- Are you struggling to find AS400 application support?
- Has reducing costs while trying to enhance operational efficiency become a challenge for you?
- Each time your AS400 system breaks down, do you have to stop everything to fix it?
AS400 support services have got you covered!
Today, we bring you the why, what, and how of the IBM AS400 support services to prove how it can be the game-changer you have been missing.
Let the transformation begin!
But first, What is AS400? (Skip if you’re already well-versed)
AS400 was initially introduced by IBM in 1988 and advertised as a family of easy-to-use software designed for small and mid-sized organizations. At the time of its release , IBM announced 1,000 software packages, which was the most significant application announcement in computers’ history.
By 1997, IBM took the world by storm and shipped almost half-million AS/400s software. Furthermore, by 2000, the AS/400 was replaced by the IBM iSeries. Today, the OS is called IBM i, and the hardware is called Power Systems.
However, many still prefer to call it AS/400 iSeries.
AS400 means “Application System 400”
- AS400 (Application System/400) is a multi-user, multitasking, and very secure System. These are a few reasons why industry leaders prefer AS400 iSeries to store sensitive data.
- Along with large enterprises, AS400 is best suited for small and middle-level industries and is used in various verticals like — pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail, banking, and financial organization.
- Programming languages available for the AS/400 are – COBOL, C, C++, CL, RPG, Java, SQL, PHP, Python, etc.
- AS400 is based on layered architecture and enables users to move to new computer hardware technology at any time, without interrupting their application programs.
- AS400 can identify only the object types, i.e., all that can be stored or recovered on the System is known as an object.
- Another feature of AS400 is that it is a very secure system that can store sensitive data. Which means, it is not easy to breach the security walls of IBM iSeries AS400.
Basics done and dusted?
Now, let’s pivot to the main topic at hand – iSeries Support
What is AS400/IBM i Support?
AS 400 support services is a suite of support and maintenance services offered by AS400 experts to resolve concerns around AS400 security, performance, and overall system and application functionality.
- Whether you are frustrated due to the AS400 system downtime,
- Worried about the poor performance of your AS-400 applications,
- OR unable to find the right AS400 experts to maintain IBM i applications.
AS400 support services are meant for you.
Wondering what are the common AS400 maintenance and support services?
Moving on, let’s focus on different AS 400 support services and how they ensure system reliability and top-notch performance.
Common IBM AS400 Support Services to Ensure Business Continuity
Defending AS400/iSeries can be frustrating and expensive at the same time. However, it need not necessarily be. A reliable IBM iSeries support service provider helps you redefine AS/400 protection by effortlessly backing it up and everything in your company’s data environment.
Here are the top IBM AS400 support and maintenance services that you may benefit from.
AS400 Application Support Services
AS400 application support services are to ensure that your IBM i AS/400 applications are running seamlessly.
Over 100,000 businesses are leveraging IBM i applications for their mission-critical operations. These businesses rely on IBM i application support services as its backbone.
Here’s an example to understand how AS400 support for applications helps –
Let’s assume that you are an IT manager of a manufacturing business.
Problem: You encountered an issue with the inventory management application running on AS400 and found yourself in need of a prompt resolution.
Solution: With an AS-400 support partner by your side, you have immediate help with troubleshooting.
Result: The partner has promptly identified the root cause, implemented fixes, and ensured minimal downtime, allowing your inventory management operations to resume smoothly.
AS400 Production Support Services
The IBM i production support services provide end-to-end assistance for IBM i systems in production environments.
This support service is especially suitable for businesses relying on AS400 iSeries for mission-critical operations and requires continuous uptime and performance.
Let’s understand this AS400 support service better with the help of an example.
Assume that you are a CTO of a healthcare organization heavily relying on AS400 for patient electronic health record management.
Problem: You experienced that your AS400 system underwent intermittent slowdowns during peak hours and slowed down the clinical workflows.
Solution: You decided to invest in AS 400 services for support.
Result: The AS400 support services provider has enhanced the AS400 system performance during peak usage times. This ensures that your organization can seamlessly access patient records promptly.
AS400 Technical Support
Effective AS400 technical support helps your organization maintain system stability and resolve technical issues promptly. This even helps you optimize AS400 performance to ensure well-oiled operations.
Let’s understand this IBM AS400 support service with the help of an example.
Assume that you are the CEO of a logistics company heavily invested in AS400 for order processing.
Problem: You witnessed that your AS400 software has frequent errors during batch processing, affecting the inventory updates.
