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This is a huge change in the way our market and environment willwork...
Yes and no. Remember, the announcement was for two "low-end" machines
that went to user-based pricing in an attempt to compete in the SMB
market against MS-based servers. The announcement was NOT about the
entire line moving to user-based pricing.
Having spent an evening w/Tracy Smith last night (as dir Trevor and the
rest of the Long Island user group) discussing these announcements, I
think it's safe to say this announcement does not represent a
fundamental change in how pricing will occur, but just adds an option
where it makes sense. And Tracy was the first to point out that in some
cases it's cheaper to buy processor-based that user-based licensing.
Also, I asked a couple of questions in an attempt to clarify some of the
questions that were on the list here and I would add these tidbits:
User count enforcement is "soft" in this release, with the exception of
the 40 user cap on a 515. IBM is basically admitting they're not sure
exactly how to count users from a technical point of view so they won't
bother.
A "user" equates to a "human". If I, Walden, have a profile called
WaldenL and another one called WaldenLS, one is a normal user, and one a
qsecofr-like profile for when I need it, that is only 1 user from a
licensing point of view.
If I have 10 people in the warehouse using handheld scanners that all
login to the System i as "SCANNER" that is still 10 users, even though
there is only one user profile. To take that a step further, if I have 5
people from 9AM->5PM, and a different 5 people from 5PM->12PM, that's
still 10 users, even though only 5 are active at any point in time. This
is not concurrent counting.
Finally, a human is a user regardless of the authentication mechanism.
If the login w/an OS/400 userid and password they're a user, but if they
login via a web application using their email address and a password,
and the "authentication" is my CGI RPG program looking up that email
address in a physical file and comparing the password entered to the
value in the PASSWD field on that file that human is still a user, you
still need a license.
On the 515 & 525 you can buy an external user option that allows an
unlimited number of external users so, in the case of a web site for
example, you don't need to worry about the licensing for those users.
But that only applied to external (non-employee) users. Also, on a 525
you can buy an unlimited user option which applied to both external and
internal users. If you buy that option, don't also buy the unlimited
external user option as it's a waste of money since you already have an
unlimited user count.
Obviously these are my statements based on my conversations with Tracy
and reviewing his handouts. These are NOT official IBM answers.
-Walden
--
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x3051
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com
Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
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