Tom, Not even close to a million dollars a month. Of course, your mileage and product mix may vary, but it is less than half of that. Across the last two machine-type upgrades (z900s to z990s to z9s), a doubling of installed MSUs, and version upgrades to all major software, etc., there has been very little increase in my software bill (less than 8%).
Granted, I pay less, as a percentage of installed MSUs, for software than a much smaller shop. So shoot me. But IBM could have done nothing over the last four years and my bill would be closer to your original estimate. I, for one, appreciated the two technology benefit price discounts. I do agree, however, that there needs to be something done at the low end to keep and attract new customers. Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water. As for TCO on other platforms, gimme a break. I've seen enough not to be fooled again. Bob Richards -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Marchant Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 8:16 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: FW:A Letter To The FLEX-ES Community On Fri, 6 Oct 2006 16:42:40 +0100, Phil Payne <[EMAIL PROTECTED] RESEARCH.FREESERVE.CO.UK> wrote: >> And what about always posting about how cheap the hardware is getting? > >If the hardware (processor) were free it would make little difference. > Snip! > >I have to say I find such posts insulting. Does anyone really >believe we can be fooled so easily? Most of IBM's "pricing >initiatives" over the last decade or so have been disingenuous >at best. One example is the regular "10% technology benefit" >in MSU/MIPS in every generation, because of course it makes >damn all difference given the degressive pricing model. > >The bizarre thing is that some of executives think they're doing >a good job. > I agree completely. IMHO the only thing that IBM can do to stop the flight from the mainframe is to make drastic price cuts for the software. An immediate reduction of 50% coupled with an announcement that there would be annual reductions of 25% might help stop the hemmorrhage, but it's not enough to attract new customers. AFAIK, they don't even publish the software prices any more. IIRC, a previous employer was paying around $20,000 per month for IBM software on a 15 MSU 9672-R24. So what would the software cost on a 1500 MSU box? A million dollars a month? They have completely abandoned the mainframe, and software costs were a big part of the reason. The inflation in software costs caused by cheaper and faster hardware has led all kinds of companies to find every possible alternative to running on the mainframe. LEGAL DISCLAIMER The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Seeing Beyond Money is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. [ST:XCL] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
