Connectria’s Hybrid Cloud brings the unique capabilities of IBM Power Systems to our data centers in close proximity to AWS in US-East and US-West. This allows for low latency between IBM i/AIX and AWS. It opens up new possibilities for IBM workloads to leverage disaster recovery and multi-region high-availability (HA) deployments.

So how can this work for your environment? While every environment is a little bit different, there are some commonalities. Below, I will walk you through some specific use cases for Connectria’s hybrid solution. I’ve found these use cases beneficial in helping solutions architects evaluate the future of their IBM environments and deciding the best course of action moving forward.

Already have questions? Speak with one of our hybrid cloud experts today.

1 Data center exit strategy

Our first use case is for companies planning or considering a data center exit strategy. Some organizations have decided that running their own data center just doesn’t make sense and they’re trying to both modernize and move workloads to the cloud. These organizations are considering cost avoidance by eliminating data center operational costs. However, they can run into issues when deciding what to do with the Power Systems in their environment.

If your CIO wants to move to the cloud, they may be eyeing a cloud-first strategy which presents a challenge for organizations that operate IBM Power Systems. They may run into difficulties finding, or retaining, talent to run their data center operation while others are looking to gain new capabilities that leverage cloud-native services. Lastly, agility is critical, and some need the ability to quickly spin up new environments for both cloud and IBM Power.

2 Adding disaster recovery to an existing on-prem environment

The next use case is where customers might be looking to add or change existing disaster recovery methods. Here, you can consider available cost avoidance strategies using pilot light or slimmed down DR with resources that allow you to scale quickly.

Alternatively, if you already have DR then maybe you’re looking for a better solution than what you currently have. Still, others are looking for a turnkey solution where a managed services provider, like Connectria, handles all of that DR activity and responsibility. Maybe you don’t have the available skills to do that internally or you’re just looking for help with best practices.

3 Long term replatforming strategy

Another hybrid cloud use case is when a customer has decided to get off IBM and wants to replatform. If you choose this option, you’ll be asking yourself questions like

• What support will we require?
• Where will the environment reside while we go through this process?

Here, you’ll need somewhere to “park” or “stage” your environment while going through the longer-term process of developing a new platform.

Replatforming is not an overnight affair, in some cases taking years to complete. Having a partner, like Connectria as a partner can get you access to technologies like the IBM flash copy toolkit which can allow you to create duplicate copies of your production IBM i systems and aid in testing and development. Having IBM i and AIX systems next to hyperscale cloud means that the data can be readily accessible. This might mean you can keep your investment in IBM and leverage new capabilities in the cloud, or not. In the end, it gives you the flexibility to decide and do it at your own pace.

4 Augmentation of existing platform

One way to continue to leverage your IBM investment is to embrace an augmentation strategy that leverages cloud-native services. This will let you maintain your IBM Power System, retain your investment, but still modernize the platform by leveraging services to introduce new features and capabilities. This could be as simple as adding cloud storage or as complex as adding invoice capabilities or dashboards while leveraging the backend databases on the IBM i or AIX Power System.

There are many different use cases for Connectria’s hybrid cloud solution. The above are just a few I hope will help you understand more about this solution.

Available Funding Programs

Funding is always an attractive topic because we all want to do more for less. Cost always comes into the equation and as a partner of both Azure and AWS, there are many different funding programs available from Connectria depending on the project’s scope, size, or how soon you want the activity to occur.

For example, with Microsoft and their end customer incentive funding programs (ECIP) there’s The Partner Investment Engine (PIE) and also Azure Migration & Modernization Program (AMP) which is their most lucrative program when it comes to covering assessment and migration costs.

For AWS, there are several programs that assist with funding and include the Migration Acceleration Program (MAP), the Windows Rapid Migration Program (WRMP), and the Partner Opportunity Acceleration (POA).

Each funding opportunity comes with different criteria and components that Connectria can help you work through to identify which one is most appropriate for the work that you want to do or what goals you want to achieve with your cloud provider. We will apply as much of those programs as possible to different projects to offset as much of the assessment and migration cost as possible.