IBM Mainframe Systems Software

You can't run your system without software, but you can run it without paying excessive licence fees.

Reliable believes good software planning is part and parcel of every system acquisition.  And we're happy to work with you to examine every way you can get the results you want at the lowest cost.  We do this by comparing the costs of software stacks on every machine that is a candidate for your situation and giving you the facts and figures in a form you can use to make wise decisions.

This process is not complicated.  It's just a matter of doing the homework.  When you look at the figures, you will see that there are several ways you can keep your software costs under control.  Here are some possibilities:

• If you still use a z8X0 or z9X0 processor (and you don't want to unplug it right now), there may be old software pricing plans that apply to your machine.  We can help you search the deal archives in case you've missed a way to get a price reduction.
• Avoid buying processor capacity far in excess of what you need now and in the near future.  Processing power you buy later will almost certainly cost less than processing power you buy today.  By choosing the right capacity for your situation you not only keep a lid on software costs, you also pay less for your hardware platform.
• Put the right software on the right platform.  If you have more than one system, put software on the host that provides the lowest fees.  For example, moving a crusty old VSE partition off a 2066 (or any other machine with high software costs) and onto a machine with low software costs can reduce the fees for your software stack by more than the second system costs.  The same goes for z/OS partitions that don't require hosting on one of your largest systems.

Whether you use z/OS, OS/390, z/VM or z/VSE, if you are interested in reviewing the cost of various software options for yourself, check our pricing section.

While the absolute savings may be greater if you have a larger computer, we believe every mainframe user can benefit from a regular review of software and hardware pricing.  Even users of the smallest mainframes can review the comprehensive list of software updates and fixes available at no cost by download through our support page.

Reliable Computer is an agile, independent source of mainframe systems.