Users exploit licence gap

IBM mainframe users are using a loophole in the company?s software licensing strategy to cut licensing costs, according to a survey from analyst Xephon/Ibex.

The survey of 137 of the largest mainframe sites around the world found that while a quarter of users are paying charges under IBM?s Parallel Sysplex Licensing Charge (PSLC) scheme, only 9% of them are actively using it as a method for clustering mainframes.

Only four sites in the survey were doing full-blown data sharing.

When IBM launched Parallel Sysplex 18 months ago, it introduced a licensing strategy so that users running systems or applications software on one processor within a cluster did not have to pay the full charge for running the software across the whole cluster.

Analysts believe that PSLC offers a better deal to users than the standard Graduated Monthly Licensing Charge (GMLC) ? even if users do not want to actively use Parallel Sysplex technology.

Xephon analyst Mark Lillycrop said: ?We have seen evidence that larger users have been putting pressure on IBM to reduce charges, and IBM is not being aggressive about enforcing the letter of the agreements?.

Last week, the IBM-compatible mainframe supplier Amdahl announced its own initiative to reduce the cost of the software it licenses from IBM.

It introduced a scheme to partition up to four processors within one of its 700 series mainframes.

The firm is now negotiating with IBM to charge for software on a per-processor basis within the mainframe.

If IBM does not agree, Amdahl customers will be forced to pay charges based on the cost of the whole mainframe.

? Report by Colin Barker.