isham research
Note: IBM has now shamelessly stolen this idea without acknowledgemet - its page
is more comprehensive for recent announcements. Damn poor Netiquette.
The original June 2002 version of this page is in the Internet Wayback Machine
Note - some of these Announcements have been refreshed or corrected without necessarily being reannounced. Always download a current copy by clicking on the link - IBM has broken some links so you may have to do a search on the Announcement Letter number. This list is not inclusive - individual products may be omitted in the interests of brevity. Please notify serious omissions.
| Date | Subject | US Letter | EMEA Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 May 1987 | Graduated One-Time Charges - Groups 10-40 | 287-178 | |
| 26 July 1988 | Graduated Monthly Charges and Group 50 | 388-118 | |
| 24 October 1989 | Group 60 | 389-182 | |
| 5 September 1990 | Groups 70 and 80 | 390-135 | |
| 5 May 1992 | Multiple Operating System (PR/SM) Charge Option | 292-247 | ZA92-0175 |
| 3 February 1993 | Groups 90 and 100 | 393-020 | ZA93-0140 |
| 22 June 1993 | Group 90 and 100 Charges Capped at Group 80 Level | ZP93-9014 | |
| 6 April 1994 | Withdrawal of Groups 90 and 100 | 294-156 | ZA94-0159 |
| 6 April 1994 | Parallel Sysplex License Charges starting at 10 MSUs | 294-154 | ZA94-0144 |
| 6 April 1994 | Measured Usage License Charges | 294-155 | ZA94-0154 |
| 13 September 1994 | Parallel Sysplex License Charge for Stand-Alone Systems; PSLC Base reduced from 10 to 3 MSUs |
294-540 | ZA94-0261 |
| 13 September 1994 | CEC Pricing in 9672 E and P Models | 294-538 | ZA94-0262 |
| 13 September 1994 | Combining of UNIX and MVS Categories for MOSP | 294-539 | ZA94-0263 |
| 23 March 1995 | Indexed Monthly License Charge; Group 80 Capped at 80 MSUs | 395-045 | ZA95-0153 |
| 10 September 1996 | IBM PSLC Software Prices Available for 1 and 2 MSUs | 396-143 | ZA96-0272 |
| 11 March 1997 | Change to Software Terms and Conditions - One Month Minimum | 297-062 | ZA97-0142 |
| 13 January 1998 | Clarification of Parallel Sysplex Pricing Terms & Conditions | 198-001 | ZA98-0120 |
| 26 May 1998 | Parallel Sysplex License Charge - Level C (for Sysplexes) | 298-178 | ZA98-0251 |
| 29 September 1998 | Parallel Sysplex License Charge - Level C (for stand-alone systems) | 298-355 | ZP98-0607 |
| 29 September 1998 | New Application License Charge | 298-371 | ZA98-0316 |
| 29 September 1998 | System/390 Usage Pricing | 298-357 | ZA98-0334 |
| 29 September 1998 | Measured Usage License Charge Withdrawn | 998-273 | ZA98-0337 |
| 29 September 1998 | Most GMLC, MLC, DSLO, MOSP, PLC, RLC, IMLC Withdrawn | 998-295 | ZA98-0323 |
| 29 September 1998 | GOTC and OTC Withdrawn | 998-294 | ZA98-0322 |
| 22 February 1999 | PSLC Level D | 299-052 | ZA99-0163 |
| 3 May 1999 | Usage Pricing for S/390 Software products Extended to Level D | 299-109 | ZA99-0239 |
| 3 May 1999 | Extended License Charge Pricing for VSE and VM Above Group 80 | 399-074 | ZA99-0185 |
| 20 September 1999 | Growth Opportunity License Charge | 299-269 | ZA99-0315 |
| 10 December 1999 | IBM International Program License Agreement (IPLA) Family of Agreements Revised | [See 10 December 2002] | |
| 3 October 2000 | Workload License Charges | 200-354 | ZA00-0318 |
| 31 October 2000 | Revisions to Workload License Charges | 300-140 | |
| 6 March 2001 | Value Unit Based Charges for Data Management Tools | 201-057 | ZA01-0153 |
| 27 March 2001 | Value Unit Pricing for Application development Tools | 201-078 | ZA01-0169 |
| 29 May 2001 | z/VM V4 Introduces Engine-Based Prices | 201-163 | ZP01-0307 |
| 11 September 2001 | Availability of zSeries Software Charges at less than Machine Capacity | 201-258 | ZA01-0280 |
