IBM i Power Hosting Cost Comparison Calculator
Many JD Edwards World and AS/400 shops are asking whether to refresh the Power server one more time or move IBM i to a hosted Power environment. This calculator puts both options on the same multi-year basis so the discussion is about numbers rather than opinions.
Your numbers
Annual maintenance on the Power server and tape library, or the amortised refresh cost if you plan to buy new.
Software maintenance for IBM i, backup software and monitoring tools.
Share of salaries spent on patching, backups, capacity and operations.
Quoted monthly price for the logical partition, storage and licences from the host.
Remaining in-house effort: users, jobs, security, vendor management.
Your results
Planning estimate only. Use real vendor quotes for hosting, licence transfer and hardware refresh.
Cumulative cost by horizon
Sweeps Comparison horizon from 1 to 10, holding your other inputs fixed.
IBM i usage sizing review
Optional: have us read your system statistics and size a refresh or hosted partition.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the calculator
Start with last year's invoices for hardware maintenance, IBM software support and facility costs. Add the realistic share of staff time that goes into patching, backups and capacity work. Then enter the host's quoted monthly fee and the one-time cost of the move, including at least one full parallel test cycle of your month-end batch. The result is a total for each path and the month in which the move pays for itself.
The method behind the numbers
On-prem cost per year is the sum of its parts times the horizon. Hosted cost is the one-time move plus twelve times the monthly fee plus remaining admin effort, times the horizon. Payback is the one-time cost divided by the annual difference, expressed in months. The chart sweeps the horizon from one to ten years so you can see the crossover point, if there is one.
- Include hardware refresh as an amortised yearly figure if the current box is near end of life
- Count licence transfer or re-hosting fees in the one-time cost
- Keep staff effort honest: a hosted partition still needs a person who understands the jobs
How to read the result
A large positive saving with a payback under two years is a strong case. A small saving that disappears when you add network bandwidth to the host or a second environment for testing is not. If payback is zero, the hosted fee is higher than your current run cost and the case rests on risk or capability, not cost. Remember that backup, disaster recovery and a second site are often bundled in hosting but are separate line items on premises.
Common mistakes
The usual errors are comparing a hosted production-only quote against an on-prem estate that also carries development and test, forgetting the data transfer and cutover rehearsal, and ignoring that the interface to plant systems or EDI may need new network paths. Also check that the host supports your exact IBM i release and any third-party products such as report distribution or EDI translators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this work for JD Edwards World specifically?
Yes. JD Edwards World runs on IBM i, so the infrastructure cost question is the same as for any IBM i application. The tool only models infrastructure and operations cost, not an ERP change.
Why is payback sometimes zero?
When the hosted annual cost is equal to or higher than your current annual cost, the one-time move cost can never be recovered through running savings. The case then depends on risk, resilience or skills rather than money.
Should I include disaster recovery?
Yes. If hosting includes a replicated second site, add what you currently pay or would need to pay on premises for a second system and replication software. Otherwise the comparison understates the on-prem cost.
What horizon should I use?
Use the period you realistically expect to stay on the platform, often three to seven years. A short horizon penalises the option with the larger one-time cost.
If you want a read-only analysis of your actual IBM i system usage to size a host or a refresh, Netray can build one from your own data.
Related Tools
IBM i Batch Window Capacity Calculator
Predict how many years of growth your nightly batch can absorb before it overruns the available window, and how much speedup you need.
OracleAS/400 Disk Storage Growth Forecast Calculator
Estimate how many years of disk you have left on IBM i given data growth, journal receivers and your safe utilisation threshold.
OracleIBM i Restore Time and RTO Calculator
Add up restore, journal apply and verification time for an IBM i recovery and compare it with your recovery time objective.
ERP Migration & SelectionJD Edwards World Parallel Run Cost Calculator
Add up the cost of running the old and new systems together, including reconciliation and slippage, and see the true incremental cost of the overlap.
More Oracle tools
See all- JDE World DREAM Writer Version Documentation Template
- JD Edwards World Key File Reference Table
- JD Edwards World to EnterpriseOne Data Conversion Mapping Worksheet
- JD Edwards World Custom Program and Modification Inventory Worksheet
- JD Edwards World Custom Object Conversion Effort Calculator
- AS/400 Skills Succession Risk Assessment
- IBM i System Values Reference
- IBM i CL Command Cheat Sheet
- JD Edwards Julian Date (CYYDDD) SQL Converter