Ted MacNeil writes:
>When Parallel SYSPLEX first came out, you got a discount on
>IBM software, if you bought at least one coupling facility
>and one timer.
The 9037 Sysplex Timer was never a requirement for Sysplex IBM software
pricing aggregation, to the best of my recollection. It still isn't, nor is
STP. The Coupling Facility and appropriate, physically connected cabling
are among the requirements.
>This happened even if you didn't hook them up.
No, that wasn't IBM's view nor what the contracts said. That was what some
customers (and the odd IBM rep) thought, so IBM took the unusual step of
issuing a formal restatement, reminding customers of the rules. There's
also an excellent redpiece on this topic ("z/OS Systems Programmers Guide
to Sysplex Aggregation," REDP-3967).
But back to the original poster's issue.... What do you think the CEO means
by "utilization"? If he means a report of binary values -- whether each
software product is actually used -- then one would hope you've already got
that answer somewhere within your organization. If not, the CEO has already
made his/her point I suspect. If he/she means "how much" each product is
used, and by whom, that's a bigger question. Probably he'll/she'll want
that information in some sort of business-relevant format, such as number
of employees, number of customers, and/or revenue or profit impact per
product. (That last one is particularly tough to calculate.)
And hopefully the CEO is asking across all platforms.
Doesn't somebody have that (relatively simple) list of software products
and whether each product is actually used? That's just basic asset
management, right? If you don't, myriad vendors are eager to sell services
and/or tools to manage software inventories and other IT assets.
- - - - -
Timothy Sipples
IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect
Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z
Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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