IBM Passport Advantage is the program through which IBM customers buy and renew IBM software licenses, both non-expiring and term, together with Software Subscription and Support, IBM cloud services and appliances. IBM presents it as delivering three things: volume pricing, the alignment of software purchases to one anniversary date, and the consolidation of an enterprise’s sites under one agreement number.[1][2] The program does not define license metrics; each program’s use is measured by the unit set in its License Information, as described in IBM Passport Advantage licensing.[6]
Agreements
Passport Advantage has historically been governed by two agreements. IBM states that it “offers you two distinct Agreements for ordering Eligible Products”: the International Passport Advantage Agreement (IPAA) and the International Passport Advantage Express Agreement (IPAEA), both published on IBM Terms together with attachments such as the Attachment for Purchase of IBM Appliances and Appliance Services and the Authorized Additional Site Schedule (rule).[3] The express variant is recorded in the catalog as Passport Advantage Express.
IBM’s current landing page states that “the Client Relationship Agreement (CRA) and applicable Product Attachments contain the terms for acquiring Products under the Passport Advantage Program and incorporates the terms of the previous Passport Advantage agreements.”[2] IBM describes the CRA as “our single agreement used to procure most IBM offerings”, part of a family that also includes the Cloud Services Agreement and the CRA for services. A client that first used a CRA-family agreement for one kind of offering can later add an attachment to cover others.[3]
The move to the CRA does not change the licensing rules for individual programs, which remain in the International Program License Agreement and each program’s License Information.[6] Some policies that sit on top of the program, such as sub-capacity licensing, are available to both Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express customers (rule).[5]
Sites and enterprises
A Passport Advantage enrollment is organized by site. The Client Originating Company, identified as the Originating Site, is responsible for compliance with the terms and for coordinating the participating companies of its enterprise, which enroll as Additional Sites under the same Passport Advantage agreement number.[1] IBM presents site consolidation as a way to centralize account, contact, entitlement, purchasing, renewal and reporting management, and describes the result as “improved software asset management”.[1]
Enrollment is by a Passport Advantage enrollment form returned to IBM or an IBM Business Partner, or online through IBM’s digital channels; US Federal clients cannot enroll online and use a separate form.[4] IBM advises clients to migrate entitlements held in sites that are not enrolled into enrolled sites, enrolling first if necessary. After 24 consecutive months of inactivity, meaning no new orders and no continuous services in effect, IBM may move a client’s agreement or sites to terminated or inactive status.[1]
Anniversary date
Each enrollment has a single annual anniversary date for Subscription and Support renewals, so that renewals are handled together rather than throughout the year. Start and end dates of new license purchases can be prorated to align with the anniversary, which IBM presents as a way to make future renewals and volume-pricing changes predictable.[1]
Volume pricing
Passport Advantage pricing is based on points. IBM assigns each offering a point value, which may be zero and which IBM can change, and customers earn points on eligible purchases including new licenses, Subscription and Support renewals, cloud services, appliances and appliance services. Points may be aggregated across the sites of an enterprise.[1]
The Relationship Suggested Volume Pricing (RSVP) level is determined by the points for all offerings ordered in a 12-month period:[1]
| RSVP/SVP level | BL | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | under 500 | 500 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 10,000 |
The first order sets the initial RSVP level for the following 12 months. At each anniversary the level is reset from the points accumulated in the previous 12 months, and it applies to orders in the next 12 months; a higher level reached during the year applies until the next anniversary. If the reset would lower the level, IBM will not lower it by more than one level below the prior RSVP level. A separate Suggested Volume Pricing (SVP) level is calculated for each order from that order’s points, and where the SVP level is higher than the current RSVP level, the SVP level applies to that order.[1]
Sites enrolled as Government sites or under the Academic Volume Option receive their own discounted pricing, and the RSVP table does not apply to them. To receive Academic Volume Option pricing, products must be used only for academic or administrative purposes and not commercially.[1]
Policies layered on the program
Several IBM licensing policies are attached to the Passport Advantage relationship rather than to individual programs. The most significant is Virtualization Capacity (sub-capacity) licensing, which lets core-based programs be licensed for the capacity of the virtual machines that host them. IBM announced it in 2005, and since 18 July 2011 its terms have been part of the base Passport Advantage agreement, so customers no longer accept them separately.[5] IBM’s sub-capacity page now states that those terms “are documented in the Client Relationship Agreement”, and it names further conditions that apply to every enrolled site: eligible products, eligible virtualization and processor technologies, and use of the IBM License Metric Tool or an approved alternative.[7] Passport Advantage is also the channel for IBM’s separate Container Licensing policy and its Eligible Public Cloud BYOSL policy, both covered in IBM Passport Advantage licensing. IBM’s program benefits, such as volume pricing and the single anniversary date, apply to enrolled sites, which is why IBM asks clients to move entitlements from non-enrolled sites into enrolled ones.[1]
Tools and portals
Passport Advantage Online is IBM’s portal in which enrolled clients manage purchases, sites and agreements.[2] Entitlement records created there are distinct from deployment measurement, which IBM requires through the IBM License Metric Tool for sub-capacity licensing and IBM License Service for containers; see IBM sub-capacity licensing and ILMT.
Out of scope
- The full text of the IPAA, the IPAEA and the CRA on IBM Terms, which were not reproduced here.
- Dollar discounts associated with each RSVP level, which IBM does not publish on the program pages.
- Enterprise license agreements and other negotiated IBM contracts, for which no public IBM terms were cited.
- License metrics and counting rules, covered in IBM Passport Advantage licensing and IBM Processor Value Unit tables.