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The IBM Power S1014 will become available on a subscription basis. For a monthly fee, customers receive the server at a location of choice. IBM provides a database system and maintenance.

The server remains the property of IBM. The service’s release date is unknown. The Register reports that the subscription will cost $50 per user/month.

The Power S1014 server features 64GB of memory and 2.8TB of NVMe storage. The model supports Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC). The server is designed for workloads on IBM AIX, IBM i and Linux.

On-premises, including support

IBM targets the service at small businesses (up to 500 employees) and mid-sized businesses (500 to 1,000 employees). According to IBM, more than 90 percent of all Power customers belong to one of the two categories.

An IBM spokesperson told The Register that the customers often work with small IT departments. IBM wants to take the pressure off IT departments. The new service includes 24/7 support. Tickets on Severity 1 and Severity 2 problems are answered within 30 minutes.

The service fills a gap in IBM’s offering. The subscription is the only way to deploy an on-premises Power S1014 without having to worry about critical maintenance. Power servers are already available in the cloud, but some organizations need an on-premises solution. Not everyone has enough manpower for on-premises server maintenance.

Availability

The minimum subscription duration will be three years. In addition, a subscription must cover at least 25 users. With that, the monthly cost totals at least €1,250.

IBM did not disclose the service’s release date. The Register asked IBM whether customers will receive an upgrade when a new Power server becomes available during their subscription term. That’s yet to be decided, the organization said.

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