The IBM i operating system enjoys near-legendary status among organizations that rely on it. Unlike kernel-based operating systems, IBM i is simplifies application delivery by incorporating everything needed to install and run software. Resource management, virtualization, security, the database and more are integral parts of the operating system.
This approach began with the IBM AS /400 back in 1988 and was rebranded IBM i in 2006. IBM continues to evolve and enhance the OS today, while maintaining backward compatibility to support older applications.
Many organizations stick with their existing IBM i platforms because they’re so reliable — there’s simply no need to replace them. Nevertheless, staffing challenges inevitably arise when maintaining older technology. How do you ensure that you continue having the skill sets you need?
Boomer ‘Brain Drain’
Most of the administrators with expertise in IBM i are members of the Baby Boom generation. Boomers are reaching retirement age at the rate of 10,000 per day and taking years of institutional knowledge with them when they leave.
While this “brain drain” will affect organizations in every sector, its impact will be felt acutely in the IT industry. Recent college graduates simply aren’t trained in legacy systems and applications. Retiring boomers are often the only people in the company with the skills to maintain and support older technology.
But even organizations that have trained younger employees in IBM i face resource constraints. A single administrator or small team may be responsible for ensuring that business-critical systems stay up and running. How can you provide depth of skills? How can you enable your key staff to work on business needs and not daily administration?
Filling Skills Gaps
Outsourcing to a managed services provider (MSP) is a proven means of filling IT skills gaps, but few MSPs have expertise in IBM i. That’s why Technologent has developed a managed services offering specifically for IBM iSeries, System i and AS/400 platforms. This unique solution leverages our deep knowledge of IBM systems and our investments in remote management and automation tools.
Technologent’s comprehensive portfolio of managed services for IBM i includes:
- 24x7x365 administration and support by our deep bench of experts
- Automation of system and application maintenance processes
- Consolidated monitoring for single-pane-of-glass visibility
- Design, enhance or implement disaster recovery and business continuity plans
- Enhanced security against malware and data loss
Our staff takes full responsibility for the administration of your IBM i environment, including OS management, BC/DR and backup and restore processes. These services maximize the performance and availability of your on-premises IBM systems while helping you utilize your IT budget and resources more efficiently.
Hosting and the Cloud
Technologent also offers dedicated managed hosting solutions that enable you to deploy your production workloads on enterprise-class IBM systems in one of our SSAE 18 SOC I and SOC II certified data centers. Our Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) solution enables you to implement your business continuity plan without the high cost and resource drain associated with building and maintaining a secondary data center.
Additionally, our IBM Power Systems experts can also help you align your IBM i workloads with your cloud strategy. We offer cloud advisory and migration assistance and can even help you orchestrate workloads across environments with our managed IBM Cloud on AWS and Azure.
IBM i is a proven, reliable platform that can support your business-critical applications for years to come. Through our managed services, hosting, DRaaS and cloud-based offerings, Technologent can help you fill skills gaps and enhance and extend your IBM i environment to meet today’s business demands.
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