Solution: You invest in the expertise of an AS400 technical support team.
Result: And the results were transformational. The optimized AS400 iSeries system not only reduced processing errors but improved overall logistics management.
Here are some other benefits of AS400 support service.
- Simple and straightforward data management: It eliminates expensive mainframe backup hardware, as it doesn’t involve any third-party tools for proprietary solutions.
- Effortlessly uses Azure as your backup target: The experts solve your IBM AS/400 protection by eliminating costly mainframes and effortlessly using Azure as backup solution.
- Manage, protect, and enable bare-metal recovery: The support experts manage, protect, and help bare-metal recovery, as it saves time and reduces costs, allowing your organization to get the data back quickly.
With iSeries support services, you can be sure that your system and data are protected. Protected against unexpected disasters, ensuring uninterrupted business continuity and defending valuable data.
Investing in suitable AS400 support services goes a long way in saving you from rebuilding applications from scratch and helping you resolve issues with a few clicks.
Did you know?
Most AS400 users from the United States are outsourcing their AS400 support requirements?
Why?
Moving forward, we will look into why businesses have started outsourcing AS400 iSeries support services.
Why Businesses Prefer to Outsource IBM iSeries Support & Services?
The primary role of companies using iSeries is to manage their operations, and many sources have constantly highlighted the same. According to the latest IBM i Strategy and Roadmap, more than 150,000 companies worldwide use the IBM iSeries platform.
And most of these business leaders are inclined toward outsourcing, instead of handling it in-house. Why?
1. Need for iSeries Expertise
One of the main drivers of iSeries support services outsourcing is the decrease in the skilled pool of AS400 experts. Many of these organizations have found that the IBM i experts are retiring or planning to do so in the near future.
Every company sees digital transformation as an operational necessity. While recruiting, the leaders are focusing on the latest IT skills and talents to put their business in a better position.
By outsourcing the management of iSeries IBM i support services, these organizations get on-demand access to highly experienced experts who can troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly.
The lack of access to expertise has directly resulted in outsourcing, increased operational efficiency and help desk support for many companies, like yours.
2. iSeries Help Desk Support
From an iSeries perspective, businesses, such as yours, need help desk support that understands the IBM iSeries operating system, its applications, and support requirements.
At the internal help desk, level 2 and 3 support experts deal with a variety of issues. And it is not common for many companies to have skilled experts in legacy AS400 applications.
In such a scenario, IBM iSeries support services outsourcing provides multi-level helpdesk support that can handle multiple ticket requests with ease.
3. Increase in iSeries Functionality
Increasing operational efficiency goes hand in hand with management and maintenance for IT teams, as legacy servers and their operating systems can pose significant challenges, if left unchecked.
Adding things like enhanced uptime improvements, big data management, and integration of cloud services is all possible with iSeries IBM support services.
Unfortunately, some IT teams only have limited time, with their mission-critical projects demanding most of their attention.
IBM iSeries support outsourcing involves scalable support by the service provider based on projects and needs of iSeries operations.
Businesses benefit from increased uptime by enabling secure and reliable server infrastructure with a 24/7 support model.
This could include any number of server and operating system improvements that increase flexibility and integrate new services such as the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud options.
4. Upgrade and Migration Challenges
Companies outsource IBM AS400 iSeries services for support primarily due to the upgrading and migration challenges.
Let’s understand it better with the help of an illustration.
For example, upgrading from 7.1 to 7.3 may be easy, but large leaps can cause problems that require a high level of expertise.
At some point, most companies will consider migrating their AS 400 applications to a different platform or cloud. The older the application, the more difficult it is to relocate due to coding changes.
Outsourcing AS400 support services gives you access to experts who have experience in iSeries Server Migration. This gives your IT team the support they need. Furthermore, this avoids potential losses that could cost you time, money, and operational efficiency.
5. Reduction in Operating Costs
Reducing IT project costs is crucial and iSeries AS400 outsourcing has made this possible for many companies.
This is seen in the reduction of both OPEX and CAPEX by eliminating the need for hardware, maintenance, upgrades, physical space, and associated overhead costs.
Outsourcing can significantly improve ROI for strategic IT leaders by reducing the labor costs associated with in-house iSeries work.
Companies, such as yours, can eliminate the high cost of increasing staff hours and bringing in iSeries specialists with the help of outsourcing. iSeries support services outsourcing can meet your business needs in a variety of areas.
The experts can more easily follow the best practices and keep abreast of regulatory, compliance, and safety requirements.
