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 use a z8X0 or z9X0 processor, take advantage of the $22,500 per engine one-time z/VM license of release 5.1.  This single payment plan applies to only the mainframe systems for which this release can be licensed.
• If you only need runtime capabilities on a z890 or z800 but want all the features of z/OS, use IBM z/OS.e, which is much cheaper than a full operating environment.  If you don't know enough about this alternative, we have made IBM's classic overview of z/OS.e (published in 2002 when 1.4 was new) available for download.  IBM also produced a guide to z/OS.e 1.7, which builds on the introductory volume, and you can download that, too.  Look these books over and see if z/OS.e might help you keep your software expenditures under control.
• Take advantage of IBM software pricing plans that reduce license fees on qualifying hardware.  The machines that qualify for substantially lower software costs per unit of power (MSUs or MIPS) include the entire IBM 2086 and 2066 product lines, and the Multiprise 3000 product line.  By contrast, large IBM z9, z990, and z900 mainframes often have higher license fees, although it may be possible under some circumstances to still achieve lower total costs with these processors.
• 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 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, VM or VSE, if you are interested in reviewing the cost of various software options for yourself, check our pricing section.  For instance, you might see that you can move to a Multiprise 3000 and get discounts of up to 53% on systems software.  There's more information about this option on our migration 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.