it_user758157 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sys admin at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It facilitates extra redundancy and we run our critical applications on it

What is most valuable?

Primarily the reliability. I can set up a system and it runs until we decide to get rid of it.

How has it helped my organization?

The reliability is one. We have a lot of extra redundancy built into Power and we run our critical applications on there so it protects our brand and our business.

For how long have I used the solution?

Since POWER4.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We are very happy with the performance.

Buyer's Guide
IBM Power Systems
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Power Systems. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, we have not.

How are customer service and support?

It's very good. They are knowledgeable and there is always a point of contact.

What was our ROI?

POWER8 definitely handles the workload better than POWER7 did, as far as the threading between having a lot of partitions running in a system. There is less impact when the system doesn't bog down, when a lot of applications are running.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing is not an issue but it is something that we are being asked for from our leadership. Because usage fluctuates all the time, they want to know that they are only paying for what they are using. And we're all competing against the cloud vendors now.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No. We have been running on Power ever since we went to SAP.

What other advice do I have?

I am using POWER8 for AIX and Linux.

I wouldn't say that Power uniquely positions our company in the industry. We run all of our internal applications on it and we keep our business running with it.

As far as IBM being a market leader, I would think that they are certainly one of the players, I don't know if they are the leader or not. In order to be a market leader I think IBM would have to get into more shops and get the word out there. It's kind of like the Windows mentality, a lot people go with what they know or what they see advertised.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user758154 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sys admin at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It's even more flexible with the ability to create an environment in a few minutes

What is most valuable?

It's flexible and it's reliable.

What needs improvement?

They can make it easier to do the patching and iFixes, which is especially important now, with all of the security issues. That would provide a lot of relief.

For how long have I used the solution?

I recently joined the team, but I think they started moving to Power about a year ago, at least.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We are very happy with Power's performance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, absolutely not. Especially now, with the VC, it's even more flexible with the chance to create an environment in a few minutes, especially for testing.

How are customer service and technical support?

Pretty good. We had a few engagements with the labs.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have always used Power.

How was the initial setup?

Thanks to the labs, the migration from POWER7 to POWER8 was easy.

What was our ROI?

We were able to reduce to a single frame.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't really wish the licensing was more cloud-based. It is not really an issue. It could be.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using POWER8 right now and migrating some of the POWER7 systems. I am using it with AIX and IBM i. Mostly the core is IBM i. We have an e-commerce website and it is running on AIX.

I don't know how IBM could maintain their status as a market leader in the servers sector, but I would like to see more young people at this kind of event, the IBM Power Conference. That would probably help.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
IBM Power Systems
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Power Systems. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
I.T. Head - Infrastructure, Network and Security at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Offers processing power, stability, and security that is compatible with most of the solutions that we work with
Pros and Cons
  • "Some of the most valuable features are the processing power, stability, and security."
  • "I would like to see the scaling model improved so it's not just either tiny or huge."

What is our primary use case?

The use case is for hosting a lot of the bank's applications.

What is most valuable?

Some of the most valuable features are the processing power, stability, and security.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see the scaling model improved so it's not just either tiny or huge.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using IBM Power Systems since 2001, so it's been 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM is quite stable. That's one of their most popular aspects. We just upgraded our power systems recently, so we're going to be working with them through the next five years at least.

The solution is being used quite heavily.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is a bit above average. It's not the best, but it's a good deal.

The SKU modeling part they have is not very flexible toward customers. Either you have to go very big or you have to go very small. There isn't an in-between. There's not a lot of variety in this.

How are customer service and support?

I have onsite support and I talk to technical support a lot. My experience has been good.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was straightforward, with the help of the professional services from IBM. Maintenance is handled by the IBM team, especially the hardware.

What about the implementation team?

We used IBM partners. Usually it's IBM themselves, not the partners.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing costs are okay. With IBM Power Systems, it's inclusive, so you can differentiate the price of the hardware from the software itself. The power systems are quite expensive. In the end, you equate a means of value. From a value proposition, it is either justifiable or not.

The additional costs are the maintenance and warranty professional services.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Compared to similar solutions, IBM Power Systems has a proven record. They have their own reputation. You have the availability of technical expertise in the market. They're quite compatible with most of the solutions that we work with.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

My advice for an organization that is looking to implement this solution is that they should have the adequate expertise of personnel that can run the system. They should study their TCO and ROI regarding whether it is worth investing in this, given that it's a very expensive solution. These are the two most important aspects.

