When Kyndryl, a global leader in mission-critical technology services, announced the Australian launch of its Skytap cloud modernisation solution, the message was clear: the cloud migration landscape is entering a new era of flexibility and capability. Within the context of accelerating digital transformation across Australia, Kyndryl’s move introduces a powerful new option for enterprises grappling with the challenges of modernising legacy IT workloads—particularly those reliant on AIX, IBM i, and Linux systems running on IBM Power architecture.
Kyndryl’s Skytap platform is now officially live in the Microsoft Azure Australia East data centre, marking a significant milestone as its first geographic expansion since Kyndryl’s acquisition of Skytap in May of the prior year. It’s the 10th Azure region worldwide to feature Skytap, underscoring both the solution’s growing global reach and the strategic importance of the Australian market in Kyndryl’s cloud modernisation journey.
At its core, Skytap addresses a nuanced, widespread pain point in enterprise IT: how to move deeply embedded, mission-critical applications—often built on IBM Power Systems—into the cloud without the cost, risk, and time associated with rewriting or rearchitecting them. Unlike conventional “lift and shift” migration or intensive replatforming projects, Skytap allows workloads to run natively on Azure using emulated or virtualised IBM Power infrastructure as a service. This approach preserves application integrity and operational continuity, while unlocking access to the agility and scale of cloud computing.
Kumar highlights that “interest will only grow as organisations increasingly look for ways to migrate to the cloud without lengthy refactoring processes.” The prospect of running legacy AIX, IBM i, and Linux workloads in a native-like environment within Azure opens the door to a hybrid cloud model, blending the best of both traditional and modern IT approaches.
Skytap’s approach stands out for its pragmatism—it doesn’t force a full rebuild, but instead offers a stepping stone. Notably, Evan Williams, Director of Microsoft Azure & Security Business Group for ANZ, reinforces the solution’s collaborative value: “By integrating Skytap with Azure’s native services, we are enabling businesses to leverage advanced AI, machine learning, and security capabilities from day one, driving efficiency and business continuity.”
This partnership is particularly important for regulated industries, where the assurance of two leading global vendors as stewards of mission-critical workloads adds credibility and peace of mind.
Over the next two years, expect to see:
With this expansion, Australian organisations have a credible, low-risk bridge to the public cloud, engineered for the realities of complex, regulated industries. While long-term success will depend on execution—effective governance, cost management, and a clear roadmap for eventual cloud-native redesign—Kyndryl’s bold step is poised to accelerate IT transformation across the country.
For CIOs, architects, and IT leaders, Skytap on Azure offers the promise of future-proofing their operations while harnessing the full power of modern, cloud-driven innovation. But as always, strategic planning, partnership alignment, and real-world experience will determine which enterprises truly turn this opportunity into a competitive edge.
Source: Technology Decisions Kyndryl expands Skytap platform to Australia
Expanding Skytap: A Landmark in Workload Modernisation
Kyndryl’s Skytap platform is now officially live in the Microsoft Azure Australia East data centre, marking a significant milestone as its first geographic expansion since Kyndryl’s acquisition of Skytap in May of the prior year. It’s the 10th Azure region worldwide to feature Skytap, underscoring both the solution’s growing global reach and the strategic importance of the Australian market in Kyndryl’s cloud modernisation journey.At its core, Skytap addresses a nuanced, widespread pain point in enterprise IT: how to move deeply embedded, mission-critical applications—often built on IBM Power Systems—into the cloud without the cost, risk, and time associated with rewriting or rearchitecting them. Unlike conventional “lift and shift” migration or intensive replatforming projects, Skytap allows workloads to run natively on Azure using emulated or virtualised IBM Power infrastructure as a service. This approach preserves application integrity and operational continuity, while unlocking access to the agility and scale of cloud computing.
