In 2024, IBM’s Hardware Strategic Initiative took a bold step forward by migrating its global SAP® application to RISE with SAP® on IBM® Power® Virtual Server. This mission-critical system supports over 2,000 users across IBM’s flagship hardware portfolio—including IBM Z®, IBM Power®, IBM Storage, Quantum, IBM Tape Drives, Outsourced Supply Chain and appliances like CP4D, QRadar, and DataPower—spanning IBMs manufacturing and fulfillment sites in different countries.
Infrastructure Transformation: A CIO-Led Innovation Journey
The IBM CIO team led a comprehensive transformation of the SAP landscape for the hardware manufacturing group. To prepare for this migration, over 100 team members across four continents were trained from the IBM CIO team in SAP S/4HANA® core competencies via SAP Learning Hub and targeted learning sessions. The SAP MaxAttn was selectively engaged to provide expert consulting in areas requiring additional upskilling.
A proven project management methodology—a hybrid agile approach combined with iterative sprints—was used across five project phases: Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, and Deploy. This structured yet flexible approach enabled the team to successfully execute the transformation over a 15-month period
From Legacy to Future-Ready: SAP S/4HANA Migration
The transformation began with Custom Code Lifecycle Management, retiring legacy code and archiving over 1TB of historical data. The Customer Vendor Integration (CVI) prerequisite was implemented more than a year ahead of the S/4HANA preparation phase.
The SAP ECC6 system was migrated from on-premises infrastructure on IBM Power to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud environment via RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Servers. A Brownfield approach preserved existing configurations and customizations while converting the core data model to S/4HANA—with a remarkably smooth cutover and just 80 hours of downtime.
image source: IBM