Computer Associates International (CA) has introduced a
usage-based pricing and licensing option for its mainframe
management products, aligning its offerings with IBM's On Demand
model.
All of CA's products for use with IBM's zSeries mainframes and
the zOS operating system are now available on a pay-as-you-use
basis, the management software supplier said.
CA is following IBM, which introduced a similar pricing model
several years ago for some of its products.
"We're validating that the model makes sense for us as well,"
said Mark Combs, senior vice-president of corporate pricing at
CA.
"We have had requests from customers to consider this model. It
is consistent with the move to on-demand computing, consuming
resources as needed as opposed to just buying them."
CA's usage-based model, dubbed Measured Workload Pricing, is an
extension to the company's FlexSelect licensing program.
Customers pay a for baseline utilisation of the software at a
baseline cost, with additional use charged according to a
predetermined scale. Usage is measured using IBM's Sub-Capacity
Reporting Tool (SCRT).
Although CA would not provide actual licensing fees, Combs said
the usage-based model does not constitute a price hike or drop.
"This is not a price reduction, nor is it a price increase. It
is a more flexible way of licensing, one that allows a customer to
tie licensing and costs more directly to the value he is
receiving," he said.
Along with the introduction of the new licensing model, CA
announced 20 packages of software tools that it will license
exclusively under the new licence. The packages are focused on
particular infrastructure management areas such as network
management, systems management, job optimisation and storage
management.
Measured Workload Pricing is available to new and existing CA
customers. Competing offerings are available from suppliers
including IBM, BMC Software and Compuware.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service