IBM Power for Google Cloud

IBM Power for Google Cloud (IP4G): Independent Platform Profile

Real PowerVM LPARs on Power9 and Power10 hardware adjacent to Google Cloud regions, sold through the Google Cloud Marketplace and operated by Pellera Technologies, the company formed from Converge and Mainline in 2025. What it runs, how it ties into GCP, and how it differs from PowerVS and the Azure path.

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Independent overview: Power Systems Advisors is not affiliated with Pellera Technologies, Converge, Google, or IBM. Product names and marks belong to their respective owners. Verify current terms directly with the provider.

What is IBM Power for Google Cloud (IP4G)?

IP4G is an infrastructure-as-a-service offering that runs PowerVM-based LPARs on native IBM Power9 and Power10 hardware connected to Google Cloud, with no custom hypervisors or emulation, supporting AIX, IBM i, and Linux on Power. It is sold as a subscription through the Google Cloud Marketplace and billed on your monthly Google invoice. The operator is Pellera Technologies, formed in April 2025 when H.I.G. Capital acquired Converge Technology Solutions and merged it with Mainline Information Systems; the documentation still lives at docs.converge.cloud under the IP4G brand. The natural fit is a shop standardizing on Google Cloud that wants Power workloads next to BigQuery and Compute Engine rather than in a separate cloud.

Practical decision support

Pin down the operator, the hardware, and the contract before you commit

Use this profile to understand IP4G's structure, then verify versions, SLA, and terms directly with Pellera Technologies before you sign anything.

Confirm current IBM i and AIX version support, including IBM i 7.6, before mapping your release plan; the public FAQ tops out at IBM i 7.5.
Get the uptime SLA, service credit terms, and DR replication RPO and RTO between region pairs in writing; no public SLA figure was found in our research.
Ask how the Marketplace subscription treats OS licensing, whether the spend counts toward your Google commitment, and what a Power10 custom plan costs in your target region.

The Operator Story

Who Runs IP4G, at a Glance

The platform has had three names attached to it: Google, Converge, and now Pellera. Here is the short version.

Google launched Power first

Google first offered IBM Power Systems as a service on Google Cloud on January 13, 2020, initially for AIX and Linux only. IBM i support and the IP4G branding came later.

Built out by Converge

Converge Technology Solutions developed IP4G and brought it to the Google Cloud Marketplace, announced November 1, 2021, covering AIX, IBM i, and Linux on Power.

Now operated by Pellera

H.I.G. Capital completed its acquisition of Converge on April 22, 2025 and merged it with Mainline Information Systems to form Pellera Technologies. IBM's Redbooks now describe IP4G as operated by Pellera.

Brand and docs unchanged

The product is still branded IP4G, the documentation still lives at docs.converge.cloud, and the Marketplace listing may still show the Converge name. Same platform, new corporate parent.

Timeline

From Google Launch to Pellera Ownership, 2020 to 2025

The ownership and capability sequence, based on the public record.

1
January 2020: Power arrives on Google Cloud
Google launched IBM Power Systems as a service, AIX and Linux first. IT Jungle noted at the time that IBM i was not yet supported.
2
November 2021: Converge takes IP4G to the Marketplace
Converge Technology Solutions announced IBM Power for Google Cloud on the Google Cloud Marketplace, with Marketplace subscription billing on the Google invoice.
3
2023 to 2024: Power10 regions, VTL backup, PCI-DSS
Canadian regions launched on Power10 in March 2023, the FalconStor StorSafe virtual tape library agreement followed in February 2024, and Converge announced PCI-DSS certification for the platform on September 17, 2024.
4
April 2025: Converge becomes Pellera
H.I.G. Capital completed the roughly C$1.3 billion enterprise value acquisition and merged Converge with Mainline Information Systems to form Pellera Technologies, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, led by former Converge CEO Greg Berard.

Operator

What the Pellera Change Means for Buyers

The operator question matters because IP4G is neither a Google product nor an IBM one. As of this writing, the clearest public statements are IBM’s own: Redbooks publication SG24-8597 describes IP4G as an IBM Power-based cloud server offering available in the Google Cloud Marketplace and operated by IBM Business Partner Pellera Technologies, and Pellera markets IP4G on pellera.com. The corporate history behind that: H.I.G. Capital completed its acquisition of Converge Technology Solutions on April 22, 2025, at C$6.00 per share and an enterprise value of approximately C$1.3 billion, and merged Converge with Mainline Information Systems to form Pellera Technologies.

