👨 💻What I’ve been doing

Among the projects this month was a new client establish their IBM license baseline. Although it’s a well defined process there’s frequently something that will make it challenging. In this case the “something” was upgrading ILMT after a troubled initial install.

If you ever have problems with your install or upgrade of BigFix / ILMT be sure to open a PMR with IBM and keep a note of it in your own service desk tool. It may explain a compliance gap in the future but without the PMR it will be more difficult to explain to an auditor

📢News and IBM Announcements

• IBM got more than a “smack on the wrist” with a $1.6 billion settlement against them for damages in BMC law suite. Bracewell, acting for BMC, posted details on their website if you’d like to read more.
• There were a few announcements in IBM’s Software Licensing News of interest. The updates in Licensing and User Guide are worth a skim as it’s in an easy to read format and links to official guides for more detail.
• The IBM / Flexera One announcement got me curious about IBM Observability and it’s impact on IT Asset Management and licensing. If you have any insights please let me know.
• ILMT 9.2.28 is available, see full details of what’s in it here
• 💥 A new ILMT Upgrading Policy has been published this month. If you were in doubt about needing to upgrade ILMT every quarter it should be gone now. The key phrase for me was “plan to upgrade” which I expect gives you some wriggle room.

If you have any articles related to IBM licensing please send me a link. Age doesn’t matter if the content is good

🌐 What I’ve been reading or listening too

• @Patrick Lim had a good post on IBM Cloud Pak and Containerization – How to manage compliancy. Good visuals, that I might take inspiration from for a future post😉
• Interesting post from @Randy Bal on IBM Licenses in Hyperthreaded Public Cloud Environments where ILMT may be counting your cores in the cloud.
• Started reading “Software: The silent killer of your company’s budget” by Brad Veech after hearing his interview. I really like his no-nonsense writing style on how to approach negotiations with vendors.
• Listening to the ITAM Executive podcast from Anglepoint. It’s excellent and covers a wider range of ITAM topics. I think an interview with an IBM licensing expert would really boast the ratings, just saying 😉

📝 Writing

I have been revamping the website and blog. Getting my subscriber list s/w working proved more challenging that expected. The “starter” package turned out to be too limited so I have to upgrade to “professional”, that’s SaaS for you. There may still be some kinks but I’m going live this month no matter what 😨.

• New Post this month 10 Reasons to consider the IBM Authorized SAM Provider (IASP) Program. I’m a fan of IASP mainly because it sets the standard for what well managed IBM licensing looks like.
• A neglected part of SAM is governance, checking the the work is getting done.  This post is an example of what organisations need to be checking for IBM licensing: 10 Questions to ask your IBM ILMT Administrator – to ensure IBM license compliance.

📅 Events / Webinars 🎬

• I hosted an ITAMorg / itSMF (Ireland) webinar on Harvesting Microsoft 365 Subscriptions Essentials with fellow SAM Pro Karl Doherty. If you register you’ll get a link to the recording.
• Origina had their Empower virtual conference where they announced third party software support for zSeries.  Cancelling mainframe support has always been extremely difficult so it will be interesting to hear more in the future.
• If you’d like to watch the Origina Empower conference on YouTube click here. The key note is quite good but not much on IBM licensing after that.
• Webinar on Flexera One’s IT Asset Management with IBM Observability is available on demand. I like to check out these webinar (playing at 2X of course) as it gives you some insights into what is coming down the line from IBM.

💡IBM Licensing Tips

• IBM have an excellent IBM Software Licensing portal that is worth reviewing. I’d also check out the News section each quarter (add to checklist) to see what’s changed in case it impacts your organization.

😋 You want more?

If you found this digest interesting why not join the IBM Licensing Group on LinkedIn where you can connect with others interested in IBM licensing.

You can also follow my monthly IBM Licensing Newsletter on LinkedIn if you prefer that format.