Skytap is a cloud infrastructure service that migrates and runs IBM Power (IBM i, AIX, Linux on Power) and x86 workloads in native format on Microsoft Azure or IBM Cloud without requiring application refactoring in many cases, and provisions clonable multi-VM virtual labs for training, demos, and dev/test.
Published Oct 15, 2026
The product was rebranded in 2026 to Kyndryl Cloud Uplift, which can cause transitional uncertainty in documentation, support processes, and contract entities. Procurement and legal teams should confirm the contractual entity, support contacts, and documentation scope for any purchase post-acquisition.
No dedicated Capterra listing was captured in the reviewed dataset. Evidence on some review platforms and community forums was limited or not substantive in the sources reviewed.
Searches did not surface substantive Reddit or Hacker News discussions about Skytap in the reviewed results. This may reflect limited public community discussion or under-indexing.
Based on reviews and vendor positioning, customers select Skytap to avoid application refactoring for IBM Power estates, to rapidly provision complex production-like environments for dev/test or demos, and to connect traditional systems with Azure/IBM cloud-native services.
Inferred churn or non-purchase reasons include a preference for native hyperscaler services to reduce platform layers, concerns about potential vendor lock-in to a specialized platform, and the need for broader ecosystem or third-party operator availability than a niche platform typically offers.
Vendor press materials describe support for large-scale conference lab events with substantial short-term lab capacity and storage. This example demonstrates the platform’s capacity for event-driven lab workloads but does not provide independent verification of ongoing reliability, total cost, or operational effort.
Typically mid-market to large enterprises, often organizations that maintain substantial IBM Power estates.
Industries with long-lived IBM i/AIX estates, including manufacturing, insurance, banking/financial services, healthcare, logistics, and utilities (industry selection based on prevalence of IBM i/AIX in these sectors; validation recommended during qualification).
Get a comprehensive analysis of Skytap including market position, competitive landscape, adoption trends, and peer benchmarks.
Download full report →G2 lists Skytap as very highly rated on G2 based on a small sample of reviews. The small review base increases the risk of sample bias and reduces confidence in identifying consistent themes.
Positive themes cited in available reviews:
Critical themes cited in available reviews:
Vendor materials and product pages include claims such as environment import and provisioning speed and stated availability SLAs. These claims are vendor-provided and should be validated for scope and applicability to a given deployment type.
Critical evaluation:
Skytap is a cloud infrastructure service focused on two primary capabilities:
Skytap's messaging emphasizes support for specialized legacy workloads in the cloud, with particular focus on IBM Power estates and production/DR/dev-test scenarios. The product was incorporated into Kyndryl's portfolio post-acquisition and was later rebranded as Kyndryl Cloud Uplift following that acquisition.
Skytap is positioned for:
The service is not positioned as a general-purpose IaaS identical to hyperscaler core compute offerings; it is designed to address specific workload types and environment workflows.