IBM Power11: Is Now the Right Time To Upgrade?

The announcement of a new generation of IBM Power systems is always met with a predictable wave of industry excitement. The new Power11 is no exception, promising significant leaps in performance, efficiency, and security. However, for organisations running business-critical applications on dependable Power7, Power8, Power9 or Power10 systems, the decision to undertake a major platform upgrade cannot be based on hype. It demands a rigorous, impartial, and financially sound business case.

The core question isn’t whether Power11 is a more powerful machine – it unequivocally is. The real questions are: Is it sufficiently powerful to deliver a compelling return on investment for your business? What are the true total costs of an upgrade? And, critically, when is the right time to make the move?

The Core Question 1: What is the True Consolidation Potential for IBM Power users?

A primary driver for any hardware upgrade is the potential to consolidate, reducing data centre footprint, simplifying management, and lowering power and cooling costs. The key is to understand the realistic consolidation ratio for your specific workload mix.

For Power9 users:
Initial data suggests a consolidation ratio of approximately 3:1 is achievable when moving from Power S924 systems to a new Power S1124. For larger enterprises, migrating from a Power9 E980 to a Power11 E1180 could yield a system performance improvement of up to 2.4 times for AIX workloads.

For Power7/8 Owners:
The potential is far more dramatic. Analysis shows it’s possible to consolidate four or even five Power S824 servers onto a single S1124. For IBM i workloads, moving from a Power8 E880C to a Power11 E1180 could result in a system performance (CPW) increase of up to 4.3 times.

While these figures are impressive, a true analysis from Covenco can model your specific applications to determine the actual consolidation benefits and associated cost savings.

The Core Question 2: How Much Can You Genuinely Save on Software?

Software licensing, particularly for databases, often represents a far greater proportion of TCO than the hardware itself. The per-core performance of Power11 is therefore a critical metric in any upgrade business case.

Impact on Oracle/AIX:
Compared to Power9, Power11 delivers a 25-40% increase in per-core performance – and for Power8, that leap grows to 70-90%. For any workload licensed on a per-core basis, you reduce your annual software bill by running the same workload on fewer, more powerful cores.

Impact on IBM i:
The CPW performance per core sees a massive uplift. Migrating from Power9 can yield a 60-80% improvement , while a move from Power8 could deliver a staggering 130-145% increase. This not only reduces costs but can also move your entire estate into a lower, more affordable processor software tier.

A thorough TCO analysis from Covenco can help you model these gains against your current software estate to forecast tangible, long-term savings.

The Core Question 3: What Are the Real-World Efficiency and Risk Mitigation Gains?

Beyond raw performance, a platform upgrade must be assessed on its ability to reduce operational costs and mitigate the growing risks of running on ageing infrastructure.

Energy and Cooling:
Can you quantify the savings from a more efficient platform? A migration from Power9 can reduce energy and cooling costs by up to 60%; from Power8, this figure can be as high as 80%. This has a direct impact on operational expenditure and helps meet corporate sustainability (CO2) targets.

Cyber Security:
What is the value of protecting your business against future threats? Power11 is built with quantum-safe encryption for secure boot and partition mobility, a feature entirely absent in Power7/8 and a significant enhancement over Power9.

Availability:
Power11 introduces spare processor cores that can be activated in the event of a fault to maintain operations, providing a level of resilience unavailable in previous generations. Covenco can help you measure the cost of an unplanned outage which you could factor into your business case.

Beyond the Hype: Get a Definitive TCO Analysis of IBM Power11 from Covenco

The performance metrics are compelling, but a migration must be a cost-efficient and practical exercise for your specific environment. Covenco’s role is to go beyond the hype and help you build that business case. We are able to run all the necessary TCO calculations to establish precisely if an upgrade is the right decision for your organisation, right now.

We provide IBM Power Systems users with real-world, transparent calculations that go far beyond list prices. Our comprehensive analysis includes:

• Financial Modelling: A clear breakdown of capital expenditure, financing options, support, and maintenance costs for the new platform versus your existing estate.
• Migration and Engineering Costs: A realistic assessment of the professional services required to execute the migration smoothly.
• Licence Savings Analysis: A detailed forecast of the savings achievable on your specific software licences (e.g., IBM i, Oracle) based on workload modelling.
• Environmental and Energy Report: Tangible calculations of the reduction in power consumption, heat output, and CO2 figures, translating efficiency gains into pounds and pence.
• Managed Services: Where applicable, Covenco will factor in the costs and benefits of ongoing management for the new environment.

These calculations will be created in association with IBM, but our in-house experts will rigorously fact-check the figures. This ensures we can advise you on precisely when – and if – a migration to Power11 is a worthwhile and financially sound exercise for your business. To begin this no-obligation analysis, contact your Covenco account manager today.