IBM is one of the biggest software publishers in the world. Over the last decades, IBM has acquired multiple software publishers (e.g. RedHat), which resulted in a very diversified product portfolio. Each software product comes with its own specific licensing metrics and methodologies to measure its consumption. This makes IBM licensing particularly hard to understand.
If you’re new to IBM software, you might want to start your relationship with the software vendor with the purchase of an IBM software license. But do you know what you should do to obtain such a license? Do you know what types of licensing models are available and what is the best type of agreement you should enter into? If you’re already an IBM customer, you may struggle with keeping track of all the changes that are happening all the time (e.g. renaming, re-bundling).
In this article we’ll explain in detail what you should know about IBM licensing, what the IBM software usage options are and how you can manage your licenses. In addition, we’ll go through the most important entitlement documents with their associated terms and conditions that you should pay attention to. To conclude, we’ll highlight the challenges most end users experience when they are trying to understand their IBM licenses’ models and related licensing information.
IBM sells software licenses through different licensing programs. The most common used ones are Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express. The software obtained through these programs is governed by the IBM International Passport Advantage Agreement (IPAA) or International Passport Advantage Express Agreement (IPAEA).
You can find a short description of these two Agreements in our recent article IBM’s Passport Advantage Agreement – An overview.
In order to get an IPAA, you are required to complete and submit an International Passport Advantage Agreement Enrollment form (the enrollment can be online or through an authorized IBM Business Partner).
If your organization does not have an existing IBM Passport Advantage Agreement, you’ll need to use online enrollment to enter your data (please note that electronic submission is not enabled in all countries, so for some countries, the online enrollment requires some additional steps).
IBM is listing here what are the advantages you can get from enrolling in Passport Advantage.
When enrolling into an IPAA, you need to sign the enrollment form. Based on your region or country, the enrollment form requires either one signature, two signatures or no signature at all. The list of the signature requirements can be found here.
After enrolling into IPAA, you can order your IBM Licenses through an IBM Business Partner, an IBM sales office or online, via Passport Advantage (for existing customers).
The initial license purchase includes, in most cases, a base license and first year support (Software Subscription and Support). The individual components cannot be ordered separately, but are offered as a complete solution. After you purchase a new IBM software license, you have the option to renew the IBM Software Subscription and Support. In order to continue to benefit from software subscription and technical support, you will need to renew annually.
Review the renewal quote and choose from the following renewal options:
Based on the initial purchase of licenses and IBM Software Subscription, the Relationship Suggested Volume Pricing (RSVP) Level is calculated and will be recalculated after every transaction, considering all entitlements purchased under the same agreement.
IBM licensing grants software use rights on a fixed term or on a perpetual term (indefinite). Certain IBM software programs are offered on a fixed term basis only for an on premise deployment whereas other IBM software programs are offered in a hosted environment as part of a SaaS solution. As such, the licensing options available are, to a certain extent, depending on the type of deployment (on premise vs SaaS).
An easy way to administrate your Passport Advantage accounts can be done through IBM Passport Advantage Online.
What can you use the Passport Advantage (PA) portal for?
IBM describes license entitlements and product use rights with the associated terms and conditions in various contractual documents, the most common being:
Additional terms and conditions can be found in the Software Announcement Letters. These include information about specific products, including technical features, ordering and pricing information, and licensing terms and conditions.
IBM offers an extensive product stack and uses various licensing models. In order to optimize the management of your software assets and avoid financial risks, it is important to have an in-depth understanding of the specific licensing terms and conditions.
You might want to consider getting the assistance of experts who can manage and help your business to better understand your software assets. Our specialists can support you in taking control of your software assets.
We offer a range of practical solutions through a combination of services and software. Reach out to us and find out how we can help you.
We offer a range of practical solutions through a combination of services and software. Reach out to us and find out how we can help you.
Simona Minca
Senior Consultant
The tech world is such a rapidly developing field that it can sometimes be hard to stay up to date. With our monthly IT insights, you’ll stay in the know. Read SoftwareOne ’s July news, vendor insights and trending topics. Learn more
July 25, 2024 Toni AlonsoRead this article to learn about our approach to designing a cloud strategy with high availability, security and governance with Google Cloud. Learn more
July 24, 2024 Blog Editorial TeamOur experts took a deeper dive into Software Asset Management in the cloud and identified 7 challenges. Here is what you need to look out for. Learn more
SoftwareOne Corporate Headquarters
Riedenmatt 4
CH-6370 Stans
Switzerland
+41 44 832 41 69 info@softwareone.com
SoftwareOne is redefining how companies build, buy and manage everything in the cloud. By helping clients to migrate and modernise their workloads and applications – and in parallel, to navigate and optimise the resulting software and cloud changes – SoftwareOne unlocks the value of technology.
