While it is early days for the LVLT4i product we have already had a number of interesting conversations with IBM i users and Managed Service Providers about how we see it being deployed to the smaller IBM i user base.
Price advantages
For the smaller IBM i user the thought of going to a full blown High Availability Solution has always been one that comes with thoughts of big budgets and lots of heartache. The clients need a duplicate system plus the infrastructure required to allow the replication processes to sync data and objects between the systems. Add to this licenses for the High Availability Product, OS and ISV software means that many clients believe availability protection at this level as a viable option.
Even if they identify a Managed Service Provider who could offer the target environment, they still see this is as something beyond their budget.
LVLT4i is aimed at easing that problem, this a Managed Service offering with subscription based pricing based on the clients system (IBM Tier group), this allows the MSP to grow the business without having to invest in up front licensing costs while providing a hardware platform which meets their customers requirements. The iASP technology also reduces the costs for the Managed Service Provider because they can run many clients on a single target LPAR/system removing the one to one relationship generally seen in this scenario. The client will only pay a monthly fee, he will have no upfront capital expense to get signed off and will probably find the target systems are much faster and newer than his existing systems.
Skills advantages
We have been involved with IBM i (and its predecessors) for nearly 25 years in the High Availability market and we have carried out a lot of High Availability software implementations. During that time we have seen a lot of the problems people encounter when trying to implement and manage a High Availability environment. Moving that skill requirement to a Managed Service Provider will bring a number of benefits. The client staff will not have to keep up with the changing capabilities of the High Availability Product, they can concentrate on their main focus which is providing a IT infrastructure to meet the business’s needs. Installation and ongoing management of the replicated environment will be managed by the Managed Service Provider, no more consultancy fees to the High Availability Software provider every time you need to make a minor change. The Managed Service Provider will have a lot of knowledge spread throughout their team and many of that team will have specialist skills that can be brought in to figured out problems.
Technology advantages
LVLT4i uses iASP technology on the target system, the clients system will continue to use *SYSBAS so no changes are required for the clients applications. When the client needs to test or recover the iASP data is saved and restored back to *SYSBAS. This brings some added advantages because the content of those iASP’s can be saved and restored at any time to another LPAR/System for testing. This will allow you to test a new release of software without impacting your current production or recovery position, LVLT4i will continue to keep the recovery partition in sync. Recovery testing will be improved because you will be able to check that the recovery procedures you have developed work, all of this while your existing recovery protection is maintained. Being able to check if a new application update works, check out your application on a new release, check the migration of data to a new release/application, all of these can be carried out without affecting your production or recovery position. If you need extra backups to be taken these can be carried out on the target system at any time during the day, suspending the apply processes while the backup is performed or doing a save while active is not a problem.
The technology which is implemented at the Managed Service Provider will probably be much newer and faster than the client would invest in, this means the advantages of running on the newer systems and OS could be shown to the clients management and maybe convincing them that their existing infrastructure should be improved.
JQG4i will be implemented for those who need job queue content recovery and analysis, this means you can re-launch jobs that did not complete or start using the exact same parameters they were launched with on the source.
LVLT4i is the next level of protection for those who currently use tapes and vaulting for recovery. The Recovery Point Objective is already the same as a High Availability offering (at the transaction level) while the Recovery Time Objective in the 4 – 12 hours which is better than existing tape and vaulting solutions. We are not stopping there, we are already looking at how we can improve the Recovery Time Objective through additional automation and new replication processes, in fact we have already added additional features to the product that will help reduce the time it takes to recover a clients system to the recovery partition at the Managed service Provider. The JQG4i offer adds a new dimension to the recovery process, it brings a very important technology to the users that is not available in many of the High Availability offerings today, this could mean the difference between being able to recover or not.
Even if you already run a High Availability solution today you should look at this offering, having someone else manage the environment and provide a Recovery Point Objective/Recovery Time Objective this offers could be what you need. Many are running a High Availability solution to meet the Recovery Point Objective and not interested in a Recovery Time objective of minutes, this could be costing you more than its worth to maintain. LVLT4i and a Managed Service could offer significant benefits.
If you are interested in knowing more about LVLT4i and the Managed Service Providers we are working with let us know. We are actively seeking more Managed Service Providers who are interested in helping us build a better recovery solution for the IBM i user base.
Chris…