IBM i Support & Maintenance
Safeguard & De-risk Your Business with Robust and Reliable IBM i Support
Tailored IBM i support to provide business continuity
Ensure your systems are resilient by using our specialists to support and maintain your IBM i applications for as long as they are needed.
With one of the largest teams of IBM i specialists in the UK, our flexible and tailored service offers everything from helpdesk cover, SLA-backed support, complete turn-key solutions or ad-hoc application maintenance.
Strengthen your support model with long-term IBM i expertise
Depend on day-to-day IBM i application support from a consistent team of technical specialists.
We'll deliver support for as long as you need, answering queries and resolving issues without the risk of losing IBM i skills.
Proactive IBM i maintenance to minimise issues
Keep your applications up-to-date and secure with ongoing application maintenance.
We'll address potential issues before they arise to minimise support tickets, along with proactive monitoring and management of your applications.
Proactive monitoring of your IBM i applications
Our in-house developed application monitoring tool provides performance tracking and proactive error/anomaly detection. Automated alert notifications help our team get to work on issues before you even realise there’s a problem.
Guarantee fast problem resolution with 24/7 support
Avoid downtime and service interruptions with on-call support that fixes urgent issues promptly.
We can provide SLA-backed support to guarantee response times and 24/7 support for business-critical systems.
Seamless onboarding for support and maintenance
Enjoy peace of mind when you hand over support for your IBM i applications.
We'll build a detailed understanding of your IBM i environment and create support documentation even if your applications are customised.
Transfer your developers to join our dedicated team of IBM i specialists
If circumstances require, you can transfer your IBM i developers to our team. This retains staff and preserves critical system knowledge, avoids disruption and reduces risk. It also means there’s a continuity of personnel, and provides a stable foundation for long-term service improvement as we retain and build upon existing application expertise.
Use Cases
Why you need support & maintenance for your IBM i applications
There are many reasons you might need support & maintenance for your AS400/iSeries/IBM i. Here’s just a few examples that other companies, just like you, have come to us with.
If you have a very specific use case, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can discuss your specific requirements.
If your resident IBM i experts are reaching retirement age and there’s a shortage of in-house skills to replace them, then external support for your IBM i could be the way to go. Our team can build our knowledge to support and maintain your IBM i applications for the long-term.
If you have a longer-term plan to move away from IBM i, but for now you just need it to remain operational and keep ‘doing it’s thing’ behind the scenes, then our IBM i specialists are on hand to support you through this period.
Wish you could have a team of IBM i experts who were available to keep your applications maintained? And, a team that you could call on whatever time of day you had a query or an issue with your IBM i applications? Talk to us today.
If you just want to make sure your IBM i applications are kept updated, secure, and avoid downtime or service interruptions, then an outsourced IBM i support service could be right for your business.
If you have your IBM i applications connected to other systems, whatever they may be, we can support and maintain those integrations to minimise downtime and service interruptions.
Why Proximity?
A team of IBM i specialists you can rely on
Industry experience
Global manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, retail and financial services companies trust us with their core systems.
Technical IBM i expertise
Access a team of 40 technical specialists with skills in RPG, COBOL, PHP and Java, as well as cloud solutions.
Stable, long-term support
100% UK-based, permanent staff. We refresh our team with experienced IBM i developers, graduates and trainees, and we don't use agencies or contractors.
Case Studies
Customer stories
Frequently Asked Questions
IBM i support and maintenance covers day-to-day issue resolution, proactive application maintenance, and ongoing monitoring to keep your systems secure, stable, and up-to-date. Proximity combines reactive helpdesk cover (with SLA-backed response times) with proactive work that prevents issues arising in the first place. Proactive maintenance keeps your IBM i applications updated, secure and addresses potential issues before they become support tickets. We use automated performance tracking to ensure problems are caught before they become an issue.
Typically support is provided on a 5-day working week based on ‘normal’ UK working hours, Proximity can provide SLA-backed extended hours, including 24/7 support for business-critical IBM i (iSeries and AS400) applications on request. All support is delivered against guaranteed response times so urgent issues are resolved promptly and any downtime is minimised. Proximity has a UK-based team of 40-plus IBM i technical specialists, not an outsourced call centre.
IBM i software support covers the operating system, security patches, and platform-level stability, while IBM i application support covers the day-to-day functioning of the business applications running on top of it. Most organisations need both working together to keep the whole environment reliable.
- Software support: OS updates, security patching, and platform configuration
- Application support: resolving issues, fielding user queries, and maintaining the business logic.
Proximity provides application support rather than software support. However, we do have a network of partners who can provide that exact service as part of their offering.
Yes, it is certainly possible to transfer your IBM i developers to Proximity. It is a model we have employed with other IBM i enterprises. If you’re looking to outsource the support and maintenance of your existing IBM i applications, we are always open to finding a ‘good home’ for your existing in-house IBM i developers or support staff. This preserves continuity and avoids the disruption of starting support from scratch (though we do have a tried and tested methodology for knowledge transfer should that be your preference). In our experience, enterprises looking for this option are planning to migrate from IBM i in the medium to long-term, which again is something we can support you with.
Proactive IBM i application maintenance and support provided by Proximity helps prevent downtime by identifying and resolving issues before they escalate any further, rather than waiting for something to break. When supporting and maintaining an IBM i application, we typically include a continuous performance monitoring tool, which has been designed and developed by us, within the service. That automated performance tracking and anomaly detection flag problems before users notice them and reduces support ticket volume overall, since many issues are caught and fixed proactively.