Mainframers need cost control solutions now more than ever as Tailored Fit Pricing brings new challenges
In May 2019, IBM announced a new pricing model called Tailored Fit Pricing introducing containers and a new billing methodology. In particular, with the Enterprise consumption solution, costs are no longer linked to the consumption peak but to the cumulative quantity of MSU consumed during a year. Basically, the customer commits to an annual cost related to an annual amount of cumulated MSUs and pays 1/12th of this amount each month. This pricing model changes the way MSUs are accounted for.
When a customer decides to switch to a Tailored Fit Pricing model, every single MSU counts. It is no longer an option to rely solely on soft capping mechanisms to control costs as the only way to stop MSU consumption would be to shut down programs, which of course is not an option.
In this regard, customers need to be able to monitor their consumption in real time in order to know where they stand against their contractual agreements and to be responsive in the event of abnormal consumptions.
In addition, containers are not all invoiced on the cumulative consumption of MSU. The most complex aspect of this new model is that dev & test environments will continue to be invoiced on consumption peaks and the Rolling Four Hours Average. Sure, IBM is offering the ability to choose a high baseline for their dev/test container but by doing so, customers will face a cost increase of their IPLA products (eg. One-time-charge licenses).
In short, under Tailored Fit Pricing, customers will need to manage both worlds at the same time to remain in control of their budget.
ZETALY Automated Capacity gives control back to customers who choose TFP
With ZETALY Automated Capacity, customers can apply a differentiated cost control strategy depending on the type of containers they have and monitor their consumption with improved reporting & alerting capabilities.
These new strategies include the ability to:
- Dynamically adjust defined capacities on dev & test environments in order to stay under the limit of the contractual baseline.
- Monitor in real time the MSU cumulated consumption for containers in regard to their contractual size.
- Receive alerts to react to abnormal consumptions on containers & to ensure compliance with contractual commitments.
As ZETALY has done for more than 10 years, we will continue to provide our customers with simple and effective solutions to control the costs of their mainframe environment. IBM Tailored fit pricing disrupts cost control practices but does not make them obsolete. We will continue to offer innovative solutions to support our customers, as we recently did with the release of our new ZETALY Service Intelligence solution.
