You may remember that back in August 2014 IBM announced that they were migrating to a strategy of annual price increases for their z Systems Monthly License Charge (MLC) software, and that the increase for each year (effective January 1) would be announced at least 90 days in advance. The objective of this strategy was to give customers sufficient notice so they could adjust their budgets for the following year accordingly.

Well, it is that time of year again, when your friendly Finance person comes around, asking how much you would like to increase your budgets by for next year (and probably offering much more than you were going to ask for!).  So before you answer, make sure that you review the following price change announcements:

  • IBM announced MLC price increases effective January 1, 2017 for the US in announcement letter 317-004 (August 23, 2016). The EMEA announcement letter is 517-001 (September 13, 2016). The average price increase will be 4%.
  • IBM announced OTC price increases effective January 1, 2017 on September 13, 2016 for the US in announcement letter 317-010 (the EMEA announcement letter is 517-002). The average price increase for WebSphere and MQ tools is about 3%; DB2 tools is about 5%; and Optim is about 10%.  The increase for the DB2 Analytic Accelerator Loader is about 100% because of newly added functions.  Interestingly there’s a difference between the US announcement and the EMEA announcement.  In the US, if you order a product before January 1, 2017 and it’s shipped on or before April 1, 2017, the price increase doesn’t apply for 2017.  So if you’re planning to order a new tool, do it before the first of the year!
  • IBM announced OTC price increases effective July 1, 2016 of 5% for the IBM Service Management Suite and IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON Performance Suite and of 10% for the IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON for z/OS Management Suite. The US announcement was 316-064 (February 16, 2016) and the EMEA announcement was 516-069 (February 22, 2016).

All customers impacted by these price increases should receive a letter from IBM. If you have not received it, contact your IBM account team or business partner.