AS/400 Software Subscription

Eric at PMSI-
The price of Software Subscription has NOT tripled in the past year.
I don't know if my cut&paste below from Marketing Announcement 300-005
dated 2/01/00 will be formatted correctly, so you may want to go to
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/ and select "U.S.", then Announcements, then
search for "AS/400 software subscription".
You will see that there was a modest increase in monthly and annual
charges.

It is possible that your VP was quoted $70,000 for software subscriptions
for your three systems, especially if they're large systems  or multi-year
contracts.  However, I would not expect this amount to be much more than he
paid last year.
When IBM first introduced Software Subscriptions, AS/400 Marketing
Specialists like me were told that these charges are comparable to annual
software maintenance charges levied by most software vendors.  If you as a
customer do not believe that our current charges are reasonable, then I
agree with Janet and Don that you should let IBM know (through COMMON
SoundOff - not through me!  I'm just a peasant.)  Revenue from Software
Subscriptions helps IBM enhance our products - we don't want to drive you
off the platform.

I see questions in this forum which suggest that some AS/400 customers are
having difficulty getting correct answers to questions about Software
Subscriptions, SupportLine, etc.  Please remember that in addition to IBM
Direct (1-800-IBM-CALL) most of you also have an IBM salesperson assigned
to you (often someone in Dallas or Atlanta).  You can locate your
salesperson by calling 1-800-IBM-4YOU and asking who your salesperson is.
Specifically for hardware and software maintenance contracts, there is an
IBM Global Services inside sales number 1-888-426-4343.
Note that I am providing you with three phone numbers.  If two out of three
IBM people give you the same answer, it may be correct!  :-)

Dan Rothman,  IBM Northern New England AS/400 Specialist    e-mail:
drothman@us.ibm.com

                              Program     Feature    Monthly Charge
Description                   Number      Number       Old       New
IBM Software Subscription
for AS/400 Periodic
Charge Option
  Processor Group P05         5733-SMM    2200      $   40    $   51
  Processor Group P10         5733-SMM    2201         145       171
  Processor Group P20         5733-SMM    2202         570       598
  Processor Group P30         5733-SMM    2203       1,330     1,401
  Processor Group P40         5733-SMM    2204       2,250     2,371
  Processor Group P50         5733-SMM    2301       3,000     3,162
                              Program     Feature    One-Time Charge
Description                   Number      Number       Old       New
IBM Software Subscription
for AS/400
 1-Year Prepay
   Processor Group P05        5733-SM1    2210    $    468  $    600
   Processor Group P10        5733-SM1    2211       1,697     2,000
   Processor Group P20        5733-SM1    2212       6,670     7,000
   Processor Group P30        5733-SM1    2213      15,564    16,400
   Processor Group P40        5733-SM1    2214      26,330    27,750
   Processor Group P50        5733-SM1    2305      35,107    37,000


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