A private-equity ownership change is not a red flag by itself, and our research found no announced roadmap or support changes for IP4G under Pellera. It is, however, a fair contract-time question: ask about product commitment, support continuity, and who answers escalations post-merger. Expect naming residue while you research. The documentation still lives at docs.converge.cloud, press coverage through 2024 says Converge, and the Google Cloud Marketplace listing’s seller name should be checked directly since the console page requires a login. The safe mental model is Pellera Technologies (formerly Converge) either way.

Platform

What It Runs, and Where

Per the IP4G documentation, the platform deploys PowerVM-based virtual machines on native IBM Power9 and Power10 hardware, with no custom hypervisors and no emulation, and runs all three Power operating environments: AIX, IBM i, and Linux on Power. The documentation’s IBM i FAQ lists supported releases as 7.2 TR8, 7.3 TR4, 7.4, and 7.5; we found no public confirmation of IBM i 7.6 support as of this writing, so treat the published list as possibly stale and verify with the provider. For AIX, the same documentation states the platform follows IBM’s current supported versions, and extended support for out-of-support releases is not currently available, which matters if part of your estate still runs older AIX levels.

Availability spans six Google Cloud regions per the IP4G documentation: us-east4 (Northern Virginia), us-central1 (Iowa), northamerica-northeast1 (Montreal), northamerica-northeast2 (Toronto), europe-west3 (Frankfurt), and europe-west4 (Netherlands). The Canadian regions launched in March 2023 exclusively on Power10 servers, per Converge’s announcement, while the Google Cloud Marketplace listing describes standard plans as Power9-based in US regions, with custom plans covering Power10 and additional regions. On the infrastructure itself, IT Jungle describes the environment as Power9 and Power10 hardware connected to IBM FlashSystem arrays via NPIV over 10Gb Ethernet networks, and IBM’s Redbook states the IP4G datacenters sit adjacent to Google Cloud regional datacenters on dedicated, low-latency links. There is no Asia-Pacific or UK presence as of this writing.

Integration

How It Connects to Google Cloud

This is the structural reason to shortlist IP4G at all. Per the platform documentation, IP4G instances are networked into your target GCP project using Google VPC Network Peering, which gives Power LPARs direct private access to GCP resources, including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and logging, over Google’s internal global network. Vendor materials claim latency between Power VMs and same-region Google Cloud services can be as low as 1 ms; that is a vendor figure, so test it against your own workload profile before designing around it. Note that the published integration mechanism is VPC peering, not Private Service Connect.

For on-premises connectivity, the public documentation describes VPC peering only, which implies your sites reach IP4G over your existing Cloud Interconnect or VPN into the peered project. Whether any direct interconnect into the IP4G environment is offered is not published, so confirm the end-to-end network design, including bandwidth for migration data movement, with the provider. Our IBM i cloud migration checklist covers the planning items that sit around that connectivity question.

Billing

Pricing Model and Contract Shape

IP4G is sold as a subscription through the Google Cloud Marketplace and appears on your monthly Google bill; you also register with the service provider. Per the platform’s documentation, the subscription is a capacity-based cloud instance plan, a bundle of compute, memory, storage, and network resources, billed monthly and pro-rated per day, with no term commitment on the standard Google Cloud plan and cancellation possible at any time. The Marketplace listing indicates standard plans are Power9-based in US regions and that custom plans, including Power10 and additional regions, are available; the contract structure of those custom plans is not public. Two things our research could not establish, and which materially affect cost comparisons: how IBM i and AIX licensing is treated (included in the subscription versus bring-your-own, and license mobility from on-premises), and whether Marketplace spend counts toward Google committed-use or enterprise agreements. Ask both directly.

