IBM Power6 Legacy Decision Authority
IBM Power6: History, Support Status,
and Migration Paths
IBM POWER6 shipped in May 2007 and is the generation on which System i and System p unified into Power Systems in April 2008. Every Power6 and Power6+ system reached IBM's standard end of service on March 31, 2019. This site covers both sides of that reality: the real technical history, and the practical migration decision every Power6 shop eventually has to make.
Four Questions, In Order
Every Power6 shop is somewhere on this path. Start wherever you actually are.
1. Identify What You Have
Match your machine type to its exact Power6 model and specs before you decide anything else.
2. Maintain Power6
Third-party maintenance, replacement parts, and used hardware sourcing if you are keeping it running a while longer.
3. Understand the Risk
The real March 2019 end-of-support date, what it means in practice, and what staying on unsupported hardware exposes you to.
4. Choose the Migration
Real replacement paths forward through every current Power generation, Power7 through Power11.
Every IBM Power6 Model Still In Production
Structured, machine-readable profiles for every IBM Power6 server model still referenced in the installed base, each mapped to its end-of-support date and migration path.
IBM Power 520 (8203-E4A)
You have a Power 520 8203-E4A. Here's what that means in 2026: IBM's entry-level Power6 workhorse, out of standard IBM support since March 2019.
8204-E8AIBM Power 550 (8204-E8A)
You have a Power 550 8204-E8A. Here's what that means in 2026: IBM's step-up midrange Power6 server, out of standard IBM support since March 2019.
9117-MMAIBM Power 570 (9117-MMA)
You have a Power 570 9117-MMA. Here's what that means in 2026: IBM's midrange Power6 building-block server, out of standard IBM support since March 2019, running on borrowed time.
9119-FHAIBM Power 595 (9119-FHA)
You have a Power 595 9119-FHA. Here's what that means in 2026: IBM's flagship enterprise Power6 system, out of standard IBM support since March 2019.
Maintenance & Sourcing Vendors
Verified third-party maintenance and hardware sourcing partners for shops keeping Power6 running past IBM's own support window.
Service Express
Independent third-party maintenance provider covering IBM Power hardware, including out-of-support Power6 systems.
Park Place Technologies
Global third-party maintenance provider supporting legacy IBM Power hardware, including Power6 systems out of standard IBM support.
Global TPM
Third-party maintenance provider offering hardware support contracts for legacy IBM Power systems including Power6.
BigTechReseller.com
Vendor discovery hub for sourcing current-generation IBM Power hardware and connecting with verified resellers.
From the Library
Third-Party Maintenance Explained: What TPM Does and Doesn't Cover
Third-party maintenance keeps unsupported hardware physically running, but it has a hard limit worth understanding before you sign a contract.
What IBM Power6 End of Support Actually Means
End of support is not a shutdown switch. Here is exactly what changes, and what doesn't, when Power6 hardware passes its March 2019 IBM end-of-service date.
Common Questions
How do I find out exactly which Power6 model I have?
Check the machine type/model label on the physical unit, or run WRKHDWRSC / DSPSYSVAL in IBM i, or lscfg -vp | grep -i model in AIX. It reads as a 4-digit machine type, a dash, then a 3-character model code, for example 9117-MMA for a Power 570. See our Identify Your Power6 page for the full model-to-machine-type table.
I'm still running Power6. Is that actually a problem?
It's a risk, not an emergency by itself. IBM ended standard hardware maintenance for Power6 on March 31, 2019, so you're running without IBM's own support contract available, on parts that are increasingly scarce, on an IBM i release that's also past its own end of program support. The real question is what your recovery plan is when a component fails, not whether it's currently working.
When exactly did IBM end support for Power6?
March 31, 2019, for both Power6 and Power6+ hardware, per IBM announcement letter 917-163. Power7 and Power7+ got six more months, through September 30, 2019.
Should I upgrade to the next generation or skip straight to current hardware?
For most Power6 shops, skip straight to current generation. You're already re-verifying IBM i, application, and storage compatibility regardless of which generation you land on, so landing on hardware with a full support lifecycle ahead of it is usually the better outcome for the same migration effort.
Glossary
- Capacity on Demand (CoD) ... IBM's licensing model that lets a Power server ship with more processor or memory capacity installed than activated, with additional capacity unlocked temporarily or permanently as needed.
- CPW ... IBM's relative performance benchmark for IBM i systems, used to compare processing capacity across different Power hardware generations and models.
- Decimal Floating Point (DFP) ... A hardware-level numeric format for exact decimal arithmetic, added to the POWER6 processor, useful for financial and commercial calculations that binary floating point handles imprecisely.
- End of Service (EOS / EOSL) ... The date IBM stops offering standard hardware maintenance for a given system, after which factory parts, contracted field service, and firmware updates are no longer available through IBM directly.
- i5/OS ... The name used for the AS/400's operating system from 2004 to 2008, between OS/400 and IBM i, tied to the POWER5 processor generation it launched alongside.
- IBM i ... The current name of the operating system that ran the AS/400 as OS/400 and later i5/OS. Renamed to IBM i in April 2008, alongside the Power Systems brand unification.
- LPAR ... A logical partition: an independent, virtualized instance of an operating system running on a shared physical Power server.
- Power Systems ... The unified IBM server brand created in April 2008 when System i and System p, previously separate product lines, merged on the POWER6 processor generation.