IBM cloud tries to subvert subscriptions with pricing plan that stretches some discounts
(2021/02/01)
- Reference: 1612164613
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/01/ibm_cloud_pricing/
- Source link:
IBM’s trying a new pricing plan to lure more folk to its cloud.
The deal’s called “Pay as You Go With Committed Use” and starts with an agreement about how much of Big Blue’s cloud you will commit to paying for, month-in, month-out.
[1]
Once you and IBM’s sales team agree on that number, you’ll get the same pricing if you exceed expected consumption.
You may still experience bill shock if you use rather more cloud than you planned. But at least those big bills will be at the discount you’ve already negotiated, rather than regular rates.
[2]
“No penalty for overage charges!” [3]gushes Big Blue’s marketing spiel. “If you spend more than the amount you committed to, you will continue to receive the same discounts agreed upon by IBM.”
IBM suggests its new plan is novel and differentiated. To this Vulture’s eyes it doesn’t seem vastly different to Amazon Web Services Savings Plans but may give Azure reservations buyers something to ponder.
From off-prem to just off: IBM Cloud goes down planet-wide so hard even the status page didn't work [4]READ MORE
Whatever the intricacies of the pricing model – and cloud pricing always demands scrutiny – this is not a clickable offer. IBM insists that you chat to its salespeople to arrange Pay as You Go With Committed Use. So that’ll mean plenty of Do You Want Fries With That opportunities for a hungry Big Blue salesperson.
IBM’s cloud has improved in recent years. Issues such as its clunky console and slow provisioning times have been addressed, while services have expanded.
However, those improvements come at a cost: a new [5]notification from late last week advises users of a 106 percent price rise for cloudy DB2.
The notification says that the price of IBM Db2 on Cloud Enterprise Instance will rise from 63 cents per instance/hour to $1.30. Another instance type will jump from $1.93 an hour to $3.00.
“We are constantly investing our efforts to improve our services, and this required price increase helps to ensure continued service and a level of satisfaction that we are proud to provide,” IBM’s notification says, before sneaking in the fact that current customers will inevitably cop this one.
[6]
On the upside, IBM has also cut costs by ten percent for [7]some Intel-based servers . ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/pay-as-you-go-with-committed-use
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/09/ibm_cloud_outage/
[5] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/price-increase-for-db2-on-cloud-enterprise-plan
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/10-off-intel-based-ibm-cloud-bare-metal-servers
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The deal’s called “Pay as You Go With Committed Use” and starts with an agreement about how much of Big Blue’s cloud you will commit to paying for, month-in, month-out.
[1]
Once you and IBM’s sales team agree on that number, you’ll get the same pricing if you exceed expected consumption.
You may still experience bill shock if you use rather more cloud than you planned. But at least those big bills will be at the discount you’ve already negotiated, rather than regular rates.
[2]
“No penalty for overage charges!” [3]gushes Big Blue’s marketing spiel. “If you spend more than the amount you committed to, you will continue to receive the same discounts agreed upon by IBM.”
IBM suggests its new plan is novel and differentiated. To this Vulture’s eyes it doesn’t seem vastly different to Amazon Web Services Savings Plans but may give Azure reservations buyers something to ponder.
From off-prem to just off: IBM Cloud goes down planet-wide so hard even the status page didn't work [4]READ MORE
Whatever the intricacies of the pricing model – and cloud pricing always demands scrutiny – this is not a clickable offer. IBM insists that you chat to its salespeople to arrange Pay as You Go With Committed Use. So that’ll mean plenty of Do You Want Fries With That opportunities for a hungry Big Blue salesperson.
IBM’s cloud has improved in recent years. Issues such as its clunky console and slow provisioning times have been addressed, while services have expanded.
However, those improvements come at a cost: a new [5]notification from late last week advises users of a 106 percent price rise for cloudy DB2.
The notification says that the price of IBM Db2 on Cloud Enterprise Instance will rise from 63 cents per instance/hour to $1.30. Another instance type will jump from $1.93 an hour to $3.00.
“We are constantly investing our efforts to improve our services, and this required price increase helps to ensure continued service and a level of satisfaction that we are proud to provide,” IBM’s notification says, before sneaking in the fact that current customers will inevitably cop this one.
[6]
On the upside, IBM has also cut costs by ten percent for [7]some Intel-based servers . ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/pay-as-you-go-with-committed-use
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/09/ibm_cloud_outage/
[5] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/price-increase-for-db2-on-cloud-enterprise-plan
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBffRMKDflb-mF4ot7F5hQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/announcements/10-off-intel-based-ibm-cloud-bare-metal-servers
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
This kind of makes the financial motivation of moving to the cloud moot
Brick and Mortar Infrastructure : You pay flat, even for underused servers/services.
Cloud: you pay only what you need.
Cloud "committed use" : You pay flat, even for underused servers/services.
OK, you shed the responsibility to run the IT, employ non-core techies, etc.
But many of the financial arguments pro-cloud do no lkonger apply to this model.