What Drives IP4G Cost

Capacity plan sizing
The subscription bundles compute, memory, storage, and network into one capacity plan, so oversizing any dimension inflates the whole bill. Size from measured utilization, not nameplate.
Standard versus custom plans
Standard plans were Power9-based in US regions per the Marketplace listing. Power10 or non-US regions go through custom plans whose pricing and terms are quoted, not published.
OS licensing treatment
Whether IBM i and AIX licensing is bundled or bring-your-own is not publicly documented. This can swing a cost comparison materially, so get it in writing.
DR and backup capacity
Cross-region replication targets, virtual tape library storage, and backup retention all consume billable capacity on top of production.
Connectivity
On-premises access rides your GCP connectivity, so Cloud Interconnect or VPN costs, and any migration bandwidth, sit on the Google side of the bill.
Google spend commitments
Whether IP4G Marketplace spend counts toward committed-use or enterprise agreements with Google is not stated publicly. Confirm before assuming credit.

Resilience

SLA, Compliance, and HA/DR

Start with what is not public: our research found no published uptime SLA figure for IP4G in the documentation, Marketplace materials, or press coverage, so do not assume a number; get the SLA and its credit terms in the contract. On compliance, Converge announced PCI-DSS certification for the IP4G platform on September 17, 2024, and Pellera’s marketing states the platform is built to meet requirements including PCI-DSS and SOC 2 Type 2. The PCI announcement does not state the PCI DSS version or which regions the certification covers, and we found no public HIPAA claim, so request current attestation documents, typically under NDA, before relying on any of it for a regulated workload.

For disaster recovery, Pellera markets IP4G as enabling geo-redundant DR without a secondary data center, supporting storage-based replication plus options such as virtual tape library backup and restore and Oracle Data Guard. On the backup side, Converge and FalconStor announced an agreement in February 2024 for a simplified deployment of FalconStor StorSafe VTL on Google Cloud for IP4G customers; StorSafe emulates IBM i supported tape drives and libraries and is BRMS-compatible, with FalconStor claiming up to 95 percent backend storage reduction through deduplication. The six regions fall into three natural DR pairings (Virginia and Iowa, Montreal and Toronto, Frankfurt and Netherlands), but the achievable RPO and RTO between pairs is a provider conversation, not a published figure. Our IBM Power disaster recovery guide covers setting those targets before you evaluate tooling.

Comparison

How It Differs From PowerVS and the Azure Path

All three major hyperscaler-adjacent Power options put real Power hardware in or next to a cloud, so the deciding question is which cloud the rest of your estate lives in, not feature checklists. IBM Power Virtual Serveris operated by IBM in IBM Cloud datacenters, twelve cities as of IT Jungle’s April 2025 review, and is charged at a monthly rate metered hourly per IBM’s pricing documentation: the natural pick when your relationship and adjacent workloads sit with IBM Cloud. Kyndryl Cloud Uplift, formerly Skytap on Azure, runs Power hardware inside Microsoft Azure datacenters with ExpressRoute connectivity to Azure services, sold via the Microsoft Marketplace; Kyndryl acquired Skytap in 2024. IP4G is the only one of the three that lands Power adjacent to Google Cloud, which makes it the default shortlist entry when BigQuery, GCP data services, or a Google-first cloud strategy define your target architecture.

Structural comparison as of August 2026: confirm current details with each provider.
Option	Where the hardware sits	Who operates it	How it is billed	Integration gravity
IBM Power for Google Cloud (IP4G)	Power9/Power10 datacenters adjacent to Google Cloud regions, per IBM's Redbook	Pellera Technologies (formerly Converge)	Google Cloud Marketplace subscription on the Google bill, monthly, pro-rated daily	VPC peering into your GCP project: BigQuery, GCE, Cloud Storage
IBM Power Virtual Server	IBM Cloud data centers (twelve cities per IT Jungle, April 2025)	IBM	Monthly rate metered hourly, per IBM's pricing documentation	IBM Cloud networking and services
Kyndryl Cloud Uplift (formerly Skytap on Azure)	IBM Power hardware inside Microsoft Azure datacenters	Kyndryl (acquired Skytap in 2024)	Sold via the Microsoft Marketplace	ExpressRoute and Azure virtual networks

Fit Check

Is Google-Adjacent Power a Good Fit?

Best fit

Good fit signals

Your organization is standardizing on Google Cloud, your data platform targets are BigQuery and GCP services, you want IBM i or AIX LPARs on real Power hardware without owning it, and your users sit near the US, Canadian, or European regions IP4G serves.

