for migrating and then modernizing enterprises’ most important applications.
“The use of hyperscale clouds to build new applications or run standard x86 workloads is a well-travelled path. We’re pioneering a new way forward for the unaddressed majority — complex, existing applications that drive business revenue,” said Karri Alexion-Tiernan, VP of Product Marketing, Skytap. “Adding support for IBM i unlocks another door for our customers to experience real cloud benefits for these applications.”
Skytap Drives Enterprise Modernization
Skytap has recently expanded its data center footprint into Toronto, Canada and Sydney, Australia, while simultaneously scaling out its US presence, to support more than 60 percent usage growth in the past 12 months. Dynamic application environments running on Skytap Cloud have been deployed across more than 35M virtual machines, 1.4 exabytes of data storage, and 21M networks. Skytap customers are increasingly adopting containers as they modernize applications in Skytap Cloud, with an average of 33 container hosts per customer. Skytap recently joined the Equinix Cloud Exchange, ensuring customers worldwide can easily create private network connections to Skytap Cloud.
Amidst service, customer, and operational growth, Skytap has once again been named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, with revenue growing nearly 170 percent from 2014 to 2017. Skytap was 15th among Washington state companies on the 2018 list, which ranks the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies — both public and private — in North America over the past three years.
Skytap’s upcoming support for IBM i builds on customers’ success using Skytap Cloud to migrate and accelerate modernization of AIX-based applications in the cloud. Leading enterprises in healthcare, energy, and food processing, among others, have replicated AIX application environments in Skytap Cloud, enabling initial cloud migration with very minimal application changes and no new team skills required. These organizations are now freed from physical resource constraints, so development and operations teams can parallel process everything from small application fixes, to the testing of major architectural changes. This approach makes modernization real and achievable, in contrast to rewriting applications from scratch, which can be prohibitive, as Forrester noted:
“Few organizations take a full portfolio approach to redesign because it’s cost-prohibitive, with little reward for most apps. Those who have undergone rewriting an all-custom application with third-party consulting say they average a three-year turnaround. Enterprises focus on specific applications, typically prioritizing a project based on the total developer hours for redesign, changes in licensing or security costs, and the value gained by moving that workload to the cloud.” (The State Of Cloud Migration, Portability, And Interoperability, Q4 2017, Jan. 5, 2018, Forrester)
Availability
Participants will be able to create a replica of an IBM i application environment in Skytap Cloud without any rewriting. From there, users gain full visibility into resource consumption and their software delivery lifecycle, charting a clear path to the modernization of development processes and application architecture for IBM i-based applications.
Learn More
- Skytap Customer Case Studies
- Skytap Cloud for AIX
- From Monolithic to Modern — Free App Portfolio Analysis Model
[1] Discover.org 2018
