AIX stands for “Advanced Interactive Executive” and it’s a Unix-based operating system developed and sold by IBM for several of its computer platforms. AIX comes with a robust set of security options such as Trusted AIX and dynamic secure tunnel authentication, and has typically been used for on-premise enterprise servers by larger businesses.

When originally released in 1986, AIX was designed for the IBM RT PC RISC workstation but now supports a wide variety of platforms as well as IBM’s 64-bit POWER processor and is even backwards-compatible with 32-bit applications. Part of AIX’s popularity was the fact that it allows system administrators to divide allocations such as memory, CPU usage, and disk access between various jobs, has full support for Java 2, and after recompilation, AIX will run most Linux applications.

AIX has maintained a strong, long-standing reputation for over 30 years and continues to deliver by ensuring that new releases focus on binary compatibility, allowing the organization’s applications to run completely unchanged and without recompilation. As such, an application developed on AIX 5L can run on Version 7.1.

With traditional on-site servers becoming less cost effective over time and attracting the right talent is getting more difficult almost with each passing day it seems, organizations across a wide range of industries are looking for viable solutions. While many have been able to benefit from an overall digital transformation that includes leveraging the power of the cloud to its fullest advantage, there are AIX users that have yet to make the transition.

Whether it’s perceived budget constraints, inefficiencies in the proposed transition team, a lack of a viable strategy, or any number of other legitimate concerns and hurdles, the right partnership can make it all a thing of the past.

Lower the Budget, Not the Bar

On-premise servers have always been inherently expensive to operate and maintain, and that’s on top of a rather large capital investment to begin with.

If your company is looking to setup an AIX environment from the ground up, the cloud is a much more affordable solution. Instead of that significant upfront investment for an in-house infrastructure, you’re able to treat your AIX environment as an operating expense and still have that secure, robust, and redundant AIX infrastructure.

Years of reliable service can easily lull businesses into a “why fix what isn’t broken” type outlook and as such, it’s no surprise that some organizations haven’t even begun to look at alternatives or may be hesitant to transition their AIX services to the cloud.

But at what cost?

Even with a simple precursory first glance it’s easy to see that it takes a staggering amount of energy to power, cool, and operate these environments in-house. With electrical consumption representing up to 70% of the total operating costs for many organizations, any significant reduction opportunity must be explored.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has projected that by next year data center power consumption in the U.S. will be “~140 billion kilowatt-hours annually,” meaning they’ll be consuming the equivalent of the output of 50 power plants at an annual cost of $13 billion. Significantly lowering your organization’s electrical use and moving your AIX systems to the cloud will immediately provide measurable results on general overhead, but the savings go even further from there.

Expanding your server setup to accommodate inherent growth has traditionally been wrought with accompanying growing “pains,” but with the cloud that is no longer the case. With the ability to purchase the capacity and support you need, when you need it, for as long as you need it, scaleability has never been more easier and affordable.

Ensuring that your business is protected 24×7 isn’t cheap. Third-shift premiums, employment benefits, insurance, and even retaining or procuring the necessary talent to monitor and maintain your systems all take a heavy toll on the company budget. Moving to the cloud with a partner like Connectria means that you get SLAs customized to meet your exact requirements as well as the expert support, backups, and recoverability to ensure that your business is protected around the clock.

Our team of IBM engineers have an average tenure of over 20 years and work as an extension of your IT Team. This means that whether things are running smoothly or there’s a need for disaster recovery, our team is your team and works to ensure that you consistently meet internal SLAs for resource availability, security, and compliance.

Optimizing Your Infrastructure With the Cloud

All too often, the best solutions are right in front of us yet we somehow still seem to either overlook or even dismiss them outright. Cloud technology is empowering organizations to refocus their internal efforts from systems and infrastructure to providing strategic contributions to the future of the organization.

Connectria has partnered to provide hosting for over 500 IBM environments around the world and we’re the 4-time recipient of the IBM Beacon Award as well as a member of the Rochester-based IBM R&D team.

We can support your AIX Cloud Hosting needs whether you require IBM’s System p technology running AIX 7, or legacy IBM pSeries systems running earlier AIX versions (v5.3 and above), and all of our technicians and engineers are not contractors, they are actual Connectria employees who’ve passed extensive background checks.

If you’d like more information about our services, visit our website or simply contact us and your IBM AIX overhead can be reduced while increasing your security, the expertise of your support, and your data access reliability.