Virtualization Capacity (Sub-capacity) Licensing
Catalog row in Vendor License Programs · Cited
- Kind
- Cloud policy
- Term
- Continuing; terms carried in the base agreement (IPAA since 2011-07-18; now the CRA).
- Aliases
- Sub-capacity licensing; Virtualization Capacity licensing; Virtualization Licensing
- Definition
- IBM: "Sub-capacity licensing lets you license an eligible software product for less than the full capacity of your server or group of servers. It provides the licensing granularity needed to leverage various multi-core chip and virtualization technologies. The sub-capacity software licensing terms are documented in the Client Relationship Agreement." (Virtualization Capacity (Sub-capacity) Licensing, retrieved 2026-09-26)
- Commercial rules
- Requirements IBM lists: eligible sub-capacity products (all core-based products on PVU, RVU MAPC or VPC), eligible virtualization technologies, eligible processor technologies, and ILMT or another approved validated tool (HCL BigFix Inventory; Flexera One / Flexera One Select). Count the lower of virtual cores available to the product or the physical capacity of the server; SMT is not adjusted for. ILMT reports: quarterly at most; retain two years. IBM announced the offering in 2005; since 2011-07-18 the terms have been in the base Passport Advantage agreement; PA v11 removed manual-reporting exceptions (ended 2024-01-01). Available to Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express customers and to Service Providers. Containers are licensed under the separate Container Licensing policy.
- Applies to
- Core-based IBM Eligible Products (PVU, VPC, RVU MAPC) deployed in eligible virtualization environments under Passport Advantage / the CRA. Effective date: not stated on the cited IBM page (undated web page); retrieved 2026-09-26.