New IBM program is designed for moving Unix i-based POWER apps to a private cloud. Credit: Getty Images IBM has launched the Power Private Cloud (PPC) Rack solution, a converged infrastructure product that migrates on-premises apps running on its POWER9/AIX systems to the cloud. The solution consists of three POWER System S922 servers with 20 CPU cores, 256GB of RAM, and 3.2TB of NVMe local storage, plus a new storage enclosure, the FlashSystem 5200, with a minimum of 9.6TB and a pair of SAN24B-6 switches with 24 Fibre Channel ports. On the software side, the bundle comes with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, IBM PowerVM Enterprise Edition, IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP), and Red Hat OpenShift OpenShift Container Storage (OCS). The reliance on OpenShift makes sense, as OpenShift is very popular and used by all the major cloud vendors, and IBM didn’t spend $34 billion on Red Hat for nothing. The solution combines an optimized stack of hardware and software to simplify the deployment of cloud-native apps in a private cloud environment. The PPC Rack solution comes in two deployment sizes: PPC Rack for new deployments, described above, and PPC Rack starter deployment, a single-node configuration with Network File System (NFS) storage only and RHEL 8, PowerVM, PowerVC, and Red Hat OCP software. IBM claims these bundles mean “traditional eight-week deployment is condensed to eight hours” through automation. It also as claims twice as much performance per compute node and 3.2 times greater container density per core as compared to x86 architectures. Through integration of existing AIX and IBM i (its former OS/400 operating system) workloads with new cloud-native apps, IBM says PPC “protects past investments with a seamless integration of existing applications with new cloud-native technologies.” It also suggests using this hardware to migrate i applications to cloud-native environments. In a nutshell, what IBM has done with PPC is offer a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) similar to what HPE, Dell, Lenovo, VMware, and Nutanix offer: container-centric converged or hyperconverged machines. It’s just that IBM is offering it for POWER9/AIX/i users looking to migrate to OpenStack. Related content news Omdia: AI boosts server spending but unit sales still plunge A rush to build AI capacity using expensive coprocessors is jacking up the prices of servers, says research firm Omdia. By Andy Patrizio Dec 04, 2023 4 mins CPUs and Processors Generative AI Data Center news AWS and Nvidia partner on Project Ceiba, a GPU-powered AI supercomputer The companies are extending their AI partnership, and one key initiative is a supercomputer that will be integrated with AWS services and used by Nvidia’s own R&D teams. By Andy Patrizio Nov 30, 2023 3 mins CPUs and Processors Generative AI Supercomputers news VMware stung by defections and layoffs after Broadcom close Layoffs and executive departures are expected after an acquisition, but there's also concern about VMware customer retention. By Andy Patrizio Nov 30, 2023 3 mins Virtualization Data Center Industry news AI partly to blame for spike in data center costs Low vacancies and the cost of AI have driven up colocation fees by 15%, DatacenterHawk reports. By Andy Patrizio Nov 27, 2023 4 mins Generative AI Data Center Podcasts Videos Resources Events NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe