The latest announcement about EoM and EoS was the the biggest shock in last couple of years for me. Even myself, I underestimated the message at the begging. I did not realize how impacting this announcement is. Here are few words from me.
I think the message was overlooked by majority of IBM i community. We all know IBM follows modern IT trends and transfer to Software as a Service (SaaS) model. This is already happening for P05 and P10 machines, and IBM already announced the SaaS is statement of direction for P20 and P30 machines in near future. Last week, my colleague sent a message about a migration procedure from 5770-BR1 to 5770-BR2. My first impression was – it is not for us, this is for small machines converting to SaaS. Well, how wrong I was!
There is an announcement from August 24th which talks about end of- marketing and end of support for well known, good BRMS (5770-BR1) product. In another words, all customers even these running P20, P30 machines with perpetual BRMS licenses must move to (5770-BR2) SaaS based product, because the old one won’t be updated after September 2025 “Starting 1 October 2025, IBM will provide usage and known defect support and will no longer provide new defect support“. In human language – if we expect new features, new functionality – 5770-BR2 is the only option.
There is a comment from Steve Sibley, vice president and business line executive for IBM Power where he talks about converting to SaaS and within next years but actually IBM with Forta hands forced all BRMS users (95% of IBMi world) to do it partially in 2025 as latest.
I don’t know how this announcement will affect existing customers with prepaid SWMA (software maintenance). Personally, I also manage several POWER systems ordered in 2024 with prepaid 5yrs SWMA. I tried to decrypt how big chunk of that BRMS is, but it is not easy.
What the announcement means for everyone?
- if an BRMS user still want to use BRMS version which is actively enhanced and developed. He/She must reserve a budget and order 5770-BR2 in 2025 and also plan an OPEX for next years.
- Perform migration from BR1 to BR2.
- If a BRMS user doesn’t want to convert to 5770-BR2, he/she won’t get any new features, and remain the product for next couple of years with patches delivered by Sep 2025.
I’m shocked with this move. I was expecting IBM to deliver Power11 in SaaS mode only, but apparently all customers with POWER9, POWER10 would have to convert to SaaS in 2025. Or freeze the existing software version for next couple of years. We all know that freezing the environment is not an option for everyone. Companies which follow specific audits and ISO standards must run in fully supported HW and software, they can’t afford and risk an outdated environment.
IBMi.org - Bart's blog 
imho, +1 move from IBM to get rid of the AS/400