On May 31^st, 2024 IBM will be ending hardware support for all Power8 systems. After that date, IBM will continue the support with a hardware service extension. This hardware service extension will be an additional fee that will be as high as 70% or more of the existing hardware maintenance. This fee is included in current quotes that will renew later than 5/31/2024. 

On October 20^th, 2023 IBM will be withdrawing all Power9 systems and will no longer be shipping them. 

IBM Software End of Service Updates

As of September 30^th, 2023 IBM is ending support for IBM i 7.3. A service extension fee will be required to continue support for 7.3 software maintenance.

The general pricing strategy for IBM i 7.3 is as follows:

Note: standard SWMA (sometimes called “base SWMA”) is a pre-req for Service Extension

• Year 1 of Service Extension is 1.5 times the cost of base SWMA. 

Example: if base SWMA is $1000/core/year, then the total cost would be $1000 for base SWMA + $1500 for Service Extension = $2500/core/year

• Year 2 of Service Extension is 2 times the cost of base SWMA

• Year 3 of Service Extension is 2.5 times the cost of base SWMA

IBM Software End of Service Updates

Below is a list of the models for tape drives and tape libraries that will enter end of support. A service extension fee will be required to keep these models under hardware maintenance. 

Type Model



3588 F4A

3592 EU6

3592 E06

3572 S5H

3572 S5R

3573 L2U

3573 L4U

3576 E9U

3576 L5B

3584 D23

3584 D53

3584 HA1

3584 L23

3584 L53

3580 H5S

3580 S53

3592 S5E

3592 55G

Midland Information Systems is an IBM Gold Business Partner.

Peggy Erickson

407-571-3128

peggy@midlandinfosys.com