R.S. wrote:
It is possible to convince vendor that some LPAR never exceeds xxx MIPS/MSU and no checking is done. Despite of CPU upgrades. And of course it is possible to convince vendor that their product is being used only on that LPAR. It is sometimes possible to convince vendor that we use their product on every LPAR, but MSU base is not related to product usage. Effect: flat price, MSU independent, (MIPS, LPAR, footproint, etc.) independent.
Such tactics do not work with IBM. Reagan's "Trust but Verify" applies. They have an elaborate (almost Rube Goldberg-like) system in place to monitor and report usage. For software products that still use the old monthly rental model, that system determines the monthly rental price due. For newer products, using IPLA contracts where you license "x" amount of capacity and pay an annual service subscription fee, the system monitors usage to ensure customers don't exceed their entitled capacity. Exceeding your entitlement constitutes an order for more capacity. It's all very automated and, for the most-part, prices are non-negotiable. Like the power company, you pay for what you get and you get what you pay for.
This is the road toward a world of buzz words like dynamic provisioning, Software as a Service, cloud computing, and so forth...
It would not be that difficult to extend this system to cover the entire System z software ecosystem by simply generalizing the existing report generator. (If it was my project, I could easily have it designed, coded, tested, and in-place in time for the next release.) Unfortunately, in this case all the work must be done by IBM. And, they are a customer requirement-driven organization...
-- Edward E Jaffe Phoenix Software International, Inc 5200 W Century Blvd, Suite 800 Los Angeles, CA 90045 310-338-0400 x318 [email protected] http://www.phoenixsoftware.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
