Artificial intelligence, cloud adoption, and digital transformation are reshaping the technology landscape. Industry analysts predict that more than 1 billion new applications will be created by 2028, while Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) spending is expected to grow by 23% annually through 2029 as organizations invest in cloud-based modernization. At the same time, 71% of executives believe a strong hybrid cloud strategy is essential to realizing the full value of digital transformation.*
For organizations running business-critical applications on IBM Power systems, the challenge is finding a way to modernize without introducing unnecessary risk, disruption, or complexity. Many businesses rely on operating systems such as IBM i, AIX, and Linux to support the applications and data that drive daily operations, making stability just as important as innovation.
IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) is designed to help organizations bridge that gap. By extending IBM Power environments into the cloud, PowerVS enables businesses to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy that preserves existing investments while creating new opportunities for modernization, resiliency, and growth. Organizations are already using PowerVS to achieve tangible business outcomes, including 50% faster recovery with up to 80% lower disaster recovery costs, 15x faster testing cycles, and significant reductions in infrastructure and operational expenses.*
While every organization’s cloud journey is different, several use cases consistently rise to the top. Here are five of the most common ways organizations are leveraging PowerVS to modernize their IBM Power environments while accelerating innovation and business value.
1. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Disaster recovery is one of the most common starting points for organizations evaluating PowerVS. Many businesses run mission-critical applications on IBM Power systems using operating systems such as IBM i, AIX, or Linux and need a reliable way to protect those environments from outages, cyber incidents, or other disruptions. Traditional disaster recovery strategies often require significant investments in secondary data centers, duplicate hardware, software licensing, and ongoing maintenance.
PowerVS enables organizations to replicate IBM Power environments to the cloud and activate resources when needed, helping reduce disaster recovery costs while improving resiliency and recovery times. Because businesses can extend existing IBM Power environments without re-platforming applications or redesigning infrastructure, PowerVS provides a practical path to stronger business continuity while preserving existing technology investments.
2. Development and Testing Without New Infrastructure
Maintaining separate hardware for development, testing, and validation environments can be expensive and difficult to scale. PowerVS provides businesses with on-demand IBM Power resources that allow development teams to build, test, and validate applications without investing in additional physical infrastructure.
This flexibility helps organizations accelerate testing cycles, validate upgrades, support modernization projects, and reduce the burden on production environments. With cloud-based development and testing resources available when needed, IT teams can innovate faster while controlling costs and improving resource utilization.
For organizations considering modernization initiatives, PowerVS offers a low-risk way to test and validate changes before deploying them into production.
3. Hybrid Cloud and Partial Cloud Adoption
Many organizations want the benefits of cloud computing without moving every workload off-premises. PowerVS supports a hybrid cloud approach that allows businesses to place workloads where they make the most sense based on performance, compliance, cost, and operational requirements.
Rather than forcing an all-or-nothing migration, PowerVS provides organizations with the flexibility to extend existing IBM Power environments into the cloud while maintaining a consistent experience across on-premises and cloud infrastructure. This approach allows businesses to modernize gradually, reduce risk, and preserve investments in current applications and systems.
For organizations evaluating hardware refreshes, capacity planning, or long-term growth strategies, hybrid cloud can offer a practical path forward.
4. Data Center Optimization and Infrastructure Modernization
As infrastructure ages and business requirements evolve, many organizations are looking for ways to reduce operational costs while improving efficiency. PowerVS can help optimize data center operations by providing flexible workload placement options and reducing the need for additional physical infrastructure.
Organizations can use PowerVS to address capacity constraints, support growth without major capital investments, and simplify long-term infrastructure planning. The ability to deploy workloads on-premises, in an IBM data center, or within a client-managed environment gives businesses the flexibility to align infrastructure decisions with business goals.
For many companies, PowerVS becomes a strategic tool for balancing modernization initiatives with operational stability and cost control.
5. SAP Transformation and AI Innovation
Digital transformation initiatives increasingly require organizations to modernize business applications while preparing for emerging technologies such as AI. PowerVS supports both objectives by providing a cloud platform for SAP workloads and enabling integration with IBM Cloud services and watsonx.
Organizations using SAP can leverage PowerVS as part of their RISE with SAP strategy, providing a flexible path to transformation with minimal disruption to existing operations. At the same time, businesses can connect IBM Power workloads and data to AI capabilities through watsonx to support automation, analytics, improved decision-making, and new digital experiences.
By combining the stability of IBM Power with access to modern cloud and AI technologies, organizations can innovate faster while protecting the systems that run their business.
Why Organizations Choose PowerVS
The most successful PowerVS projects typically start with a specific business challenge, whether that’s disaster recovery, development and testing, infrastructure optimization, hybrid cloud adoption, or application modernization. Rather than forcing organizations to choose between stability and innovation, PowerVS helps them achieve both through a consistent hybrid cloud experience built specifically for IBM Power workloads.
As an IBM Silver Partner, BDK helps organizations evaluate, implement, and support PowerVS solutions that align with their business goals. Whether you’re exploring disaster recovery, planning a hardware refresh, considering a move to hybrid cloud, or looking to integrate AI into your business processes, PowerVS provides a flexible foundation for the future.
Contact us today to learn more about how BDK and PowerVS can help you modernize your business.
*All statistics pulled from IBM’s PowerVS Digital Campaign Guide.