Hallo,

     I've the same problem here in Germany. You can buy Tivoli products
only from business partners, not directly from IBM. Support then is
provided by IBM by normal support lines.

I've just migrated from ADSM/MVS, where our OS/390 comfort line contract
was the base of the support, to TSM 4.1 on SUN. Now I had to buy (mo MLC)
the software, have 1 free year of support and then ?????

My opinion is to come back to the old times, where you could buy/license
the software directly from the manufacturer, no people, sometimes with less
knowledge about the product, between and direct contact (sometimes) to the
developers.

Greeting from Hamburg

Rolf Meyer






"Talafous, John G." <Talafous AT TIMKEN DOT COM> am 23.02.2001 23:41:54

Bitte antworten an "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>

An:    ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Kopie:  (Blindkopie: Rolf Meyer/Satisfactory)
Thema: IBM/Tivoli Hardware Announcement 101-020 and Software Announcemen
       t 201-021




On January 30, 2001 an announcement dealing with 3466-C00 server upgrade to
4.1 came to my desktop. You can check out the announcement at:

 _ 101020 IBM 3466 Network Storage Manager Software Upgrade Feature for
          Models C00 and C10 (7.4KB)
          http://isource.ibm.com/cgi-bin/goto?it=usa_annred&on=101-020

I believe I need this upgrade to provide Windows 2000 support as well as
shared 3494 library support. So, I contact my IBM business partner and find
that the $0 upgrade will cost me $27,225.00. Not liking this reply, I
contact IBM at 1-800-IBM-CALL, as announced, and find that I MUST go
through
the IBM business partner that provided this solution. (The same one that
wishes to bill me $27,225.00 for this free upgrade.)

Do I sense a gun at my head? I have a valid IBM maintenance agreement,
payable monthly, and find that to upgrade my software base, I must pay an
IBM business partner a substantial sum? What am I missing? Has anyone else
run into this concept? Is this the downside of the 3466?

Feeling a substantial budget drain,
John G. Talafous              IS Technical Principal
The Timken Company            Global Software Support
P.O. Box 6927                 Data Management
1835 Dueber Ave. S.W.         Phone: (330)-471-3390
Canton, Ohio USA  44706-0927  Fax  : (330)-471-4034
talafous AT timken DOT com           http://www.timken.com