Re: Procurement for IBM Rational Products

Given the recent (and in some cases ongoing) issues people have had with
the procurement process for IBM Rational products, I wrote an article on
the subject. Part 1 is available here:

http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/developer/general/rational_procurement1/

I took a lot of time on this article and got excellent input from a lot
of people at IBM (and I'm very thankful to all of them). I was
particularly intrigued by the fundamental differences between the
Passport Advantage process and the traditional AAS/eConfig process that
we midrange folks know and love.

If you have had questions on the process, I highly recommend you read
this article. This first one goes into detail comparing the two
different procurement mechanisms. The follow-up article will cover
specific issues that IBM i customers should understand.

I hope it helps some folks in their decisions, because unless you're
planning to retire in the next couple of years, the Rational products
are going to be not just helpful extras but pretty much mandatory tools
in your arsenal.