Addressing Unique Regional Needs
Australia’s cloud market is booming, but many organisations still maintain substantial on-premises investments in Power Systems. According to Ashish Kumar, Kyndryl’s President of Australia and New Zealand, demand for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) targeting Power workloads has surged. Local enterprises are seeking efficient ways to modernise their estates and reduce technical debt while continuing to meet stringent reliability and performance requirements.Kumar highlights that “interest will only grow as organisations increasingly look for ways to migrate to the cloud without lengthy refactoring processes.” The prospect of running legacy AIX, IBM i, and Linux workloads in a native-like environment within Azure opens the door to a hybrid cloud model, blending the best of both traditional and modern IT approaches.
Technical Overview: Skytap’s Key Strengths
The primary draw of Skytap on Azure is its ability to provide a near-seamless transition from on-premises IBM Power to the cloud. It offers several significant advantages that distinguish it from alternate migration paths:- Native Emulation for Power Systems: Skytap provides IaaS for AIX, IBM i, and Linux workloads running on IBM Power and x86 architectures, replicating the operational environment in which these applications were designed to run.
- No Application Refactoring Needed: For most workloads, Skytap eliminates the need for costly code changes, enabling rapid migration without business disruption.
- Integrated with Azure Services: Once workloads are on Skytap, they gain immediate access to native Azure capabilities—advanced AI, machine learning, analytics, security, and more—thereby unlocking opportunities for innovation and transformation.
- Pay-As-You-Go Model: Enterprises benefit from flexible cloud economics, scaling their infrastructure based on real-time usage while streamlining operational expenditure.
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: By moving mission-critical workloads to geographically distributed, highly resilient data centres, organisations are positioned to improve uptime and recoverability.
Analysis: Competitive Position and Market Impact
Kyndryl’s expansion of Skytap into Australia comes at a time when digital modernisation is both an opportunity and a headache for IT teams. Gartner has repeatedly highlighted the risks and complexities facing organisations with entrenched legacy applications. In Australia specifically, industries such as banking, insurance, and the public sector depend on IBM Power for core business systems, yet face skills shortages and the growing obsolescence of old platforms.Skytap’s approach stands out for its pragmatism—it doesn’t force a full rebuild, but instead offers a stepping stone. Notably, Evan Williams, Director of Microsoft Azure & Security Business Group for ANZ, reinforces the solution’s collaborative value: “By integrating Skytap with Azure’s native services, we are enabling businesses to leverage advanced AI, machine learning, and security capabilities from day one, driving efficiency and business continuity.”
Strengths
- Hybrid Cloud Enablement: Applications on Skytap for Azure can interact with modern, containerised cloud-native workloads, APIs, and machine learning services, making legacy and modern platforms interoperable.
- Risk Mitigation: Minimised downtime and migration risk make Skytap particularly suited for organisations with strict uptime SLAs or regulatory pressures.
- Operational Familiarity: Since workloads behave as they did on-premises, IT teams avoid steep learning curves, reducing the risks associated with operational change.
Potential Risks and Limitations
- Cost Over Time: While Skytap offers clear cost benefits versus a full re-platforming project, long-term IaaS consumption costs should be closely monitored. Organisations may face “cloud bill shock” if usage significantly outpaces anticipated levels, especially for resource-intensive workloads.
- Lock-In Considerations: Deep integration with Azure, and reliance on Kyndryl’s managed services, may introduce some degree of vendor lock-in. Migrating workloads away from Skytap or Azure in the future could present its own challenges.
- Modernisation Trade-Offs: Although Skytap is ideal as a rapid bridge to the cloud, it is not a substitute for long-term application modernisation. Organisations may still need to ultimately refactor or rewrite applications to fully reap cloud-native benefits, reducing technical debt and complexity over time.
Industry Perspective: Demand Drivers and Future Outlook
The timing of Kyndryl’s Skytap rollout in Australia reflects strong macro trends:- Digital Transformation Acceleration: The COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked plans for cloud adoption and remote/hybrid work, exposing the limits of static, on-premises infrastructure.
- Skills Gaps and Talent Shortages: Demand for IBM Power and AIX expertise is outstripping supply, particularly in Australia’s constrained IT labour market. Cloud-hosted Power environments help insulate enterprises from skills shortages by shifting operational complexity to managed providers.
