Bigger blue iron means bigger software pricing headaches, according to a recent Meta Group finding. The research says that now IBM Corp is selling S/390 systems reaching 1,000+ MIPS (IBM yesterday said it had shipped its 1,000th G5 S/390 in less than 100 days since they became available) users should be careful to pay more attention to conflicting ISV pricing schemes, which often increase software costs for comparably powered single versus multiple systems. It finds Computer Associates software users can be paying 2%-7% higher for single complexes (or upgrades) than if they had bought two separate boxes; maintenance can be 12%-20% higher. Meantime it notes Candle Corp offers a 20% reduction (large single system versus dual-CPU cost), but its dollar-per-MIPS rating is often 20% higher.
