Notification
Risk classification
Informational
Subcategories for Informational notifications
Product Information & Documentation
Abstract
IBM watsonx.data is introducing On-Demand Spark and deprecating the Small T-shirt size engine, with automatic migration scheduled between May 11-13, 2026, across all regions. Customers using Small engines must update their automation scripts post-migration, and should expect approximately 15 minutes of downtime during their region's migration window.
Description
This an important update to your IBM watsonx.data as a Service instance on IBM Cloud.
Spark is undergoing a significant architectural transformation with the introduction of On-Demand Spark, along with new capacity options for dedicated workloads.
What’s new?
On-Demand Spark is a major enhancement designed to improve flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. It allows you to spin up Spark clusters only when needed—helping reduce idle resource consumption and optimize costs.
In addition, new node types optimized for storage-heavy workloads are introduced. For more information, see the details available here in the product documentation.
What’s changing?
These updates will be rolled out according to the regional migration schedule outlined below.
The Small T-shirt size will be deprecated and no longer supported.
If you are currently using the Small T-shirt size, your workloads will be automatically migrated as follows:
Single-node (1 node) → On-Demand Spark
Multi-node (≥ 2 nodes) → Closest equivalent dedicated capacity
All other T-shirt sizes remain unchanged and do not require any migration.
What do you need to do?
No action is required for the migration itself. However, please note the following:
If you have automations or scripts that create Small T-shirt size engines, they must be updated after migration. Continuing to use the deprecated configuration will result in failures.
If you have any questions, concerns, or encounter issues, please raise a support ticket here.
Important considerations during migration:
There will be an approximate downtime of 15 minutes during the migration window.
Any in-flight transactions or running workloads at the time of migration will be impacted and will need to be re-executed post the migration is complete.
Migration Schedule by Region:
Region | Migration Date |
|---|---|
jp-tok | 2026-05-11 |
au-syd | 2026-05-11 |
eu-gb | 2026-05-12 |
ca-tor | 2026-05-12 |
eu-de | 2026-05-13 |
us-east | 2026-05-13 |
us-south | 2026-05-13 |
We appreciate your continued trust in IBM and remain committed to enhancing your experience with watsonx.data.
Date first published
30 April 2026
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Document Information
Modified date:
30 April 2026
UID
ibm17270944