With IT systems – particularly those that cost companies a significant percentage of their IT budgets – one of the most critical things that can be said about it is that it’s “future proof,” meaning it can carry a company forward for many years.

The IBM (News - Alert) i operating system, which runs on IBM Power Systems and on IBM PureSystems, is celebrating an important anniversary this year: 25 years. The system is the new generation of the former i5/OS, and it was originally introduced in 1988 as the OS/400 together with the AS/400 computer system. The good news for IBM is that it’s still one of the most trustworthy systems on the market for its customers.

A recent survey by Infor of IBM i customers found a very high degree of satisfaction with the platform. According to Infor, 71 percent of its IBM i users agreed with the statement that the "System i platform is future-proof." In addition, nearly two-thirds of those interviewed agreed with the "widely-held belief that IBM i applications can be deployed faster and maintained with fewer staff" than they can on other systems.” Finally, more than 70 percent of respondents say they are able to access the data they need to run their business.

The research also found that the separation of hardware and operating system firmware that IBM engineers purposely built into the system three decades ago is still relevant today. Only seven percent of users disagreed with the statement that the platform is future-proof, and only eight percent disagreed that they are able to access the data they require to be effective, and Infor concluded that these users who are having trouble getting to data may be stymied by the platforms' native green screen user interface.

When asked where they are continuing to invest in the IBM i, the largest number of users reported that they continue to procure in the areas of reporting and analytics, mobile enablement, 24/7 high availability, and "additional functionality."

To arrive at the results of the survey, Infor interviewed more than 100 managers and high-level decision makers at organizations that use the IBM i server to run production applications.