Is the AS/400 Dead? What Happened to AS/400, iSeries, and IBM i
Is the AS/400 dead?
The name is dead; the platform is not. IBM retired the AS/400 brand in stages between 2000 and 2008, and what runs today is IBM i on Power10 and Power11 servers. The platform shipped a new operating system release (IBM i 7.6, April 2025) and a new processor generation (Power11, July 2025), and IBM publishes a support roadmap that trade analysts read as extending into the 2040s, with the usual subject-to-change caveats. If your company still says it runs an AS/400, the real questions are about OS currency, hardware maintenance, and skills, not about whether IBM has abandoned the platform.
Practical decision support
Separate the brand question from the platform question
Use this guide to establish what your environment actually is (which OS release, which hardware generation), then judge risk against IBM's published support dates rather than against the AS/400 label.
- Inventory first: the OS release and hardware generation you run matter far more than what anyone calls the box.
- Judge platform health on shipped releases and published roadmaps, attributed and dated, not on brand nostalgia or silence from analysts.
- Treat skills and release currency as the live risks; platform abandonment by IBM is not one of them as of this writing.
At a glance
Key takeaways
The name died, the platform did not
IBM retired the AS/400 brand in stages between October 2000 and April 2008. The lineage continues as IBM i on Power Systems hardware.
Current OS, current hardware
IBM i 7.6 shipped in April 2025 with native multi-factor authentication; Power11 servers shipped in July 2025 across entry, midrange, and high-end models.
The myth has structural causes
Four renames in two decades, green-screen first impressions, and the absence of analyst tracking all feed the perception of decline.
The real risks are currency and skills
IBM i 7.4 leaves standard support on September 30, 2026, Power8 hardware maintenance ended in 2024, and skills topped Fortra's 2026 survey at 69 percent.
The Short Answer: The Brand Is Dead, the Platform Is Not
The AS/400 brand is dead, and has been for a long time. IBM retired the name in stages: the hardware became the eServer iSeries in October 2000, the eServer i5 in 2004, System i in 2006, and on April 2, 2008 the product line merged with System p to form IBM Power Systems, running an operating system renamed IBM i. No new machine has carried the AS/400 badge since roughly 2000.
The platform behind the name is not dead, and the evidence is unusually concrete for a question asked this often. IBM shipped a new release of the operating system, IBM i 7.6, in April 2025, and a new processor generation, Power11, in July 2025. IBM continues to publish a support roadmap for future releases, and Fortra's 2026 IBM i Marketplace Survey found a record share of shops planning upgrades this year. If your organization says it still runs an AS/400, what it almost certainly runs is IBM i on Power hardware, and the questions worth your time are about release currency, hardware maintenance, and skills, not about whether IBM has abandoned the platform.
From AS/400 to IBM i: The Naming Timeline
IBM announced the Application System/400 on June 21, 1988, built at its Rochester, Minnesota lab under the code name Silverlake, with the first systems shipping that August and OS/400 V1R1 announced the same day. It became one of IBM's most successful product lines: by the end of 1997, IBM had shipped nearly 500,000 AS/400 systems. What followed was two decades of renames that preserved the technology while steadily erasing the brand.
One rename deserves special mention because it was not cosmetic. In 1995 the platform moved from 48-bit CISC processors to 64-bit PowerPC RISC without customers recompiling their applications, because programs on this platform compile to an abstraction layer called the Technology Independent Machine Interface (TIMI) rather than to native hardware instructions. That same mechanism is why programs written in the early 1990s still run on Power11 servers today.
