IBM i (formerly AS/400) has been running mission-critical operations for Australian businesses for decades. Banks, insurance companies, manufacturers, wineries, agricultural businesses and companies providing services to the mining sector have built their core systems on this platform – and many continue to rely on it today.
Despite IBM’s ongoing innovation on this platform, some IT leaders view it as legacy. While that perception doesn’t always reflect the reality of what the platform delivers – or the complexity of what it would take to replace it – migration remains a path some organisations choose to take.
In this blog, we’re going to outline the three stages that IBM i customers generally fall into: those who love it, those who depend on it daily but are losing the skills to manage it and those who are ready to move on.
Each stage carries its own risks and its own path forward. Let’s explore them.
Stage 1. Staying on IBM i and strengthening your IBM i platform
Most existing IBM i environments in Australia have been running on the platform for more than 20 years. One of its greatest strengths is its exceptional backward compatibility. Applications developed 30 to 40 years ago can still run on the latest IBM i operating system versions and modern IBM Power hardware without requiring any code changes.
IBM Power hardware running IBM i is widely recognised as one of the most robust enterprise platforms available today. Because of this stability, some organisations tend to overlook the importance of maintaining a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery strategy and keeping the platform secure and current. For organisations in this stage, improvement typically means addressing the below three areas.
Backup and disaster recovery
Regardless of the platform’s resilience, regular and well tested backups remain critical to protect against:
- Data loss
- Cyber attacks
- Ransomware
- Human error
- Disaster events (natural disasters, power outages)
Zero downtime backup solutions for IBM i production systems minimise operational impact while ensuring critical data is protected.
Security and patch management
Many organisations adopt a “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” approach. However, IBM regularly releases security patches and system updates that are essential to maintaining strong security.
IBM i security assessments identify vulnerabilities and configuration weaknesses, while ongoing patch management and system maintenance keep everything secure and compliant.
Supporting legacy application modernisation with APIs
IBM i typically sits at the centre of the organisation as the core system of record, with modern applications and digital platforms built around it.
Modern APIs have become the standard for exposing existing IBM i business logic and connecting it to web, mobile and cloud applications. This enables organisations to modernise the user experience and extend digital capability without disrupting the core systems that underpin day-to-day operations.
This approach allows organisations to continue leveraging their existing IBM i investment while progressively integrating with modern digital platforms and supporting legacy application modernisation where required.
Stage 1: Case study
A South Australian manufacturer had been operating on IBM i for more than 20 years without a consistent backup strategy or a dedicated disaster recovery environment. Advent One assisted the customer in migrating their IBM i workloads to Advent One-managed infrastructure, implementing a reliable backup regime and a secondary system that continuously replicates data from the production environment.
The customer now conducts annual disaster recovery testing to validate business continuity capabilities, with Advent One managing it in line with agreed Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).
Stage 2. Managing IBM i through a skills transition
IBM i is generally not taught within higher education institutions, resulting in limited exposure and familiarity among younger IT professionals. The primary pathway to gaining IBM i expertise is through on-the-job training and hands-on experience. The result is a narrowing pipeline of talent as experienced IBM i professionals approach retirement.
There is often reluctance among younger professionals to specialise in IBM i due to the perception that it is a legacy platform. Despite this, IBM i continues to run many mission-critical business applications across a wide range of industries.
What happens when the skills walk out the door
The impact varies depending on the organisation and the complexity of its IBM i estate. When experienced IBM i professionals leave, organisations face:
- Loss of operational knowledge to manage and maintain core IBM i applications
- Inability to correctly start, stop, monitor, troubleshoot, and recover critical systems
- Routine maintenance that becomes difficult to execute without specialist expertise
- Unexpected outages that can lead to extended downtime and serious business disruption
How to address the skills gap
Organisations must adopt strategies such as:
- Upskilling new employees
- Implementing structured knowledge transfer programs
- Partnering with specialised service providers
The goal is to maintain operational continuity while building long-term internal capability.
Stage 2: Case study
The lead system administrator for a Victorian manufacturing business decided to retire, creating a significant skills and operational support gap. Having supported the customer for over two decades, Advent One was engaged to provide ongoing IBM i operational support and expertise. Advent One manages the environment at the operating system level on the customer’s existing hardware, ensuring continued stability and access to specialised IBM i expertise.
Stage 3. Moving on from IBM i
Many organisations have developed highly customised applications on IBM i over several decades to support their unique business processes and operational requirements.
When organisations attempt to move away from IBM i, they often transition to SaaS platforms or standard ERP solutions. However, these applications typically offer limited customisation capabilities, requiring organisations to adapt and redesign their existing business processes to fit the constraints of the new software.
As a result, many organisations have invested significant time, effort and financial resources into application migration initiatives, only to find that fully replacing their IBM i platform is far more complex than anticipated. In many cases, critical business functions continue to rely on IBM i applications due to their deep integration with the organisation’s operations and workflows.
The recommended approach
Given the risks, complexity and costs associated with replacing long-established IBM i applications, Advent One recommends:
- Continue leveraging existing IBM i applications rather than forcing a full replacement
- Adopt AI-assisted development and support tools to address the Report Program Generator (RPG, IBM’s long-standing business programming language) skills shortage
- Enable younger IT professionals skilled in programming languages such as Java and Python to support legacy IBM i systems with the use of the new tools available.
When full migration is the right decision
Moving away from IBM i is primarily an application-driven decision. The choice of replacement application or platform determines the underlying hardware and infrastructure requirements.
The transition typically involves running both systems concurrently while business units migrate progressively, maintaining continuity throughout.
Stage 3: Case study
A South Australian enterprise customer is transitioning from IBM i to a SaaS-based ERP solution. Advent One is supporting them by establishing the necessary data connections between IBM i and the new SaaS application, enabling a phased migration of different business units.
Both systems run concurrently until all systems are fully migrated. While the customer’s IT team focuses on the migration, Advent One manages the customer’s IBM i operations day-to-day so staff can concentrate on the transition without disruption.
Finding the right path forward
The IBM i lifecycle looks different for every organisation. Some will modernise in place through legacy application modernisation and cloud integration. Some will manage a skills transition. Some will pursue migrating to other SaaS based solutions. Most will move through more than one stage over time.
Internal IT teams are often highly skilled in maintaining and supporting their existing IBM i applications. However, migration and transformation design requires experience across multiple organisations and environments, which is where IBM Business Partners such as Advent One add value.
Advent One begins every IBM i engagement with a thorough assessment of the organisation’s hardware, software, backup, disaster recovery capabilities, performance and where it sits within the IBM i lifecycle. From there, the team develops practical recommendations tailored to the organisation’s environment and business priorities, helping design practical, low-risk approaches that align with business requirements and reduce implementation risk.
All three stages outlined above are supported by the same dedicated IBM i team, bringing extensive experience across modernisation, managed services and migration planning, regardless of where the journey leads.
Not sure where your organisation sits in the IBM i lifecycle – or what to do next? Talk to Advent One.