Use caution

Proceed with caution if

You need Asia-Pacific or UK regions (none as of this writing), Power10 on a standard US plan (the Marketplace listed standard US plans as Power9-based), a contractual SLA figure up front (none is published), or IBM i 7.6 support, which was not publicly confirmed in our research.

Key decision

Decision point

IP4G is infrastructure. If the operating system and application layer should be someone else's job, compare infrastructure-only options against managed IBM Power hosting before you commit.

Compare PowerVS with managed hosting

IBM Power for Google Cloud FAQ

Who actually operates IBM Power for Google Cloud, Google or IBM?

Neither. IP4G is operated by Pellera Technologies, the company formed in April 2025 when H.I.G. Capital completed its acquisition of Converge Technology Solutions and merged it with Mainline Information Systems. Google provides the Marketplace, the billing relationship, and the adjacent cloud services; IBM provides the Power hardware and operating system stack. IBM's own Redbooks describe IP4G as operated by IBM Business Partner Pellera Technologies, and Pellera markets the service on its own site. The documentation still lives at docs.converge.cloud under the IP4G brand, so expect to see the Converge name in places.

Does IP4G run IBM i as well as AIX?

Yes. IP4G runs AIX, IBM i, and Linux on Power on native Power9 and Power10 hardware under PowerVM, with no emulation. The platform's IBM i FAQ lists 7.2 TR8, 7.3 TR4, 7.4, and 7.5 as supported releases; we found no public confirmation of IBM i 7.6 support as of this writing, so verify the current list with the provider. Worth knowing: when Google first launched Power in its cloud in January 2020 there was no IBM i support at all, only AIX and Linux; IBM i arrived later under Converge.

Which Google Cloud regions offer IP4G?

Six regions, per the IP4G documentation: us-east4 (Northern Virginia), us-central1 (Iowa), northamerica-northeast1 (Montreal), northamerica-northeast2 (Toronto), europe-west3 (Frankfurt), and europe-west4 (Netherlands). The two Canadian regions launched in March 2023 exclusively on Power10 hardware, per Converge's announcement. There are no Asia-Pacific or UK regions as of this writing, so check the current list before planning around geography.

How does IP4G connect to my Google Cloud project?

Through Google VPC Network Peering into your target GCP project. Power LPARs get direct private access to GCP services such as Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and logging over Google's internal network. Vendor materials claim latency as low as 1 ms to same-region GCP services; treat that as a vendor figure and test with your own workload. Published materials describe VPC peering, not Private Service Connect, and on-premises access appears to ride your own GCP connectivity into the peered VPC, so confirm the network design with the provider.

How is IP4G priced and billed?

As a Google Cloud Marketplace subscription that lands on your monthly Google bill; you also register with the service provider. You subscribe to a capacity-based cloud instance plan, a bundle of compute, memory, storage, and network resources, billed monthly and pro-rated per day, with no term commitment on the standard plan and cancellation possible at any time. Per the Marketplace listing, standard plans were Power9-based in US regions as of this writing, with custom plans covering Power10 and additional regions. Ask directly about OS licensing treatment and whether the spend counts toward any Google commitment.

Is IP4G certified for regulated workloads?

Converge announced PCI-DSS certification for the IP4G platform on September 17, 2024, and Pellera's marketing also cites SOC 2 Type 2. The press release does not state the PCI DSS version or which regions the certification covers, so request the attestation documents, typically available under NDA, before relying on them. We found no public HIPAA claim for the platform.

How does IP4G compare with IBM PowerVS and with Power on Azure?

All three put real Power hardware next to a cloud, so the differentiator is which cloud sits beside it. IBM Power Virtual Server is operated by IBM inside IBM Cloud datacenters (twelve cities per IT Jungle's April 2025 review) and is charged at a monthly rate metered hourly, per IBM's pricing documentation. Kyndryl Cloud Uplift, formerly Skytap on Azure (Kyndryl acquired Skytap in 2024), runs Power hardware inside Microsoft Azure datacenters with ExpressRoute into Azure, sold via the Microsoft Marketplace. IP4G is the Google-adjacent option: pick it when your data platform and modernization targets are BigQuery and GCP services. Placement should follow the rest of your estate, not the Power feature list.

Sources

Deciding Between IP4G, PowerVS, and the Azure Path?

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