IBM | Livingstone Group

Helping clients navigate the complexity of their IBM estate

The most common and high value products are usually those which are PVU and RVU based. This makes counting very important when it comes to classification of the correct PVU/RVU per server. If this is done incorrectly the licensing position will be inaccurate. There is a real opportunity to make substantual savings with IBM, if your estate is managed correctly. With a detailed understanding of what software is deployed, your entitlements and the smartest way to allocate and manage your software can often result in a substantial reduction in maintenance costs and exposure to risk.

As with many publishers the impact of virtualization with IBM is huge. This can be both positive and negative. Understanding and leveraging the value behind sub-capacity licensing can produce significant savings for many organizations. However when using either the ILMT (IBM License Metric Tool) or TAD 4 D tool does present additional complexities.

In addition to these common metrics there is also a wealth of complex models employed by IBM, and many of these cannot be optimized using standard SAM tools. Knowing what data you need to collect, performing analysis and reconciling this with the contractual terms requires deep vendor knowledge and requires a dedicated IBM specialist.This should be on the top of the agenda for any customer with a substantial investment in IBM.