I have the dubious honor of being what some people may refer to as a mainframe pricing expert. In one fashion or another, I have supported or developed mainframe software pricing programs to support various generations of IBM hardware over the last twenty-five years.

Mainframe software pricing is one area that has lagged behind the many innovative improvements that we have seen on the mainframe. How can this be true when the mainframe is touted as being the best price/performance technology on the planet? Has the performance of mainframe hardware improved to the point that it offsets any deficiencies in software pricing models? Have we reached a point where the majority of software expenditures on the mainframe are for ongoing maintenance? If you are in maintenance mode, who is monitoring the cost and effectiveness of your software stack? Here are a few things that are holding back innovation in mainframe software pricing: Continue reading →