This is in addition to reducing management costs while maintaining excellent performance of your IBM iSeries and AS/400 environments.
By first assessing the needs of your business, this approach can help your company achieve broader strategic objectives and implement strategies that position your business for operational excellence.
Now you’re aware of why companies like yours are opting for AS400 outsourcing services.
As we move on to the next fold of our blog, we will answer a few popular questions about AS400 for you. Let’s go.
Why are Companies Shying Away from AS400 iSeries Nowadays?
There are plenty of reasons why businesses are reconsidering their use of the AS400 system.
Most popular of them are –
- Young programmers or developers do not want to learn this technology and think of it as obsolete.
- Some of the veterans of IBM AS400 have reached retirement age, and IT leaders fear that after their retirement, all their knowledge and expertise will go with them.
- Massive brain-drain as a lot of people is leaving the field
- Existing AS400 experts are unwilling to acquire modern technological innovations.
- Companies moving to platforms think of it as not user-friendly.
- Companies think software development and modifications on IBM AS400 support take more time, cost more and are difficult to maintain.
But that’s just half of the story!
The Truth of IBM AS400 iSeries is…
- In 2024, IBM is celebrating 36 years of AS400 launching, and so far, they are going strong.
- Popular cloud services like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are also looking to boost capabilities with IBM AS400 to enhance solutions.
- Companies are benefiting from the hybrid cloud solution that combines iSeries system hardware and cloud-based software.
Now that you know the complete truth about IBM iSeries AS400, let’s dispel any confusion around the misuse of AS400 and iSeries nomenclatures.
Why It’s Unfair to Compare IBM iSeries and AS400?
The IBM Power Systems, running the IBM i OS, has a long history.
The first version of IBM technology was introduced three decades ago. And, with a long history comes specific jargon that seems to be “sticky.”
And this is not a common phenomenon.
Today, almost every person has a minicomputer in their pocket and calls it a smartphone. Even though today’s smartphones resemble stationary rotary phones launched generations ago.
Similarly, electric burners are called stoves, though they are not in business as of now.
The world has gone through a revolutionary change since then, but we still use or misuse the name of some standard products in today’s scenario.
This has become the case with IBM i and AS400 as well. Many IT experts, even RPG developers, and programmers think that both are different iterations of a single software. But that’s not true, as both technologies refer to very other things in terms of functioning. This thing has created a lot of confusion in the market.
You can also redefine the whole scenario in this way – The complete confusion between IBM i and AS/400 has been a stumbling block in the digital transformation for enterprises while considering IBM technology for their business.
IBM i vs AS/400
Well, comparing IBM i and AS400 (or iSeries or Power Series) is like comparing apples to oranges, or you can say, it’s like comparing hardware to software.
Let’s go back to the history of this technology for a better understanding.
IBM AS/400 was launched in 1988. At that time, it was rolled out as a mid-range computer system for businesses. Moreover, the AS 400 was launched with the operating system (OS400).
In the last 30 years, the software that was launched as AS400 has evolved multiple times.
First, it has become an eServer iSeries, and then it was renamed “System i.” So, when a machine like AS/400 is referred to as “IBMi Series,” it means it’s the later version of the original AS 400. Furthermore, the latest generation of IBM hardware has been named “Power Systems,” but simply known as “IBM Power Series.”
In simple words –
IBM i is the operating system for the IBM Power Systems. And it went through several iterations as the hardware changed.
“AS400 is the physical server from the late 1980s and IBM i is the current OS for the IBM Power Series”, and this is today’s version of IBM AS400.”
Then What’s with the Confusion?
Why does every IT expert or developer keep saying that IBM Power Series is a version of the IBM AS400?
Well, IBM has put much effort into making all its OS (an application written on AS/400) and hardware compatible with today’s latest technologies.
This is one of the most significant features of the IBM Power Series. And this also shows that specific ways of interacting with technology persist, even after the technology has changed.
People who have worked with IBM AS/400 technology for a long time speak about the application written on AS400. And people who interacted with technology later talk about the IBM i technology, especially about the hybrid cloud solution.
Future of IBM AS/400 Technology
You must have noticed that many IT professionals have written IBM AS/400 as “dead,” but this is not true.
Although we agree that in the last few years, IBM has seen a downfall in popularity. However, this fact does not consider the comparative power of IBM i servers.
In past decades, IBM AS/400 has steadily reduced the number of servers up to 90% in the data centers. Ultimately, this has resulted in a significant decrease in the cost of business operations for thousands of companies.
