IBM Power Systems Reviews

We are currently using IBM Power Systems for applications and database core banking.

We found when working with IBM Power Systems that LPM is the most valuable feature.

I would like to see IBM Power Systems integrate with all cloud types.

I have been using IBM Power Systems for the past seven years.

IBM Power Systems is the most stable solution in the world.

The scalability of IBM Power Systems is good.

IBM Power Systems is very expensive. We have mid-range, entry, and enterprise. Every machine has its own licensing.

The setup of IBM Power Systems is complex. There are many steps and it takes three days to a week.

Before you purchase IBM Power Systems you should consider capacity requirements. 

I work with Dell servers in addition to IBM Power Systems.

I would rate IBM Power Systems an eight out of ten.

IBM Power Systems is used for data centers for CVS, activation, and databases.

Power Systems' best features are that it's reliable, stable, and easily available. It's also really scalable and can be virtualized without third-party software support. Power Systems has its own PowerVM where you can make VMs and have multiple systems in the same server, which benefits customers in terms of licensing.

The price is a bit high and could be improved.

I've been working with Power Systems since 2012.

PowerSystems is very reliable, it has very little downtime, so we don't have to worry about it going down or performing badly.

Power Systems is really scalable.

The initial setup is very straightforward - we migrated one bank in three days. The software is also 100% record compatible, so we don't have to think about compatibility and worry that older things won't work.

Power Systems is a bit more costly than other products in the market, but in terms of ROI and the longevity, performance, and reliability that Power Systems provides, it's worth it in the long run. 

PowerSystems is better than all other systems in the market, and I would recommend it to anybody whose application does not have a dependency in the operating system and machine. I would rate PowerSystems as ten out of ten.

I use IBM Power Systems for databases.

The most valuable feature of IBM Power Systems is its performance.

IBM Power Systems could improve by having a cloud feature.

I have been using IBM Power Systems for approximately 15 years.

The stability of IBM Power Systems is good.

IBM Power Systems is scalable in my experience.

We have approximately 10,000 people using this solution in my organization. We do not plan to increase usage.

The support provided by IBM Power Systems is very good.

I have not used any other solution in the past.

The setup of IBM Power Systems is easy because I have experience with it before. The full deployment took approximately four months.

We used a partner for the implementation of the solution.

We have seven engineers that provide the maintenance and support of our IBM Power Systems.

The price of IBM Power Systems is expensive and could improve.

I have evaluated Oracle before we decided to choose IBM Power Systems.

I would advise those who want to use IBM Power Systems to always have technical support.

I rate IBM Power Systems a ten out of ten.

Our primary use case for IBM Power Systems is Oracle Databases.

The main feature that I have found most valuable is PowerVM - its virtualization feature which is the most powerful.

With the new POWER9, and even with the POWER8, processor, IBM has incorporated Linux compatibility into its platform. All its new developments on this platform are great. I really don't see anything at the moment which would be improving the platform. I'm totally grateful for the possibility of using Linux and AIX in the same hardware.

In the next release, I would like to see additional graphical dashboards to help the administrators access information more easily.

I have been using IBM Power Systems for five years. I work in a company selling IBM Power Solutions. I've been selling Power solutions for the last 10 years. We are IBM's partner in Bolivia.

I'm totally satisfied with the solution. It helps the IT team especially so they can work quite confidently.

IBM Power Systems' platform scales with the different types of equipment so you start using a little hardware, but not as little as it might sound because it is a very powerful platform, for the little servers. So you can grow up and scale out. You can scale up quite easily with the IBM Power Systems.

We have between 800 to 1,000 users. All of them have access to the apps that use the database.

In terms of staff required for deployment or maintenance, there are six guys who are database administrators and operating system administrators.

Right now we do not have plans to increase the usage, maybe in the future.

We needed to use IBM support just a couple of times and the onset time was quite comfortable so I can say I'm comfortable with quality of service support from IBM.

The initial setup is not complex. It's not quite easy, but with the service support it's quite easy.

With AIX it takes between two and six hours to prepare the platform for a new environment for the production stage and once the initial environment has been set up it is quite easy because you can replicate it or modify it according to your new requirements.

We have our own service team in our company so we didn't use external services.

We bought the license for a three year period. We always buy hardware with a three-year support and maintenance fee. It's just the standard fee.

To anyone considering it, I would say that the IBM Power platform is so secure and stable.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give IBM Power Systems an eight.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

When it comes to reliability, availability and profitability, nothing can beat IBM Power Systems. The machine has great availability and is very serviceable. One can do so many things while the machine is up and running. There is no need to shut anything down. This is how we have been conducting our business for the past few years. 

There are several features which I feel should be added to the solution, including those concerning the graphic processors. 