| Option | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1988: AS/400 and OS/400 | Announced June 21, 1988; developed at IBM Rochester under the Silverlake code name; first systems shipped in August 1988 |
| 1995: CISC to RISC | Moved from 48-bit CISC to 64-bit PowerPC RISC processors with no customer recompiles, thanks to the TIMI layer |
| 2000: eServer iSeries | Renamed in October 2000 as part of IBM's e-business server rebranding; no new hardware has carried the AS/400 name since |
| 2004 to 2006: eServer i5, then System i | POWER5-based eServer i5 arrived in 2004 with OS/400 rebranded as i5/OS; the brand became IBM System i in 2006 |
| 2008: IBM Power Systems and IBM i | On April 2, 2008 IBM merged System i and System p into IBM Power Systems, and i5/OS was renamed IBM i |
| 2025 to 2026: IBM i 7.5 and 7.6 on Power10 and Power11 | The current state: IBM i 7.6 reached general availability in April 2025, and Power11 servers in July 2025 |
Put plainly: AS/400 has not been a product IBM sells for more than 25 years. That is exactly why the question in this guide's title still gets asked. The people, the job descriptions, and the search queries kept the old name long after the nameplates changed.
The Evidence the Platform Is Alive in 2026
Dead platforms do not get new operating system releases. IBM announced IBM i 7.6 on April 8, 2025, with general availability on April 18, and its headline feature was security: native multi-factor authentication, TOTP based, built directly into the operating system rather than bolted on. IBM's support pages state that 7.6 runs only on Power10 (minimum firmware FW1060) and Power11 servers, which is itself a signal that IBM is pulling the installed base toward current hardware.
Dead platforms do not get new processors either. IBM announced Power11 on July 8, 2025, with general availability on July 25, and for the first time the launch covered high-end, midrange, and entry servers simultaneously (the E1180, E1150, S1124, and S1122), plus availability in IBM Power Virtual Server on IBM Cloud from day one. IBM's announcement claims 99.9999 percent uptime, zero planned downtime for system maintenance, and sub-minute ransomware threat detection with IBM Power Cyber Vault; those are IBM's marketing numbers, so treat them as vendor claims rather than independent benchmarks.
The cadence matters as much as the releases. IBM has held a roughly three-year rhythm: 7.4 in 2019, 7.5 in May 2022, 7.6 in April 2025, and by IT Jungle's count, 27 distinct OS/400 and IBM i releases since 1988. Looking forward, IT Jungle's April 2025 reading of IBM's roadmap charts projects IBM i 7.6 supported until about 2035, a next release around 2028, and future releases with support windows extending into the 2040s. IBM publishes those charts with subject-to-change disclaimers, so treat the dates as direction rather than commitment, but the direction is unambiguous.
Customer behavior points the same way. Fortra's 2026 IBM i Marketplace Survey, the twelfth annual edition with roughly 320 respondents worldwide, found 70 percent of shops planning hardware and/or software upgrades in 2026, a record high for the survey. Companies do not invest in upgrades on a platform they are abandoning.
Why the "Dead Platform" Myth Persists
If the platform is demonstrably alive, why does the question keep coming up? Four reasons, each structural rather than technical. First, the renames themselves: four brand changes in two decades destroyed continuity, and Fortra's own analysis of the question attributes the perception largely to the repeated renames and the green-screen image. Second, those green screens: a 5250 terminal session reads as obsolescence to anyone who walks past it, even when the code behind it is modern RPG and SQL fronting web and mobile interfaces.
Third, the job market echo: postings still ask for an "AS/400 programmer," which skews the applicant pool toward people who learned the platform under its old name and signals, wrongly, that the technology froze in the 1990s. Fourth, the data vacuum: the major analyst firms no longer publish detailed Power Systems installed-base figures, so the most cited estimate remains IT Jungle's 2020 analysis of roughly 120,000 IBM i customer organizations worldwide. That figure is one publication's estimate and is now several years old, but the broader point stands: analyst silence reads as decline even when it is just a coverage decision.
The myth also survives because the anxiety underneath it is partly legitimate. Skills displaced cybersecurity as the top concern in Fortra's 2026 survey, cited by 69 percent of respondents against 64 percent for security. The platform is healthy; the bench of people who run it is thinning. That is a real problem with real fixes, and it deserves attention on its own terms rather than being rounded up to "the platform is dying." The same survey data, as Fortra reports it, shows shops leaning in rather than leaving: a majority making no change or increasing their IBM i workloads.
