Itschak, I am not a contract lawyer! :-)
Without elaboration and strictly my opinion: "NO" to all your questions. IBM publishes, for all the world to see (on the web, on contracts, etc.) its pricing metrics and Terms and Conditions (T&C) for those metrics that usually apply to all. As a rule, there is no differentiation made between one company or another. I believe, in the US, it is not legal for IBM to do so. Outside the US, most of the same contract rules are still applied. Having said that, I have seen variable pricing "discounts and uplifts" in EMEA due to the presence (or lack thereof) of competitive situations. But not wholesale "I get it free and you have to pay" scenarios and certainly not with different T&Cs. I'll let others provide a more authoritative response. Better yet, why not ask your friendly IBM rep to answer this? Bob -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Itschak Mugzach Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 8:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: IBM MLC discount policies Thanks to those who replied. My question is more about the limitation IBM took or put on IBM on pricing. For example. is this possible that one customer will pay for a product (not a OTC product) and the other will not? is this legal from IBM procedures point view? What I am trying to understand is, does MLC pricing (Whic his based on size, usage, or workload, but there is a clwar rule to differentiate customers, or MLC pricing methods are a negotiation starting point...) a recommendation or must for IBM ? ITschak On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 3:35 PM, Richards, Robert B. < [email protected]> wrote: > Excellent list, Timothy! > > One other "minor" point that may not be valid anymore (it has been 13 years > since I was last a s/390 Client Rep): > > If you happen to be negotiating with IBM in late 4th quarter, you may be > able to get them to be a little more accommodating if they are trying to hit > certain revenue quotas. <smile> > > Bob > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Timothy Sipples > Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 8:25 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: IBM MLC discount policies > > I'll run through the list, in no particular order: > > 1. An IBM Enterprise License Agreement (ELA), and other IBM agreements > which incorporate ELA terms and conditions, is/are a way to get some > additional value from your MLC. In very simple terms, if you can reasonably > forecast your MLC and make a financial commitment to some particular MSU > growth path, IBM provides some "coupons" (or credits) which can be used to > acquire IBM "One-Time Charge" (OTC/IPLA) software licenses. The more the > growth commitment, the more the credits. (Note that the credits must be > spent immediately, upon contract execution, so perhaps credits isn't the > right word.) > > In my personal opinion those credits should be treated as reductions in the > MLC, especially if you're calculating chargebacks and such. > > I strongly recommend exploring this sort of licensing with your friendly > IBM representative. It's good for you, it's good for IBM, and it's very > easy to do considering that you almost certainly already have capacity > forecasts. > > 2. If you are a qualified business partner (such as a qualified software > developer for z/OS, z/VSE, etc.) or academic institution, you are likely > eligible for sharp reductions in MLC through such programs as PartnerWorld > and the System z Academic Initiative. > > 3. If you would like to run a new workload that qualifies for zNALC > licensing, you can receive a major reduction in z/OS MLC. DB2 Value Unit > Edition licensing may also be available for that workload. > > 4. If you would like to run a qualifying new System z Solution Edition > workload, you would receive a single price quotation for all hardware > ("MIPS"), hardware maintenance, software licensing, and software > subscription/support for up to 5 years. Obviously there is an MLC reduction > incorporated into that quotation. > > 5. Standard MLC terms and conditions already include a number of discounts, > and more seem to get invented. A few examples: > > a. MLC pricing is strongly "curved." The more you use, the lower the price > for each incremental MSU. (And recently IBM added more tiers to maintain > that basic principle.) > > b. It's variable under VWLC, MWLC, and AWLC. If you have a "quiet" month, > you automatically get a discount. > > c. Likewise, it's subcapacity. If you only run MQ in one LPAR, then you > only pay for that LPAR (under VWLC, MWLC, AWLC, zNALC, or Solution > Edition). > > d. You're always in control, through defined capacity settings ("softcaps") > for individual LPARs and for groups of LPARs. As long as you know how to > twist the softcap "knobs," surprises are never possible. > > e. It applies only to real work (dev/test/prod). For example, there's no > additional charge for a real disaster, or for cold or warm standby, or for > a proscribed number of disaster rehearsals (CBU), or for such events as > relocating machines between data centers (CPE). > > f. For the past 10 years there have been "technology dividends." Sometimes > these dividends have been in the form of MSU reductions on new machine > models. Other times they've been in the form of new licensing (e.g. VWLC in > 2000 and AWLC in 2010). > > g. Specialty engines (zAAPs, zIIPs, ICFs) do not incur IBM software license > charges. Software vendors, including IBM, continue to make more of their > products eligible to run on specialty engines. > > h. Specialty accelerators, notably the new Smart Analytics Optimizer, can > end up effectively reducing MLC, at least on an equal performance > comparison. > > i. IBM is doing a very good job reducing path length in many MLC products > with new releases, notably z/OS, DB2 10, IMS, and (especially if you > exploit threadsafe) CICS. > > 6. IBM tries to be reasonable. For example, if you're migrating from one > machine to another (such as a machine upgrade), and you need a short period > when you're running MLC on both machines but are still supporting the same > workloads (same number of users, same transaction volumes, etc.), you can > request a short-term waiver on one of the machines (generally the smaller > one). IBM does not promise to honor such requests but will consider them in > good faith. > > As always, I do not speak for IBM. Which means I might be more > entertaining. > > - - - - - > Timothy Sipples > Resident Enterprise Architect > STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team > IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore) > E-Mail: [email protected] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