I am referring to the GPU based machines involved in machine learning. The new systems focus on the part involved in experiencing, but not on machine learning. The product should come with a comprehensive portfolio which will address all the high performance computing requirements, in additiona to machine and deep learning. This is an issue which I raised with IBM. 

Software testing and the compatibility of software products that are available in the market should be addressed. This is an issue we sometimes face, as this particular product is not tested, certified and available in Power Systems. We have lost deals over this. 

The price of the solution could be somewhat better and this is what lowers my rating of it to a seven or eight out of ten. We directly compete with Intel-based products, which several vendors make available, and a price improvement would certainly give us an advantage over the competition. 

I have been using IBM Power Systems for more than 10 years.

I rate the solution as a seven or eight out of ten for its price. As we are talking about a very competitive market, the pricing could be a bit better. This would give us a definite edge over the competition, as we find ourselves in direct competition with Intel-based products, which are available from a number of vendors. 

This system is ideal when it comes to performance and reliability. I don't see any need for improving on its current features and functionality. 

We are resellers of IBM FlashSystem. 

Owing to the issues with its pricing, I rate IBM Power Systems as a seven or eight out of ten. 

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.

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.

I have been using this solution for one year.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Its price depends on the sizing.

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.

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.

We use the solution primarily to provide services for the employees in our institute. Basically, it's the domain active directory. We also use it for its own server and providing the internet and our email server. We shifted recently to the Microsoft Product F365. We got the enterprise license for that as well. We don't use it to provide cloud services. We actually provide local services.

The older version of the servers that we had was the Dell Edge. The Dell Edge was a very old model and it had limited hardware capability and storage capacity. We had unfortunately faced some problems with providing for the new services due to these limitations. I'm talking about financially providing for the new service. 

The improvement was quite noticeable when we did the upgrade. We had faster service, better internet connection, and a more stable internet connection. We had a very stable active directory. I would say that whenever the users wanted to log in, we had no delays in creating the user profile and having the user access the server services such as Outlook or the internet. A firewall was installed also. The improvements were on a network scale, as well as the scale of the service. 

What we like the most is the ability to upgrade the scaling of the system itself. Whenever we need extra storage, we can do that. Whenever we need extra memory, we can do that as well. It's fast and it's available.

Thus far, the solution has been sufficient. I can't think of an area that really needs improvement at this time.

For the time being, our need is limited to certain features that are completely available in the Power Systems that we use. I can't say that we need an extra feature, or, at least, not in the near future.

The pricing of the product could always be lowered.

I've been dealing with the solution for two years. It was purchased in late 2019.

It's not the hardware itself that's unstable as much as it is the software. The hardware is stable enough. However, the software from time to time requires maintenance, and that requires us to reinstall some of the features. Sometimes we face problems with upgrading to newer versions or updates. Occasionally, we have to revert back to an older version. That said, in terms of the hardware itself, it's stable enough. We haven't had any failures so far in the hardware, with the exception of hard drives.

The scalability of the solution is excellent. It's very easy to scale and you can expand as much as you need to rather quickly.

Currently, we have between 350 and 450 users that access the solution.

In general, we do plan to increase usage. We're looking to have another server installed on a different site to upgrade the existing one. Right now, they're getting their services via a link from our servers, however, we are required to have a dedicated server on that different site to provide them with the services directly.

We have divisions. Everyone has their specialty in terms of maintaining the servers. In terms of software, we have a system administrator that takes care of the software. In terms of hardware, we directly communicate with the service provider. They come and they take a look if, and only if we require some upgrades. That said, there's been no hardware failure before. 

What we do is if there is any upgrade done to the servers, we use a tender system. We announce that we need an upgrade, and three companies come forward saying that we provide this upgrade to this system that you have, and we usually select the proper one either by price or by standards. If they meet the standards of the upgrade that we need, then they do that. However, if we require services for the hardware that we have in the company, then the one that we bought the hardware from is the one who does the service. The agent of IBM is local. He knows the servers, and he does the maintenance on them.

The initial setup wasn't complex at all. We were familiar with how the systems are and the system that we wanted to install. The shifting from an older generation, an older server, to the new server wasn't done, actually. We had a freshly installed active directory. We improved the structure during the shifting phases. The only thing that we actually did for deployment was that we had the deployment imaging ready when we did it, and we customized it based on a virtual machine.

When we installed the virtual machine, we did the testing to scale the deployment prior to the arrival of the servers, and then we did the installation directly. We had everything ready. The only thing that we shifted was the user data from the old server to the new server. That took a while. Other than that, the deployment was straightforward.

The cost could always be lower to make it more affordable to organizations.

We did look at Dell Systems, however, they were very expensive.

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with IBM.

In general, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten so far.

While every organization has to choose its options based on their requirements, I can say that this particular solution has met our needs quite well.