IBM Touts i/OS as Ideal SaaS Platform in New White Paper

Published: May 18, 2010

by Alex Woodie

We've all known that the System i server is the ideal platform for running software as a service (SaaS) applications. What is heartening is that IBM is now touting this very idea to the broader IT world through a new 21-page white paper, called "IBM i and SaaS: Positioning IBM i as a software as a service platform."

Written by Jon Rush, who works in IBM Systems and Technology Group's Lab Services, the new white paper makes a good case for the i/OS server providing a solid platform for running SaaS workloads.

Several i operating system elements make it an ideal SaaS platform, according to Rush. These include its object-based security, its powerful system directory user and group management, its work management and job scheduling, and its integrated database.

According to Rush, IBM has identified more than 90 ISVs who are currently selling their software through the SaaS delivery model. This has caught the eye of Ian Jarman, manager of Power Systems software at IBM.

"We have a wide range of ISVs....who are delivering software as a service, sometimes as their core business, but often as a component business, where they are attracting smaller customers with a service software with multi-tenant hosting on their systems," Jarman said during a recent interview with IT Jungle at the COMMON conference in Florida.

"Our ISVs are finding it very easy to do this," Jarman continues. "This has proven to be a very good extension strategy for our ISVs, and the IBM i platform is really ideal for this type of multi-tenant software solution, either with partitions or subsystems or other techniques. So we're really sharing that information among our ISVs today so they can continue to reach down and build new business by bringing new companies in as a cloud service."

A PDF copy of the SaaS white paper can be downloaded at www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/whitepaper/ibmi/saas/ position/lc=en_US.

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