What an "AS/400 Shop" Actually Runs Today, and the Real Risks
Almost nobody runs actual AS/400 hardware in production anymore. A company that describes itself as an AS/400 shop is nearly always running IBM i on Power8, Power9, or Power10 servers, often on an OS release that is one or two versions behind. The TIMI layer that makes decades-old programs run unchanged on new hardware is a genuine engineering strength, but it enables a particular kind of complacency: because nothing ever breaks, nothing ever gets upgraded. The risks that accumulate in that stasis are concrete and dated.
Release currency is the nearest clock. IBM announced in September 2025 that IBM i 7.4 moves from standard support to paid Service Extension on September 30, 2026, with the extension running through September 30, 2029; our IBM i 7.4 end-of-support guidecovers the timeline and options in detail. IBM i 7.3 left standard support in September 2023, and third-party lifecycle trackers list its paid extension ending September 30, 2026 as well, though you should verify that date with IBM. Hardware has its own clock: IBM ended Power8 hardware maintenance on a rolling schedule through 2024, with the last models covered until October 31, 2024, and Power9 shops should confirm their models' service dates with IBM before assuming time remains. Add the thinning skills bench and the security posture question (IBM building MFA directly into 7.6 tells you where IBM thinks the gaps are), and you have the real worry list. Platform abandonment by IBM is not on it.
Your Realistic Paths from Here
If you own one of these environments, five paths cover nearly every case. First, stay on-prem and get current: move to Power10 or Power11 and IBM i 7.5 or 7.6, remembering that 7.6 requires Power10 at firmware FW1060 or later, or Power11. Second, hand day-to-day operations to a managed hosting provider that specializes in IBM i, which addresses the skills risk directly. Third, move to cloud infrastructure that runs IBM i natively: IBM Power Virtual Server on IBM Cloud, which offers pay-as-you-go billing and added Power11 capacity at the July 2025 launch, or Microsoft Azure through Kyndryl Cloud Uplift, the former Skytap service, which runs IBM i workloads natively on Azure.
Fourth, modernize in place. The application layer can be brought current, screen by screen and service by service, without abandoning the platform underneath it; our guide on modernizing IBM i without rewriting applications walks that path. Fifth, replatform off IBM i entirely, but only with a business case that stands on its own. A multi-year rewrite justified by the belief that the platform is dying rests on a premise this guide has spent 1,400 words correcting. If you are weighing these paths, an independent assessmentcan size which one fits your applications, your team, and your budget, without a vendor's thumb on the scale.
Cautions Worth Flagging
Use caution
Running fine is not the same as running supported
TIMI keeps old programs working, which hides how far behind an environment has drifted. IBM i 7.4 leaves standard support on September 30, 2026, and 7.3 is already in paid extension per third-party trackers. Check your release against IBM's current support dates, not against whether anything is breaking.
Use caution
Roadmap dates are directional, not commitments
The 2040s support projections come from IT Jungle's reading of IBM roadmap charts, which IBM publishes with subject-to-change disclaimers. Plan against announced dates, and treat everything beyond them as direction to be reverified with IBM each planning cycle.
Use caution
Old hardware runs out of road before the OS does
IBM ended Power8 hardware maintenance on a rolling schedule through October 2024, and Power9 machines are two generations behind current. Confirm your specific models' end-of-service dates with IBM rather than assuming the hardware clock matches the software one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the AS/400 still supported by IBM?
The AS/400 as a product no longer exists. IBM began retiring the brand in October 2000 with the iSeries rename, and the line became IBM Power Systems running IBM i in April 2008. The successor platform is fully supported: IBM i 7.6 shipped in April 2025 and Power11 servers shipped in July 2025. Actual 1990s-era AS/400 hardware and old OS releases are long out of IBM support, so the honest answer depends on what a given shop is really running. Verify specific dates with IBM.
