• Peer e-mail discussion group ...information and sign-up                        
• Some ideas on organizing a SAM team                                                        
• Terms & Conditions checklist                                                         
• Migration alternatives from IBM                                                        
• Need some more help?                                                        

Introduction

Software Asset Management (SAM) is a systems management discipline.  It encompasses management processes, tools and strategies to get the best value from your software assets at an acceptable risk and cost.  Like most systems management disciplines (security, performance, capacity, change etc.), the problem arose first on the mainframe platform.  The industry developed ways to manage the problem on the mainframe. And, over time, the problem, and the ways of managing it, move down to other platforms.  For example, today, people are discovering the need for security management and capacity management on midrange UNIX machines. Those disciplines are relatively mature on the mainframe platform.  The mainframe world is now discovering the need for good SAM disciplines and, gradually, so are the other computing platforms.

Good software asset management practices can be used to control your software expenses. SAM is a large, diverse and complex management discipline... far too much to cover in a few web pages. However, according to Gartner Group there are savings of 5-15% of your total software budget to be gained from good SAM practices. In today's mainframe shops, this is a lot of money. In fact, it is far more than what can be saved through traditional hardware asset management processes. Don't major on minors, i.e. hardware. The big dollars are in software now.

There are over 2000 ISVs on the mainframe platform. That's up from less than 100 a few years ago so the platform is certainly attracting ISV mind share. The vast majority of these ISVs work hard at aligning the price and value delivered. They want to see the shared-workload model of the mainframe platform grow in the market place.  Fortunately,  the growth in the number of ISVs provides competition which helps tame the tactics of those who don't balance price and value.

This set of web pages discusses some of the topics you may want to consider when negotiating license agreements with your independent software vendors (ISVs). Of course, each situation will vary and you will want to consult your own business and legal advisors. However, you may find this information useful in analyzing your situation.

Select a topic from the navigation bar above left, or the pictures above, to continue.