The slowdown in new IBM Corp mainframe MIPS purchases and the changeover to new G5 models (see separate story) is creating a feeding frenzy amongst the independent software vendor community which see the trends as a new opportunity to lock users in to long and costly new software licenses, according to analysts the Meta Group. Meta says the cost of ISV contracts – with companies such as BMC Software Inc, Computer Associates International Inc, Candle Corp, Compuware Inc and even IBM itself for MVS software – can each exceed 50% to 100% of five-year CPU costs. More importantly, lock-ins prevent users from reducing ongoing long-term costs via replacements. If MIPS procurement continues at 25% or more a year then users’ capacity will triple during the lifetime of most of these new software license agreements, which means users will lose much leverage at renewal time.
Content from our partners