| 19 February 2002 | Software Charging for the zSeries 800: includes zELC, Engine-Based Charges for z/OS.e and Changes to PSLC/WLC Aggregation | 202-036 | ZA02-0101 |
| 26 February 2002 | IBM DB2 Warehouse Manager for z/OS and OS/390: Revised Pricing Structure | 202-043 | ZA02-0196 |
| 29 April 2002 | Changes to Workload License Charges Offer Additional Options and Price Advantages for Users of IBM eServer zSeries 800 and 900 Processors | 202-105 | ZA02-0189 |
| 29 April 2002 | Price Changes: IBM eServer zSeries Workload License Charges | 302-069 | |
| 14 May 2002 | Price Changes: IBM eServer zSeries Entry License Charge Software for the zSeries 800 Family of Servers | 302-083 | ZA02-0213 |
| 09 September 2002 | New Price Levels for IBM z/OS V1 with Variable Workload License Charges (VWLC Levels 6 & 7) | 202-207 | ZA02-0298 |
| 22 October 2002 | zELC Software Pricing for New IBM z800 Model 0E1 | 202-295 | |
| 3 December 2002 | zELC Software Pricing for New IBM z800 Model 0X2 | 202-327 | ZA02-0339 |
| 10 December 2002 | IBM International Program License Agreement (IPLA) Family of Agreements Revised | 202-334 | ZA02-0299 |
| 17 December 2002 | Price Changes: IBM COBOL and PL/I | 302-237 | |
| 18 March 2003 | Price Changes: IBM COBOL and PL/I | 303-046 | ZA03-0149 |
| 25 March 2003 | New and Clarified Terms and Conditions for IBM S/390 and eServer zSeries Software | 203-082 | ZA03-0130 |
| 8 April 2003 | Value Unit Pricing on OS/390 and z/OS, and an Entry Option on z/OS for Select WebSphere Platform Products | 203-093 | ZA03-0127 |
| 13 May 2003 | On/Off Capacity on Demand for zSeries | 103-142 | |
| 13 May 2003 | Software Pricing for IBM eServer zSeries z990 and Enhancements to Variable Workload License Charges (VWLC) | 203-130 | ZA03-0190 |
| 8 August 2003 | IBM software On/Off Capacity on Demand for IBM eServer zSeries, iSeries and pSeries | 203-202 | ZA03-0227 |
| 12 August 2003 | Value Unit Pricing Available for Selected IBM eServer zSeries and S/390 Software Programs under Entitled SoftWare (ESW) Ordering | 203-203 | ZP03-0349 |
| 12 August 2003 | New and Clarified Terms and Conditions for S/390 and zSeries Software | ZA03-0130 | |
| 9 September 2003 | Entry Workload License Charge for z800 | 203-233 | ZA03-0247 |
| 23 September 2003 | Price Change: IBM z/OS(R) V1 New Application License Charges and Variable Workload License Charges | 303-174 | ZA03-0293 |
| 7 October 2003 | IBM enhances the IBM eServer zSeries 990 family of servers (Contains statement about reduced charging MSUs) |
103-280 | ZG03-0580 |
| 7 April 2004 | Tiered Entry Workload License Charge for z890 and zELC for z890 Capacity Setting 110 | 204-056 | ZA04-0127 |
| 29 June 2004 | Price Change: EWLC Entry Workload License Charges | ZA04-0229 | |
| 10 August 2004 | Sub-capacity pricing for select IBM eServer zSeries IPLA programs | 204-184 | ZA04-0227 |
| 28 September 2004 | Price Change in selected countries - Group 4: EWLC Entry Workload License Charges. | ZA04-0294 | |
| 26 October 2004 | Price Change in selected countries - Group 5: EWLC Entry Workload License Charges. | ZA04-0324 | |
| 02 November 2004 | Restatement of criteria for aggregated sysplex pricing | 204-268 | ZA04-0289 |
| 30 March 2005 | Revised business rules for zSeries software | 205-079 | ZA05-0131 |
A tabulation of third-party statements will be found here - though many are now out of date or deleted.
There have been so many changes to the software charging rules over the last couple of decades that the following comes to mind:
We trained hard . . . but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.
(Except he never said it. The quotation was invented by Robert Townsend for his book Up the Organisation.)