iSeries Deals to Keep in Mind As You Shop

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

I don't know about you, but I have trouble keeping track of all the deals IBM has at any given time that might cushion the blow to your checkbook when shopping for new hardware, software, and services. That's why I wanted to write a little reminder list for you this week about some deals IBM is promoting on its Web site and through its reseller channel.

For those looking to install Linux on an iSeries, IBM has an offer that gives you a free distribution of either Red Hat Linux AS 3.0 for iSeries or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for iSeries. A single license of either program is keyed to a single iSeries box. The Red Hat 3.0 Standard Edition for the iSeries and pSeries lines (which has phone support from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.) costs $1,992, while Red Hat 3.0 Premium Edition (which has 24/7 phone support) costs $2,998. SuSE 8 for the iSeries costs $1,489. On top of the support available from Red Hat and SuSE (which is what you are really paying for when you buy these distributions), IBM is throwing in six months of its own SupportLine for Linux services. You just have to buy a new iSeries Model 825, 870, or 890 server to get the freebie Linux. Red Hat told me a few months ago that with a single instance of its operating system, you could install as many Linux instances as you want on your iSeries, but IBM is saying in this deal that SuSE is only supporting a single license on up to two processors, while Red Hat's licensing is per partition. I sure wish these guys would get their stories straight.

Under the ServerProven rebate that iSeries software vendors have been clamoring to get approved for, customers who buy a new eServer machine (iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, or zSeries) for $50,000 or more can get rebates on ServerProven software. This promotion seems to be as much about driving independent software vendors to become server-proven as it is about cutting customers a break. In any event, the rebates are not huge. Those who are invoiced for between $50,000 and $100,000 get a $1,000 rebate; those spending between $100,000 and $200,000 get a $2,500 rebate; and those spending more than $200,000 get a $5,000 rebate. Customers can only get one rebate per server serial number.

In addition to these two deals, IBM is offering discounts on the activation fees for its software maintenance support service, which is a combination of system and software support. The activation fees to get current on software maintenance can be quite high, so IBM is cutting customers some slack on these fees. The discount on the activation fees is inversely proportional to the length of time your iSeries has been off maintenance, and it is only available for machines that have been on maintenance within the past 12 months. If your software maintenance lapsed only a month ago, you get reactivated for free (a 100 percent discount). If you went off maintenance two months ago, you can get an 86 percent discount, and so on, all the way down to going off maintenance 10 or 11 months ago, where you only get 8 percent shaved off the activation fees. IBM really wants that recurring revenue stream.