Moreover, the popularity loss does not account for the organizations running their workloads on IBM cloud data centers. Many companies are taking concrete steps toward IBM technology and increasing their IBM i footprints, according to a survey result of 2019.
Many companies are moving towards IBM cloud setup. However, we agree that IBM AS/400 technology is old, but it is still strong in the current business environment
Reasons Why IBM AS400 is still the right choice:
- As stated earlier, the system is fully compatible, and it means it helps companies in cost saving by preventing costly code migrations at the time of platform upgrades.
- AS400 is not known as a modern platform, but this is a myth. It’s a healthy mix of both, i.e., native and open-source development language that gives it the balance of modern and legacy touch.
- Having IBM software onboard, nobody needs to worry about the security of their database.
- IBM i comes with four core servers, but it is scalable enough to handle up to 256 core servers.
- And finally, in terms of reliability IBM AS400 stands tall.
- If you look back, it may surprise you that the AS 400 has already completed 30+ years in the IT industry and is still going strong. Like any other technology that has attained durability and stability, it needs to be flexible and adaptable. This is where IBM has invested a lot of time and effort.
And because of this, the AS 400 system is not outdated. Furthermore, IBM releases regular updates for hardware and software. In today’s scenario, IBM Power Systems is its most powerful and flexible version available.
We hope you have got the answer to – Why IBM AS400 iSeries is still ruling the IT world.
And AS400 is the best example of how flexibility and scalability are necessary for establishing a long-lasting technology setup.
IBM AS400 has provided a strong foundation for updated versions, and this is the only thing that has stuck with the latest IBM Power Systems.
What are the Benefits of Having the Latest IBM iSeries Hardware and OS Platform?
Here are the top benefits of having the latest IBM AS/400 in your arsenal.
- You will get full support for any defect in hardware, operating system, and licensed program.
- You can upgrade to the latest software release and applications quickly.
- Hardware and operating system upgradation will be fully supported, from point zero to the installation phase.
- You will be able to take advantage of new features and new capabilities of hardware and OS.
- In the absence of the latest services, hardware and software defects will be repaired in 2 – 4 hours, or more, depending upon the fault in the server. But having the latest hardware support on board will help you get the best services, in terms of time and effort and most importantly, 24/7 service.
- By staying on current versions, you can quickly implement new software applications and features to meet the evolving needs.
- If you wish to upgrade, you can host your AS400 application on the cloud platform.
- You should be aware that in the long run, it is not too expensive to stay updated. If you are using the upgraded version, you will have to do it later, which will cost you more.
- With an upgrade facility, you will have alternatives in your field, but your choices will be limited with no support onboard.
One small oversight could lead to a huge disaster if you do not have a team of IBM experts to help you out.
If you are looking for IBM iSeries support professional services, then Integrative Systems is your trusted partner.
Why Choose Integrative Systems as Your AS400/i-Series Support Services Provider in the USA?
If you’re looking for a professional IBM iSeries outsourcing services provider, look no further than Integrative Systems.
As a silver business partner of IBM, we’ve been supporting AS/400 iSeries customers for over two decades.
We are an INC 5000 listed company and among leading AS/400 iSeries service providers across the United States.
We are an organization where our client’s success comes before the company’s success.
As a trusted service provider, we keep ourselves updated with the latest technology IBM has around the corner and regularly incorporate that technology into our customers’ solutions.
We offer a wide range of services, like –
- IBM AS400 migration and upgrade
- IBM i Modernization
- iSeries Integration
- Cloud Migration
- GUI for iSeries
- RPG Support
- EDI Services
Let’s See What Puts Integrative Systems Ahead of the Game:
Performance: We utilize the latest IBM technology, along with the latest in cloud computing technologies. We strive for the flexibility and scalability of resources, allowing businesses to focus on their business operations entirely.
Unlimited Support: Whether you are at work or on vacation, our IBM iSeries AS400 professionals are always ready to provide 24/7 support.
Ultra-secure Data Protection: We offer the highest quality security to our AS/400 iSeries customers and ensure that their data is always protected.
Certified Team of Professionals: Our AS/400 iSeries experts are IBM certified and provide clients with industry-leading support and maintenance services.
Our company is based in Chicago, USA. We are also a silver business partner of IBM and one of the INC 5000 fastest growing companies in the United States.
Want us to work for you?
Drop us a line at [email protected] and our team of experts will get back to you within 2 business days.
