• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • IBM To Charge For Lapsed Hardware Maintenance

    December 3, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    For many years now, IBM has charged a maintenance after license fee if you have a bit of its software that you have let fall off Software Maintenance. This after license fee is basically back maintenance that IBM thinks it is entitled to because you didn’t help pay for the support costs for a period of time, but now you want all of the cumulative benefits of Software Maintenance again.

    Now, IBM is going to do a similar thing with hardware maintenance, and it is called a “reestablishment fee,” hyphen not included. As you can see in announcement letter 612-042, starting April 1, 2013–this is no prank–IBM will charge you a fee if you let your hardware maintenance on Power Systems or System x servers or Storage System storage arrays lapse. The fee will be based on how many days you have let the device lapse over maintenance prorated against a full year of maintenance. So if you are off hardware maintenance for 90 days, you will pay 90 divided by 365. The fee caps at a year of back maintenance, if I understood this tersely worded announcement correctly.

    The letter says this as well: “IBM reserves the right to change, modify, or withdraw its offerings, policies, and practices at any time.”

    I have a couple of thoughts about this. First, as is generally IBM’s practice, it is giving you ample warning. Specific machines were not outlined in the reestablishment fee announcement, which would have been more helpful, but you can’t say you didn’t get warned. And now you know that if you let your hardware maintenance lapse when the Great Recession got bad, now is the time to get it re-instated and thereby duck the reestablishment fee.

    The second thing I want to say is that, generally speaking, hardware maintenance is a sham. The least reliable components in a server are its disk drives, which are spinning and which absolutely fail thanks to wear and tear and heat. The funny thing is that disk drives come with a five-year warranty, but server makers give a one- or three-year warranty.

    The third thing that irks me about hardware maintenance is that server makers also don’t allow you to get maintenance for pieces of the server–you have to do the whole thing or nothing. I get that they have to make money somehow, but this is not logical. What if I buy better components, such as SAS disks instead of SATA drives? What if I have it in a nice climate-controlled data center instead of tucked in some closet where it is baking or some warehouse where it is covered in cardboard boxes and dust?

    What is also frustrating is that maintenance seems to follow the inflation rate, not Moore’s Law, even as technology gets better. What maintenance really seems to be about is an easy, and wickedly profitable revenue stream that can cover costs when a vendor really screws something up and has to do a recall. Remember those faulty 10K RPM SCSI disks from IBM’s Hungary factory in 2001? Maintenance covers nightmares like that.

    The only thing worse than paying for hardware maintenance is having something break and wishing that you had.

    RELATED STORIES

    IBM Cuts Deals To Get IBM i, AIX Shops Back On Maintenance

    IBM Canada Jacks Up Maintenance Prices

    IBM Hikes Maintenance Fees on Power-Based Gear

    Recession Alert: IBM Gooses System i Maintenance Prices

    It Was Inevitable: IBM Jacks Maintenance Fees on Midrange Gear

    AS/400 Maintenance Fees Go Up July 1

    IBM Raises iSeries Maintenance Prices

    IBM Raises AS/400, Other Maintenance Prices



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    WorksRight Software

    Do you need area code information?
    Do you need ZIP Code information?
    Do you need ZIP+4 information?
    Do you need city name information?
    Do you need county information?
    Do you need a nearest dealer locator system?

    We can HELP! We have affordable AS/400 software and data to do all of the above. Whether you need a simple city name retrieval system or a sophisticated CASS postal coding system, we have it for you!

    The ZIP/CITY system is based on 5-digit ZIP Codes. You can retrieve city names, state names, county names, area codes, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more just by knowing the ZIP Code. We supply information on all the latest area code changes. A nearest dealer locator function is also included. ZIP/CITY includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $495 per year.

    PER/ZIP4 is a sophisticated CASS certified postal coding system for assigning ZIP Codes, ZIP+4, carrier route, and delivery point codes. PER/ZIP4 also provides county names and FIPS codes. PER/ZIP4 can be used interactively, in batch, and with callable programs. PER/ZIP4 includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $3,900 for the first year, and $1,950 for renewal.

    Just call us and we’ll arrange for 30 days FREE use of either ZIP/CITY or PER/ZIP4.

    WorksRight Software, Inc.
    Phone: 601-856-8337
    Fax: 601-856-9432
    Email: software@worksright.com
    Website: www.worksright.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: Strategically Using Power Systems’ Processor Trial Capacity On Demand IBM i Support Through 2025? Hold On Just a Second

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 21, Number 43 -- December 3, 2012
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Infinite Corporation
CCSS
Maxava
inFORM Decisions
RJS Software Systems

Table of Contents

  • Power Systems Cloud Builders Get Huge Discounts
  • IBM Adds IBM i Support To Traveler And Kills Lotus Name
  • Mobile Developers Battle Complexity, Deployment Time
  • As I See It: How IT Decided The Election
  • Excepting X86 Iron, Server Sales Continue To Slip In Q3
  • IBM To Charge For Lapsed Hardware Maintenance
  • A BI On IBM i Partnership Blooms
  • IBM Extends And Tweaks Power Systems Deal In Europe
  • Going Mobile With Power Systems Feeds And Speeds
  • You Have The Right To Remain Online

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
  • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
  • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle