Precision IT’s SaaS platform is designed to help organizations evaluate the optimal mix of cloud, on-premises, and hybrid infrastructure for their workloads and applications. Many enterprises rely on per-core or per-socket licensed operating systems, middleware, and database software—including Oracle Database, IBM i, and Db2—to support critical workloads. Selecting the right cloud platform for these environments is a strategic decision that affects cost, performance, and operational efficiency. Licensing models based on core or socket counts, combined with differences in hardware performance, can lead to significant cost and resource utilization differences between platforms.

This white paper presents a comparative analysis of four major cloud platforms: IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS), Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The analysis focuses on workloads with per-core and per-socket licensing, using a representative baseline of on-premises Power9 infrastructure for Oracle Database, IBM i, and Db2 migrations. In addition to total cost of ownership (TCO) modeling, this paper highlights how cloud platform selection directly impacts licensing costs, performance efficiency, and overall operational outcomes for mission-critical workloads.