I would also advise dealing with an appropriate partner or dealing with IBM directly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
VP Innovation at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Very secure, extremely scalable, and offers helpful technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "I can have what they call multi-tenancy, meaning that I can have multiple tenants within the same server."
  • "If you asked me what I'd like added, I'd say that it'd be nice if they ran GPUs, however, I know that's not the direction they're going. That said, I would appreciate it if they offered GPU support."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for running an ERP. Use cases can go from very small to very big. I'm talking about a hardware device, and therefore it can run all kinds of different software. The virtualization is outstanding. It can go from very, very small to very, very big. We personally use it so that we can use multi-tenancy. 

I can have multiple clients on one server and I can cut it up into tiny pieces. Where a customer would normally have to buy, let's say, one solution for a hundred thousand dollars, instead, they can share that a hundred thousand dollars with five other customers as one customer doesn't actually need a complete server. Clients can share it for cost reasons. 

What is most valuable?

It's very secure.

I can have what they call multi-tenancy, meaning that I can have multiple tenants within the same server.

The reliability of the solution has been excellent.

The solution is stable.

Technical support is exceptional.

The scalability is very, very good.

What needs improvement?

I've worked with the solution for a very long time, and therefore, when it comes to the things that it doesn't support, I've accepted that and I understand why they won't. If you asked me what I'd like added, I'd say that it'd be nice if they ran GPUs, however, I know that's not the direction they're going. That said, I would appreciate it if they offered GPU support. 

It used to have it and they pulled it out. That's something that's missing from it, however, there are workarounds.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with this product for 35 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. the security is excellent and the performance is good.

I literally have customers that have a server like this in a cupboard and they don't even know where their server is as it just keeps running.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability on offer is excellent. It's very easy to scale and works well for small to large organizations. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is excellent. We have been very happy with the level of service we get. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple and straightforward. It's not complex. A company shouldn't have any issues with the implementation. 

In terms of maintenance, we have a large staff, however, that's necessary due to the fact that we support so many clients. You need an administrator and it depends on how many clients you have, how many administrators you need. For a lot of our clients, we sell them one of these servers, and then we do all the work for them. We install it and then we do the administration. You need the appropriate administrators when you have this product. Small clients may need one administrator, whereas larger ones might need three or four.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also work with Lenovo.

What other advice do I have?

We are a reseller of IBM and Lenovo equipment. We are on the infrastructure side, mostly on the hardware side.

We sell systems to clients, however, we also have a cloud environment that we sell to clients using that equipment. We always say to customers, we sell what to them what we use ourselves.

We use versions seven to ten.

There are a lot of well-kept secrets to this product that a lot of people are not aware of and do not leverage all of the features that are available on the system. Therefore, if a company is looking to implement this solution, it should do some research. Go to user groups to speak to other users to find out about those well-kept secrets, free of charge.

I'd rate the solution a perfect ten out of ten. It's outstanding. It's so reliable. I have customers that run it that never touch it. It runs for 20 years by itself in a closet. It runs their entire business. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Sector Manager at ESky IT
Reseller
A very stable and capable solution for core banking applications, but it needs better scalability and migration process and easier management
Pros and Cons
  • "We value the stability and technology capability of this solution the most. It is very stable, and the processor technology of IBM is very good. When you have a CIO and you are dealing with C-level every day, you can, without any doubt, support the core banking or critical applications with this solution."
  • "Its management can be made easier because it is not easy to manage. They should also find a new way for migrating from an old Power Systems to a new one. The migration process is currently very complicated. It should be made easier to scale. Currently, its scalability depends on the initial sizing, whereas in Nutanix HCI, you can add whatever you need and whenever you need it."

What is our primary use case?

IBM Power Systems is used for the core banking applications. We have accounts with financial enterprises in Egypt. We propose this solution if you are a bank, you are upgrading or migrating bank applications from Oracle or other vendors, and you would like to have a stable platform in terms of hardware and software.

What is most valuable?

We value the stability and technology capability of this solution the most. It is very stable, and the processor technology of IBM is very good. When you have a CIO and you are dealing with C-level every day, you can, without any doubt, support the core banking or critical applications with this solution. 

What needs improvement?

Its management can be made easier because it is not easy to manage. They should also find a new way for migrating from an old Power Systems to a new one. The migration process is currently very complicated.

It should be made easier to scale. Currently, its scalability depends on the initial sizing, whereas in Nutanix HCI, you can add whatever you need and whenever you need it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable platform in terms of hardware and software.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is there, but it depends on the initial sizing. You need to plan for scalability from the beginning because it depends on the series of our systems, processors, and the number of processors that have been activated during the implementation. So, it depends on the sizing, whereas with Nutanix HCI, you can add whatever you need and whenever you need it.

