Value Proposition for IBM i & Power Systems for SAP Business All-in-One Deployment Cost/Benefit Case

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Conclusions

IBM i on Power Systems represents the convergence of two industry-leading technology streams. IBM i 7.1 is the latest version of an operating system that has been supported by SAP since 1996, and has been consistently enhanced since that time. Currently more than 1,500 organizations worldwide run SAP solutions on IBM i. New installations continue.

Power Systems are recognized leaders in performance for SAP as well as a wide range of other industry benchmarks, and incorporate some of the most sophisticated virtualization, workload management and availability optimization features in existence today.

IBM i and Power Systems are supported and enhanced as part of the broader strategic relationship between SAP and IBM. DB2, for example, is SAP’s “preferred and recommended” database for its Business Suite 7 generation of solutions. SAP and IBM development teams continue to work closely on future enhancements to this platform.

Although IBM i on Power Systems is also employed in many large SAP installations, its primary appeal has been to midsize users. Its distinctive strengths in simplicity, stability and low cost of ownership map directly to the requirements of organizations that require full-function ERP solutions, but whose funds and skill sets are more limited than those of their enterprise counterparts.

IBM i on Power Systems allows midsize businesses to realize state-of-the-art ERP capabilities, while materially reducing the technical complexities and risks to which they exposed, and enabling them to deliver levels of performance, availability and security that in the past have been enjoyed only by larger organizations.