- Regulatory Compliance and Data Residency: With the Azure Australia East region, organisations keep sensitive workloads local, meeting data sovereignty mandates and compliance requirements set by APRA and other bodies.
Critical Considerations for Potential Adopters
Before embarking on a Skytap migration, Australian organisations should undertake a rigorous discovery phase:- Workload Assessment: Not all Power workloads are created equal. Evaluate dependencies, performance characteristics, and integration points early to avoid unexpected issues in cloud environments.
- Cost Modelling: Develop detailed TCO models comparing Skytap to competing cloud migration or modernisation approaches, factoring in both direct costs (infrastructure, licensing, tooling) and indirect costs (training, support, ongoing management).
- Security Posture: While Azure and Skytap offer robust enterprise security, validate controls around data encryption, access management, and compliance to ensure they meet sectoral and local regulatory standards.
- Change Management: Plan for operational changes in monitoring, incident response, and business continuity to smooth the transition for IT teams and end users.
Real-World Impact: Case Studies and Customer Experience
While specific Australian customer stories are still emerging (given the platform’s recent regional launch), global precedents set a promising stage. Enterprises in the banking, insurance, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors internationally have used Skytap to accelerate migration timelines from years to months. They typically report:- Reduced Business Risk: Migrations completed with little to no application downtime, maintaining service reliability.
- Accelerated Digital Integration: Ability to layer new digital capabilities (mobile apps, AI-driven analytics) on top of legacy applications with ease.
- Longer-Term Modernisation Journeys: Some organisations use Skytap as a temporary solution, ultimately transitioning from legacy platforms to cloud-native architectures at their own pace.
The Kyndryl-Microsoft Partnership: Strategic Importance
Kyndryl’s strategic alignment with Microsoft is a key differentiator for the Skytap solution. Their combined capabilities offer Australian firms a direct pathway to leverage not only Skytap’s compatibility layer but also the innovation stack of Azure—spanning custom AI models, advanced threat detection, and cloud-native integration options.This partnership is particularly important for regulated industries, where the assurance of two leading global vendors as stewards of mission-critical workloads adds credibility and peace of mind.
What’s Next: Looking Beyond Migration
The Skytap platform’s arrival in Australia gives organisations a powerful new option, but the broader story is about the evolution of cloud migration as a continuum, not a milestone. The shift from “cloud first” to “cloud smart” strategies means companies need both agility and control as they transition vital systems.Over the next two years, expect to see:
- Broader Industry Uptake: Banks, government agencies, and manufacturers leading the charge, with mid-market adopters following as the costs and confidence in large-scale migrations improve.
- Greater Focus on Automation: As platforms like Skytap mature, automated migration and management tools will further simplify transitions while reducing manual workload.
- Ecosystem Expansion: An uptick in consulting, managed services, and ISV (Independent Software Vendor) activity around Skytap, as local partners gain expertise and develop migration accelerators.
- Deeper Analytics and AI Integration: Organisations will not merely “lift and shift” but actively modernise by connecting legacy systems with advanced Azure AI, unlocking new insight and customer value.
Conclusion: A Pivotal Shift for Australian Enterprises
Kyndryl’s launch of Skytap on Azure in Australia represents more than just the addition of a new cloud service. It signals a fundamental change in how mission-critical, legacy workloads will be managed, modernised, and transformed in the Asia-Pacific region’s cloud landscape.With this expansion, Australian organisations have a credible, low-risk bridge to the public cloud, engineered for the realities of complex, regulated industries. While long-term success will depend on execution—effective governance, cost management, and a clear roadmap for eventual cloud-native redesign—Kyndryl’s bold step is poised to accelerate IT transformation across the country.
For CIOs, architects, and IT leaders, Skytap on Azure offers the promise of future-proofing their operations while harnessing the full power of modern, cloud-driven innovation. But as always, strategic planning, partnership alignment, and real-world experience will determine which enterprises truly turn this opportunity into a competitive edge.
Source: Technology Decisions Kyndryl expands Skytap platform to Australia
