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The clamour to construct the next incarnation of what are often called legacy IT systems shows no signs of letting up. As we reported earlier this year, the application modernization market has seen a lot of investment, attention, and innovation.
Modernization means more than mainframe – however. A notable segment of the market of core business systems remains the IBM I Series, often loving referred to as its previous label, the AS/400. Estimates put the worldwide footprint of that hardware in the many tens of thousands of organizations, making it the undisputed leader of mid-range systems.
Additionally, it is common knowledge that the language, RPG, remains the beating heart of the vast majority of AS/400 business applications.
Time for your I examination
So far, however, we have not expressly quantified any of this – so it would be useful to get some evidence of scale.
The size of the AS/400 market is a sensible place to start. Immediately, there is a range of estimates to consider – Enlyft claims to have 47,200 organizations as the number, while Fortra claims 100,000, as does Hardis Group (citing IBM figures). Other estimates fall between the two, including the all400 list, which sits at 53,500. The disparity in estimates is at least partly explained by this article, which differentiates current and active customers from those who are on older variants or have dropped off maintenance but still (likely) use the technology.
Further examination of the market provides greater insight into attitudes and trends. The Fortra study – dedicated to studying the IBM System i Market – offers an illuminating perspective on this important corner of the legacy IT world.
Headline statistics from its 2024 report include the following -
- RPG is the most widely used language for new development on IBM i (89%) - RPG 89%, COBOL 16%
- 94% of respondents this year believe their IBM i server gives them better ROI than other servers
- 71% of respondents use IBM i to run more than half of their core business applications
- 72% of respondents now citing Modernization as a top concern compared to just 51% in 2021
- 36% intending to move part or all their IBM i application set to another platform
- 3% of respondents plan to migrate all applications from IBM i within 2 years. Of those planning to migrate their applications from IBM i, 62% are planning to do so more than two years from now.
- 56% have 5 or fewer developers; 66% have 2 or fewer administrators.
The perceived value of the platform and the continued importance of it in terms of production workload is significant. System I – typically running RPG applications – remains a vital part of the business across tens of thousands of organizations. Crucially, however, cloud computing and a significant increase in focus on modernization suggests that there could be a major shift in the platform in the coming few years. It does appear, however, that the planning will be careful, and staged – perhaps indicating the difficulty (and resource constrained nature) of the process.
Curiously, no mention is made of respondents’ attitudes to platform skills as a critical factor – although that number was up at 46% in the 2021 edition of the same survey. Broader studies and other sources suggest that IT skills challenges in the IBM i ecosystem are at least as challenging as elsewhere, however, which reinforces the worrying levels of risk carried by many organizations, given their dependence on such a small team of system I experts.
Knowledge is Power
There is an understandable anxiety for application owners in the AS/400 world. What will be possible in the coming few years? Yet, nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action, and the action required is to take the first steps towards a practical evolution of those systems – whether they are RPG or COBOL based.
That starts with providing automated insights to the small number of developers of how the applications are constructed, to help accelerate maintenance, and to help plan other modernization activities. Technology such as the AveriSource Platform (see below) offer unprecedented insight into long-standing AS/400 RPG (or COBOL) based business applications and provide a crucial first step in any major modernization or renewal project – namely understanding exactly how the applications are composed.
A Feast for the I’s.
To understand the true power of technology that provides all the information you need about your applications at your fingertips, it is important to see it for yourself. What better way than to join the AveriSource team live at Navigate event in Toronto, Canada. Learn more about this IBM I Modernization event - NAViGATE Toronto 2024 - Common
With longstanding value and ROI invested into the systems, not to mention a dwindling set of internal skills to manage the platform, any major change program involving AS/400 systems carries risk and concern. Getting expert help in the shape of technology that illuminates vital application information to help you shape your future strategy offers an efficient and effective means of lowering risk and accelerating your platform modernization plan. Contact AveriSource – in person (at Navigate Toronto) or via our website – to learn more about how the AI-Powered AveriSource Platform can help you take the next steps towards IBM I modernization.
