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With IBM Power Systems, Google Cloud said customers will be better equipped to support mission-critical workloads such as SAP applications and Oracle databases.
On Monday (13 January), Google announced that it now offers IBM Power Systems as part of its cloud solutions. Customers can now run IBM Power Systems as a service on Google Cloud – whether they are using IBM AIX, IBM i, or Linux on IBM Power.
In a statement, Google Cloud’s corporate vice-president of global ecosystem, Kevin Ichhpurani, said: “Enterprises looking to the cloud to modernise their existing infrastructure and streamline their business processes have many options. At one end of the spectrum, some organisations are re-platforming entire legacy systems to adopt the cloud.
“Many others, however, want to continue leveraging their existing infrastructure while still benefiting from the cloud’s flexible consumption models, scalability and new advancements in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics.”
Supporting mission-critical workloads
Google said that the introduction of IBM Power Systems aims to help customers meet their cloud goals, regardless of where they are on that spectrum.
“For organisations using a hybrid cloud strategy, especially, IBM Power Systems are an important tool,” Ichhpurani said.
This is because of its performance and ability to support mission-critical workloads – such as SAP applications and Oracle databases. With IBM Power Systems and Google Cloud, organisations using a hybrid cloud strategy now have “the best of both the cloud and on-premise worlds”, the company said.
Private API Access and integrated billing
There are other benefits that Google Cloud customers can avail of from the integration of IBM Power Systems.
For instance, Google Cloud’s private API Access technology lets customers access Google Cloud resources privately, while enabling IBM Power Systems resources to use private IP spaces, enabling ultra-low latency between the IBM Power servers and Google Compute Engine’s virtual machines.
The IBM Power Systems solution can also be deployed through the Google Cloud Marketplace, enabling users to take advantage of integrated Google Cloud Billing just like they would any other Google Cloud service. It will also have integrated customer support from Google Cloud.
The price of the enterprise offering wasn’t announced, but TechCrunch noted that given the cost of a Power-based server, it’s unlikely to be a bargain.