What replaced the AS/400?
A chain of renames, not a replacement. The AS/400 (1988) became the eServer iSeries (2000), then the eServer i5 and System i (2004 and 2006), and in 2008 the hardware merged into IBM Power Systems while the operating system was renamed IBM i. Same architectural lineage, same integrated database, same object model; today it runs on Power10 and Power11 processors.
Will my old AS/400 applications run on modern IBM Power servers?
Generally yes, and this is the platform's signature trick. Programs compile to the Technology Independent Machine Interface (TIMI) rather than to the processor, which is how IBM moved the installed base from 48-bit CISC to 64-bit RISC in 1995 without customer recompiles. Caveats: you need a supported OS release to get there (IBM i 7.6 requires Power10 or Power11), some very old programs need re-translation, and third-party software licensing is its own project. Test first, and verify compatibility with IBM or your provider.
How long will IBM support IBM i?
IBM publishes an official IBM i support roadmap, and IT Jungle's April 2025 analysis of the roadmap charts reads them as showing IBM i 7.6 supported until about 2035, a next release around 2028, and future releases with support windows extending into the 2040s. Treat those readings as direction, not commitment: IBM publishes its roadmaps with subject-to-change disclaimers. What is firm is that 7.6 shipped in April 2025 with no announced end date, and IBM has held a roughly three-year release cadence since 2019.
Is IBM i the same thing as the AS/400?
Same family tree, different generation. IBM i is the direct descendant of OS/400, and Power11 servers descend from AS/400 hardware, but calling a 2026 environment an AS/400 is like calling a current iPhone an iPod. The distinction matters in practice: hiring, support contracts, and security posture all differ between a genuine legacy box and a current, patched IBM i environment.
What are the actual risks if we run an AS/400 shop today?
Not platform death. The real risks are release currency (IBM i 7.4 leaves standard support on September 30, 2026, and 7.3 is already in paid extension), hardware past end of maintenance (IBM ended Power8 hardware support on a rolling schedule through October 2024), a thinning skills bench (the top concern at 69 percent in Fortra's 2026 survey), and weak security practices on a system everyone assumes is fine because it never crashes. Each has a concrete fix: upgrade, host, or bring in managed support.
What are our options besides staying on-prem?
Managed hosting with IBM i specialist providers; IBM Power Virtual Server in IBM Cloud, IBM's own pay-as-you-go infrastructure service that added Power11 capacity at the July 2025 launch; Microsoft Azure via Kyndryl Cloud Uplift (formerly Skytap), which runs IBM i natively without refactoring; or modernizing the application layer in place. Replatforming off IBM i entirely is a multi-year project that should be driven by a business case, not by the myth that the platform is dying.
Sources
- IBM Newsroom: IBM Power11 Raises the Bar for Enterprise IT (July 8, 2025)
- IBM Support: Planning to upgrade to IBM i 7.6 (Hardware)
- IBM i Support Roadmap and Service Extension (IBM PDF)
- IBM: Power8 end of service, what are my options?
- TechChannel: Announcing IBM i 7.6 and IBM i 7.5 TR6 (Steve Will, IBM)
- IT Jungle: IBM i 7.6 Delivers Massive Security Improvement With Built-In MFA
- IT Jungle: Plotting Out Power Systems And IBM i To 2040 And Beyond
- IT Jungle: And Then There Were Two, Big Blue Withdraws IBM i 7.4
- IT Jungle: The State Of The IBM i Installed Base, Part 1 (2020)
- Fortra: 2026 IBM i Marketplace Survey Results
- Fortra: Is the IBM AS/400 software dead?
- InfoWorld: IBM merges System i and System p server lines (2008)
- Wikipedia: IBM AS/400 (naming and architecture lineage)
- endoflife.date: IBM i release support table
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