P05 - The Waiting Game
For the IBM i community, the "Power11 Spring" has arrived with a side order of anxiety. We are currently sitting in a strange hardware purgatory.
On one hand, the Power9 Scale-Out machines that have been the bedrock of many SMEs are now officially "legacy" as of January’s End of Service date.
On the other hand, IBM recently dropped the hammer on Power10, announcing that most of the range will be withdrawn from marketing this July.
This leaves the entry-level (P05) market, the heart of the world’s IBM i user base, asking one question: Where is the S1112?
The Missing Piece of the Power11 Puzzle
Last July, IBM broke tradition by launching the high-end midrange Power11 servers (the E1180 and S1124) simultaneously. It was a massive statement of intent for the AI era, but for the smaller shop running a single-socket S1014 or an aging S914, the Power11 equivalent has remained a "coming soon" ghost.
The rumoured Power S1112, expected to be the P05/P10 workhorse, is the system everyone is waiting for. Why? Because IBM i 7.6, which launched in April 2025, is the first release to truly have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and AI-driven observability into the OS.
To run it at peak efficiency, users want the Power11’s "zero planned downtime" architecture, not a "dead-end" Power10 purchase.
Why POWERUp 2026 is the Deadline
The global IBM i community is descending on New Orleans for POWERUp 2026 (27-30 April. In the past, Big Blue has used this stage to reward the faithful with hardware news. If the S1112 isn't announced by then, many businesses face compliance pressures (especially in finance and logistics) and may be forced to jump to Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) just to stay supported.
The Strategy for March
If you are managing P05/P10 servers today, you have three distinct paths:
- The "Safety First" Move: Grab the remaining Power10 S1014 stock before the July 31 withdrawal. It’s a proven, powerful machine that will be supported for years.
- The "Cloud Bridge": Migrate to PowerVS for 6 to 12 months. It buys you time to see the Power11 entry-level specs without the risk of running on an End of Support Power9 tin.
- The "Hold and Hope": Wait for the POWERUp announcement.
The Bottom Line
The P05 tier isn't just about "cheap" hardware; it's about the most efficient licensing bracket for IBM i.
IBM knows this and the community knows it. Let’s hope that by the time the May issue of PowerWire hits your inbox, we finally have a datasheet for the S1112 in our hands. We will see!