Sirius Computer Builds Out Biz With DyComp Acquisition

May 21, 2007 Timothy Prickett Morgan

In November 2006, IBM system reseller Sirius Computer Solutions announced that it had received an equity investment from Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, which has invested in or acquired a number of i5/OS-related software companies. In the wake of that infusion, Sirius has acquired another reseller named DyComp.

“Being a small, regional company has allowed me to hand pick the people on my team and focus on giving the best customer service as an IBM solutions provider,” said Jim Dyson, president and chief executive officer at DyComp, which he founded in 1997 and which is now located in Clemmons, North Carolina. “But given today’s complexities in IT solutions, I knew I needed to join forces with a company with much broader and deeper skills in products, platforms, and disciplines that we didn’t have. Sirius complements our skills in key strategic areas and that is going to help my employees grow and my customers receive even more complete IT solutions.”

DyComp’s employees have expertise in various System i technologies, including various Tivoli security tools, Web content management, IP telephony, and database and other information management tools. The company has been an IBM premier business partner since 2000, and sells the System i and System p Power-based servers and the System x X64 servers as part of its solutions.

Sirius, which is based in San Antonio, Texas, is the largest reseller of IBM systems in the United States, and it will weave DyComp into its eastern sales region. Dyson will become an area sales manager in Sirius’ mid-Atlantic region, and will report to Deborah Bannworth, sales vice president for the eastern region at Sirius.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. And it seems reasonable to expect similar deals from Sirius in the not too distant future as the reseller community, just like other parts of the IT business, keep consolidating.

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Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 16, Number 20 -- May 21, 2007

Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

“Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

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