Retiring IBM POWER8 – A Clear Path Forward

Introductions and agenda

Ash Giddings and Tonny Bastiaans: Introduction to the session and the five areas covered: the current POWER8 situation, the IBM i 7.4 support deadline, options off POWER8, live migration, and the bigger business-continuity picture.

The situation — Where POWER8 stands today

POWER8 reached IBM end of service across the line in 2024. IBM i 7.4 is the last IBM i release the platform can run, so POWER8 cannot move to IBM i 7.5 or 7.6 without changing hardware or infrastructure. The session also covers diminishing replacement-part availability and the absence of further POWER8 firmware updates.

The deadline — September 30, 2026

IBM i 7.4 standard support ends on September 30, 2026. The webinar explains the role of IBM Service Extension after that date and why remaining on 7.4 is a time-limited stopgap rather than a long-term platform strategy.

Security, audit and insurance considerations

The presenters discuss how unsupported or unpatched systems can increase exposure over time and why current, resilient platforms are easier to defend in security, compliance and insurance conversations.

Your two paths off POWER8

Path 1: refresh on-premise to Power11 and retain full control of hardware, data, and network. Path 2: move native IBM i workloads to IBM Power Virtual Server, without owning the physical hardware.

Choosing between Power11 and IBM PowerVS

The webinar compares capital investment, maintenance responsibility, deployment speed, data residency and scalability to help IBM i teams evaluate which route fits their business priorities.

Migrate Live — moving with minimal downtime

Maxava Migrate Live uses real-time replication between IBM i servers, maintains synchronised copies of data, supports integrity auditing and enables simulated role swaps before the final cutover. The objective is a rehearsed, low-risk migration to new hardware or cloud with minimal downtime.

After migration — rethink HA and DR

The discussion closes by reinforcing that migration does not remove the need for high availability and disaster recovery. IBM Power Virtual Server can also be used as an HA or DR destination for either on-premise or cloud-based IBM i environments.