Big Blue Widens IBM i User Fee Discount Deal
October 11, 2010 Timothy Prickett Morgan
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The fourth quarter push at IBM is on, and it is a wonder that we haven’t seen more deals to help drive sales of Power Systems gear running the IBM i operating system. The only official deal action coming out of Big Blue last week was a rejiggering of a deal that came out in August, giving customers some discounts on user-based fees for IBM i on selected entry blade, rack, and tower servers. Under that deal, which came out in announcement letter 310-241, IBM gave customers who bought new Power 520, 710, or 720 servers or JS12, JS22, JS23, JS43, PS700, PS 701, or PS702 blade servers a 40 percent discount off the $250 per user fees if they bought specific increments of users. The deal also offered customers who wanted to buy unlimited users the same 40 percent discounts, and customers upgrading from two-core to four-core Power 520s could get the discount on the per-user fees. In announcement letter 310-267, the IBM i Licensing by User deal was modified in a couple of different ways. First, any upgrades to these servers listed above or within these products were made eligible for the discount. The Capacity BackUp and Solution Edition variants of the Power6, Power6+, and Power7 machines listed were added to the mix, and Canadian customers were made eligible. As I have said before, I think any time IBM gives a deal to one region of the globe, customers in other regions should feel entitled to that deal, regardless of whether or not there is a formal announcement letter in their region. And equally importantly, any deal that IBM is giving to Unix shops buying Power Systems–such as trade-in or financial deals–should be applicable to IBM i shops as well. This is all one Smarter Planet, right? We’re all one big happy Power Systems family, right? I am still waiting for IBM i shops to get the same generous financing deal that AIX shops are getting right now, which I told you about here. This leasing deal aims at moving Solaris and HP-UX shops to Power Systems iron and AIX, and giving customers a three-month reprieve if they lease from Global Financing–thus shifting a purchase from the 2010 budget to the 2011 budget while allowing IBM to book a sale in 2010. On October 4, this nine-day-deferred leasing deal was extended to the European and Asia/Pacific regions, but still does not apply to IBM i shops. Go figure. RELATED STORIES Entry IBM i Server Deals Greased With License Discounts IBM Ducks i Pricing on Most Entry Power7 Servers IBM Allows i and 5250 Licenses to Jump Hardware Reader Feedback on Allowing IBM i and 5250 Licenses to Jump Hardware IBM Slashes 5250 Enablement Prices, Other Power Systems Tweaks IBM Officially Announces i/OS 7.1 IBM Holds i 6.1 Prices Steady, Slashes Application Server Fees i/OS Gets Short Sheeted with Power7 Thread Counts
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