It is usually focused on enterprise customers. In our company, we have around 20 to 25 users. We plan to increase its usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

I don't contact their support team, but based on the experience of our team, they are usually supportive. Our team doesn't seem to have any issue with IBM technical support. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

I am into sales, and I don't implement Power Systems. Based on the experience of our technical team, the initial set up usually goes smoothly. The issue comes only while migrating from the old one to the new one. For the whole migration, which included the initial setup and testing, it took at least six months.

What about the implementation team?

We upgraded Power Systems from version 7 to version 9, and we worked with the IBM team during the implementation phase. We successfully completed its implementation with their help.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its price depends on the sizing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluate Oracle Exadata or Nutanix HCI. For a huge sizing, we go for Power Systems. For a small sizing, we can use an Intel-based solution. Nowadays, some of the core banking applications are moving to the Intel platform, and that's why we are recommending Intel-based solutions, but IBM Power Systems is still a number one solution. It is our preferred platform for core banking applications.

What other advice do I have?

Before starting the implementation, I would advise others to take enough time in planning its implementation, especially the sizing.

I would rate IBM Power Systems a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
it_user758160 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior systems engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
I can now buy one 4U box with 16 cores and put a terabyte of memory in it

What is most valuable?

Flexibility and reliability are the two features that are probably the most important to us.

How has it helped my organization?

We get better performance out of our applications, out of our databases running on Power, than we would on anything else that we have looked at.

What needs improvement?

I think they could use a little more work in the upgrading of the OS, how that could happen as non-interrupting, but I think they are working on that.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is awesome because we can move from POWER8 to POWER9 when the new servers come out. It allows us to scale out, add new servers underneath it, buy new equipment and add it into the datacenter.

How was the initial setup?

It was pretty straightforward. The partition mobility helps a lot.

What was our ROI?

We do see a return on that investment, especially on the software licensing, when we are licensing DB2 or we are licensing WebSphere. We have seen that we have had to license fewer cores on the POWER8 than we had on the POWER7.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We've been using more of the mid-range systems than some of the bigger models, and we like that price point. We like where we are at there. It allows us to scale out the datacenter faster. It also allows us to react to a company or an application that's growing faster than someone else.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No. We were an HPE shop and we converted over to Power at POWER5. We thought the Power roadmap was just better, better suited for us.

What other advice do I have?

Using the Power system gives us a leg up. It helps us keep up with the competition.

What we like the best about the POWER8 is that it scaled down in size and power usage. When we were buying POWER5, we had to buy a 16U rack to get 16 cores and maybe a half terabyte of memory. Now I can buy one 4U box with 16 cores and put a terabyte of memory in it, and I'm in business.

We have now started thinking about moving to Linux on Power. We are just starting to scratch that surface.

The ongoing work that is being done behind the scenes, that keep improving the product, logical partition mobility, PowerVM, PowerAIX. I think that all of those help contribute to the way Power is running.

I do consider IBM to be a market leader and in order to remain a market leader they just need to keep improving. Keep improving the product, keep pushing the product. I think it looks great.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Administrator at GAEB
Real User
Top 10
A stable solution with low maintenance requirements
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution does not require any maintenance."
  • "We have a problem with the storage software. The media to restore data is also not found."

What needs improvement?

We have a problem with the storage software. The media to restore data is also not found. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for about five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is not scalable and my company has around 5000 users for it. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use HPE and Dell servers. We have found that IBM Power Systems require low maintenance compared to others. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution does not require any maintenance. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the product an eight out of ten. The solution is very stable and has no headaches related to maintenance. It is suited for large enterprises. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
MertPolatay - PeerSpot reviewer
General manager at Atlasconsulting
Real User
Top 5
The best solution for MIMIX and high availability
Pros and Cons
  • "Power Systems' best features include its user-friendliness and self-checking/self-healing abilities."
  • "Power Systems' price could always be lower."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use Power Systems for high availability and security.

What is most valuable?

Power Systems' best features include its user-friendliness and self-checking/self-healing abilities. It's also the best solution for MIMIX and high availability.

What needs improvement?

Power Systems' price could always be lower.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Power Systems for over thirty years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Power Systems is totally stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Power Systems is very scalable.

How are customer service and support?

IBM's tech support is one of Power Systems' best features.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very easy - you just power it on, and it's ready to work in an hour.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Power Systems is very cheap and provides good value for money.

What other advice do I have?

I would 100% recommend Power Systems to other users and would rate it ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Power Systems Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Power Systems Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.