Big ERP Package Buyers Get Big System i5 Rebates

Published: March 6, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If you are shopping around for a new ERP suite and you are looking at the various applications from the big, name-brand ERP software providers in the OS/400 market, then IBM has a rebate for you--provided you plan to buy a new System i5 or upgrade to one and buy implementation services from the software providers.

Last week, IBM announced a rebate for System i5 purchases or upgrades when companies are deploying the application suites provided by International Business Systems, Infor Global Solutions, Intentia International, Lawson Software, Oracle, SAP, and SSA Global. The deal has a lot of angles in it, such as requiring that you have to migrate an application from a non-IBM system to the i5 or buy a new set of licenses to the software for a new machine or incur an upgrade fee for the application software if you are upgrading to a System i5. (Meaning, you can't just move from an iSeries box to an i5 and stay in the same software tier. You have to pay the ISV some dough, too.) By the way, if you are thinking about using this rebate to put Oracle 10g databases on AIX partitions, forget it. That's a no-no.

If you meet the criteria, IBM will give you a rebate that scales with the size of the iron you buy or upgrade to. For new machines, the rebate ranges from $1,750 on the smallest i5 520 to $140,000 on the biggest i5 595. Those upgrading Model 8XX boxes can also get rebates, which range from $1,200 on an upgrade to a Model 810 to $38,400 on an upgrade on a Model 890. Rebates on upgraded i5 520 machines start at $525 and go as high as $42,000 on a big i5 595 machine.

The ERP-related rebate deal is retroactive to February 14, which is when the revamped System i5 line using Power5+ chips or, in the case of the i5 595, a faster Power5 chip, first started shipping.