IT Services — IBM i Consulting
Trusted IBM i Consulting Since 1996
From the AS400 to IBM i on IBM Power, Paragon has provided products, services and resources for this outstanding platform. Our experience goes well beyond just RPG programming. We are experts in IBM i administration and the most contemporary ways applications can be developed for the IBM Power platform, while still supporting the oldest legacy systems.
What we cover
End-to-End IBM i Support
Every consultant on our IBM i team has spent years inside production environments. Our staff is highly experienced in the technology they use and the industries in which they apply it.
How we engage
Flexible Engagement Models
Every organization has different priorities, internal resources, budgeting requirements, and timelines. Paragon structures each engagement around the customer’s needs rather than requiring a standard delivery model.
We can work under a defined project scope when the requirements, deliverables, schedule, and budget are clearly established. When priorities are evolving or the work cannot be fully defined in advance, we can provide services on a time-and-materials basis.
Some customers engage Paragon for a single initiative. Others use us as an ongoing extension of their IT team. In either case, the goal is the same: provide the right expertise, level of involvement, and working arrangement for the customer’s situation.
Defined Projects
A documented scope, schedule, deliverables, and budget for work with clearly established requirements.
Time and Materials
Flexible access to IBM i expertise when priorities evolve or the required effort cannot be accurately determined in advance.
Ongoing Support
A recurring allocation of consulting hours for enhancements, administration, troubleshooting, and other continuing needs.
Team Augmentation
Experienced IBM i resources working alongside the customer’s staff to add capacity or provide skills that are not available internally.
Common scenarios
When Clients Call Paragon
IBM i consulting needs tend to cluster around a few high-stakes moments.
“Our IBM i Resource Is Retiring”
Paragon can provide full-time, part-time, or as-needed IBM i support to preserve continuity, transfer critical knowledge, and keep daily operations and development work moving.
“We Want to Keep IBM i. Is It Viable Long-Term?”
We assess the platform, applications, skills, and business requirements to determine a practical long-term direction. Options can range from modernizing business logic and adding a browser-based interface to rearchitecting or replatforming applications when the business case supports it.
“We Need Help with Legacy or Unsupported Software”
Our consultants are experienced in taking responsibility for unfamiliar and poorly documented applications. We trace job flows, source code, database relationships, interfaces, and business processes to understand how the system works before making the required correction, enhancement, or modification.
“We Need System Patching and OS Upgrades”
We plan and apply IBM i PTF groups, technology refreshes, and operating system upgrades with attention to prerequisites, application compatibility, backups, testing, cutover, and post-installation verification.
“We Need IBM i to Connect to Customer and Partner Systems”
We integrate IBM i applications with customer, supplier, cloud, and enterprise systems using the appropriate approach, including REST APIs, web services, EDI, database integration, messaging, and secure file exchange.
Who does the work
Experienced Today. Building IBM i Expertise for Tomorrow.
Paragon’s IBM i practice combines deep platform experience with an intentional commitment to developing the next generation of IBM i professionals. Our exceptionally low employee turnover gives customers continuity, while ongoing training and mentorship ensure that knowledge is shared, skills continue to develop, and support does not depend on any one individual.
Staff augmentation
Flexible IBM i Expertise That Works as Part of Your Team
Maintaining the right IBM i skills and capacity internally can be difficult, particularly when workloads change, an experienced employee leaves, or a specialized need arises. Paragon provides IBM i professionals who work within your organization’s priorities, standards, and change-management processes.
Resources can be engaged on a full-time, part-time, or as-needed basis for application development, system administration, database work, security, integration, modernization, and other IBM i responsibilities. Your organization maintains control of day-to-day priorities while Paragon supplies the additional capacity and expertise.
Staff augmentation can address an immediate need, support a transition, or become a long-term extension of your internal team. The arrangement can adjust as workloads, staffing, and business priorities change.
When Staff Augmentation Makes Sense
Continuity During Staffing Changes. Maintain application and operational coverage while replacing an employee, reorganizing responsibilities, or determining a longer-term staffing plan.
Planned Knowledge Transfer. Add a Paragon resource before a key employee retires or departs so critical application, operational, and business knowledge can be documented and transferred.
Additional Delivery Capacity. Increase development or administrative capacity when the existing team is focused on daily operations and important enhancements continue to accumulate.
Specialized Expertise as Needed. Bring in IBM i security, database, integration, modernization, or system administration skills without creating a permanent position for an occasional requirement.
Every IBM i Environment
Expertise for Modern and Legacy IBM i Environments
Paragon works with current IBM i releases and contemporary development methods, but we also support older environments that remain critical to the business. That includes back-level operating systems, fixed-format RPG and COBOL, DDS-defined databases, custom CL programs, undocumented job streams, and applications whose original developers are no longer available.
We know how to enter an unfamiliar environment, determine how its applications and operations fit together, and make responsible changes without assuming that everything must first be replaced. We can resolve immediate issues, maintain and enhance existing applications, document critical processes, reduce operational risk, and develop a modernization path when modernization provides real business value.
The age of the system and the quality of its documentation may affect how the work begins, but they do not prevent us from helping.
AS400 or IBM i
Whatever You Call It, We Know the Platform
IBM introduced the AS/400 in 1988 as an integrated business computing platform. It later evolved through the IBM eServer iSeries and System i product lines. In 2008, IBM renamed the operating system IBM i, which now runs on IBM Power servers.
Many organizations still call the platform an AS400, while others refer to it as iSeries, System i, IBM i, or IBM Power. We understand what each name means, how the platform has evolved, and how applications and operating practices have carried forward across generations. Whatever name your organization uses, Paragon can support the system you have today.
FAQ
Common Questions
Do you work on-site or remotely?
Both. Most IBM i consulting can be performed remotely through customer-approved secure access. On-site assistance is available when physical access, planning sessions, knowledge transfer, or major implementation activities make it beneficial.
What IBM i operating system releases do you support?
We work with current IBM i releases as well as older environments with applications and operating practices dating back to OS/400. When a release is no longer supported by IBM, we explain the technical and operational constraints, help address immediate needs, and develop an appropriate upgrade or risk-management plan.
Can you work alongside our internal IT team?
Yes. Paragon can work as an extension of your existing team or take responsibility for defined IBM i functions. Responsibilities, priorities, communication, and change procedures are established around the way your organization already operates.
Who will work on our system?
We assign professionals whose skills and experience match the work being performed. Customers know who is assigned and who is accountable before the engagement begins. Knowledge is shared across the Paragon team to support continuity and reduce dependence on any one individual.
Can you support an application your team has never seen before?
Yes. Many IBM i environments include custom or legacy applications with limited documentation. We review source code, database relationships, job flows, interfaces, security, and business processes to understand how the application works before making changes.
What engagement options do you offer?
We provide defined projects and time-and-materials engagements, as well as full-time, part-time, and as-needed staff augmentation. The structure can be adjusted as the scope, workload, or customer’s internal resources change.
How quickly can you begin?
Timing depends on the urgency, required expertise, system-access requirements, and current resource availability. We respond quickly to urgent situations and establish a realistic start date and initial action plan once we understand the need.
Talk to an IBM i Consultant Today
Tell us about your IBM i environment and what you need to accomplish. We’ll recommend a practical path forward and explain how Paragon can support it.
Schedule a free consultation Call 800-966-6725