• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Watch Out for Footnotes: Pricing on i5 520 Express Does Not Include WDS

    February 13, 2006 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    In last week’s issue, I went through the details of the new i5 520 Express configurations. I explained how the new machines and their preconfigured Express setups came with a certain amount of processing power, memory and disk capacity, and maybe with RAID 5 data protection or not. (See Feeds and Speeds of the New System i5s for the details.)

    Apparently, there is a very important footnote in the i5 520 Express announcements–one that I didn’t see, and one that IBMers themselves had to hunt around the document for to see. But, the footnote does exist, and that footnote just cost prospective customers a few thousand dollars.

    As it turns out, while the i5 520 Express configurations bundle on IBM‘s WebSphere Development Studio on the Entry Plus and higher configurations, the bundle applies to the process of loading it on the machine but not to the fact that the price of that software is added to the configured on the box. (Yes, this is annoying, and the IBMer who brought this to my attention was not exactly happy about it, either.) For instance, all of the other software on the Entry Plus configuration–i5/OS V5R3 or V5R4, Query for iSeries, DB2 Query Manager and SQL Toolkit, and iSeries Access for five users–actually has its price included in the base i5 Express Entry Plus price of $12,675. And if you read the announcement, you would get the idea that WebSphere Development Studio is also priced in that configuration. But it isn’t. What IBM has done is preloaded it on the box–it is not an option, but a requirement–but then priced it separately. This is a dubious practice as far as I am concerned, and bound to cause confusion. If it is bundled on the box, put the price in.

    To IBM’s credit, the WDS on these i5 520 Express machines is discounted, which IBM could have also explained and didn’t, not even in that obscure footnote. As it turns out, on i5 520 Express boxes in the P05 software tier, IBM is cutting the WDS license in half to $1,825; it is chopping WDS license fees by 60 percent on P10 machines to $4,000.

    Why not just tell us all up front about this?

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 15, Number 7 -- February 13, 2006

    Sponsored by
    Rocket Software

    Meet digital age demands while maximizing your IT investment.

    Future-proof your mission-critical applications with Rocket® Solutions for IBM® i that keep your business ahead of the curve.

    Learn More

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: Creating an i5/OS User Profile Architecture RPG Looks into the Future

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 15 Issue: 7

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM Adds VXA 320 Tape Drive to i5 Line
    • Enterprise Application Mergers and Acquisitions Big and Getting Bigger
    • Business Intelligence Advances Don’t Override Caution
    • Jack Henry’s Revenues Increase Thanks to Support and Services
    • Watch Out for Footnotes: Pricing on i5 520 Express Does Not Include WDS
    • IBM Adds VXA 320 Tape Drive to i5 Line
    • System i5s Go IOP-Less with i5/OS V5R4
    • IBM, Freescale Reunite for the Sake of the Power Processors
    • The iSeries is Comfort Food for the Food Industry
    • Q&A with Elaine Lennox, VP of System i5 Marketing

    Content archive

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

    Recent Posts

    • POWERUp 2025 –Your Source For IBM i 7.6 Information
    • Maxava Consulting Services Does More Than HA/DR Project Management – A Lot More
    • Guru: Creating An SQL Stored Procedure That Returns A Result Set
    • As I See It: At Any Cost
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 19
    • IBM Unveils Manzan, A New Open Source Event Monitor For IBM i
    • Say Goodbye To Downtime: Update Your Database Without Taking Your Business Offline
    • i-Rays Brings Observability To IBM i Performance Problems
    • Another Non-TR “Technology Refresh” Happens With IBM i TR6
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 18

    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