Overview
IBM is simplifying and streamlining its premier remote support offering,
IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line and associated
offerings. These revised support offerings complement IBM's announcement
of the enhancement and simplification of its software licensing, software
subscription, and technical support model for IBM distributed software.
The revised IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line offering
will provide support for those operating systems and associated products
that are not available with the newly announced Software Maintenance
offering. This will ensure total support coverage for your enterprise
needs, including IBM and selected non-IBM products.
Support Line enhancements include:
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Products for a single operating system environment will be sold as a
single support group.
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Support groups may also consist of selected hardware and software
products.
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Named callers have been eliminated. Any of your IS technical support
personnel may contact IBM for support without having been previously
identified to IBM.
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Support for DYNIX/ptx® on NUMA-Q® and Symmetry® hardware platforms
is available within ServiceSuite™.
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Standalone Support Line contracts may now be cancelled with 30 days'
notice after they have been in effect for at least 90 days.
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Support procurement is simplified with the withdrawal of most Support
Line procurement options and all product group selections.
In addition, individual countries may choose to offer additional
country-specific features.
For additional information on the revised Support Line offering,
including transitioning for current Support Line customers, refer to the
Description
section of this announcement.
Description
IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line
IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line is a single integrated
remote support offering that supports your operating systems environment
across all platforms consistently, in a single contract. This service
provides you with remote voice and electronic (where available)
assistance from IBM for product-specific, task-oriented questions
regarding the installation and operation of currently supported IBM and
specified non-IBM operating systems and associated sofware products. The
revised Support Line also offers usage and configuration assistance for
selected hardware products. IBM Operational Support Services — Support
Line complements support provided by "Program Services" and Software
Maintenance for IBM software products and for selected non-IBM software
products.
Base support includes prime shift coverage, where prime shift is defined
to be a country's normal business hours, excluding national holidays.
The support delivery centers will respond within a target of two hours
during prime shift with support being in the national language of the
caller's primary support center. If you require support beyond that of
prime shift, IBM offers extended/full shift coverage, 24 hours per day,
seven days per week for an additional fee at the support group level.
During offshift, IBM will aim to respond to your critical, voice
submitted problems within two hours.
The stand-alone Support Line contract term is a minimum of one year. If
Support Line is included in an integrated services package (for example,
ServiceSuite), the Support Line term will be the integrated services
package term.
The following are the changes to Support Line effective
September 1, 2001:
Support Groups:
Support for an operating system and associated products will be sold
as a single support group. Support groups may also consist of selected
software and hardware products. The support groups available in the
revised Support Line offering include:
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z/OS and OS/390®
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z/VM, VM, and VSE
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AIX® and AIX/SP™
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OS/400®
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DYNIX/ptx for NUMA-Q
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DYNIX/ptx for Symmetry
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OS/2®
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Multivendor — No Operating System
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Windows®
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Linux
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Disk and tape
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SAN and NAS
OS/2 operating system support is now available with the acquisition of a
product license including Software Maintenance via Passport Advantage.
Support for DYNIX/ptx for NUMA-Q and DYNIX®/ptx for Symmetry is
available within a ServiceSuite Advanced or ServiceElect contract.
Product Groups:
The product groups currently available in Support Line will not be
defined as such in the revised Support Line. These include:
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Base Operating System
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Application Development and Enabling
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Communications and Networking
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Data Management
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Internet
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Network and Systems Management
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Transaction Systems
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Work Group
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System Options
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Independent Products and Applications
The operating systems and associated products, excluding distributed
middleware products and the OS/2 operating system, that were in these
product groups have been placed in the support groups listed above.
IBM Distributed Software Support:
Support for currently marketed IBM distributed software products
will no longer be available in this revised Support Line offering. This
support is available as Software Maintenance (software subscription and
technical support) through IBM Passport Advantage, from IBM Business
Partners who remarket 
iSeries and
pSeries, and from IBM directly. For additional information on IBM
Passport Advantage, refer to
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Software Announcement
201-202
, dated July 10, 2001 (IBM Simplifies and Enhances the IBM
International Passport Advantage Agreement)
Information on IBM distributed software sold through IBM Business
Partners who remarket iSeries and pSeries can be obtained from:
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Software Announcement
201-201
, dated July 10, 2001 (Changes to Distributed Software Products
Acquired Outside of Passport Advantage)
Remote support for the AIX and OS/400 operating systems continues to be
available via Support Line.
IBM Large Systems Software Support:
Support for most products in the large systems environment (OS/390,
z/OS, VM, z/VM, VSE) continues to be available via Support Line.
Procurement Options Withdrawn:
The following procurement options are not available with the
revision of Support Line:
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Selected system software support
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Cross-systems product software support
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Single system software support
Support procurement is much easier. Customers simply select the support
groups required to meet their needs. Customers may purchase support
groups for their entire enterprise via the Enterprise Support option, a
revised version of Total Systems Software Support.
Named Callers:
Currently in Support Line, questions or problems are submitted by
named callers which are limited in number depending upon your selected
contract options. With the revised Support Line, named callers have been
eliminated. IBM will accept calls from any of your skilled IS technical
support personnel and they do not need to be previously identified to
IBM.
Cancellation Option:
Support Line stand-alone annuity contracts may now be cancelled
after they have been in effect for 90 days with 30 days' written
notification to IBM.
Current Support Line Contracts
Current Support Line (or equivalent) contracts will be honored until
October 10, 2002, or until IBM contacts you to transition to
the revised Support Line terms and conditions on your contract renewal
date, whichever occurs first. The transition to revised Support Line
will begin on October 10, 2001.
For additional information or questions regarding the transition of your
Support Line contract to the revised Support Line offering, contact your
IBM representative.
Other Remote Support Offerings
IBM Operational Support Services — Account Advocate
This optional fee feature provides you with remote access (via telephone
or electronic access) to an account advocate team which will assist you
with coordination and escalation of reported problems for products you
have covered by Support Line. Account Advocate support will now also
extend to distributed middleware products supported on the operating
systems covered by Account Advocate, and covered by IBM Software
Maintenance. This feature is available during prime shift only.
Contact your IBM representative for additional information.
IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line for Business
Partners
This service is designed to meet the software support needs of Business
Partners for their own systems or for the support of their end users'
systems. Support Line for Business Partners complements IBM Operational
Support Services — Support Line that you sell to your customers as part
of the total solution.
Contact your IBM representative for additional information.
IBM Operational Support Services — Support Line Hourly
Designed for the customer with less frequent support needs, IBM
Operational Support Services — Support Line Hourly provides the same
type of support as the annuity offering, but is priced on an hourly
basis. Support is cross-platform and is defined by the Support Line
product list. IBM reserves the right to add or remove products supported
under the Support Line offering at any time. For a complete list of
products supported under this offering, visit our Web site at:
Hourly services are charged for the actual time IBM is working on the
problem, including voice and/or electronic time interacting with you, and
any research time, regardless if the problem is related to product usage,
code-related, or isolation of the problem cause. For prime shift calls,
there will be a charge for each hour at the current rate. For off-shift
calls, there will be a 35% premium added to the current rate. Response
time for Support Line Hourly is the same as defined for the annuity
offering.
Contact your IBM representative for additional information.
Pricing
For pricing information, contact your IBM representative, your IBM
Business Partner, or call 800-IBM-4YOU (426-4968), or call IBM Global
Services Inside Sales at 888-426-4343.
Trademarks
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iSeries, pSeries, z/OS, and z/VM are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation.
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ServiceSuite, SP, and the e-business logo are trademarks of International
Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or
both.
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NUMA-Q, Symmetry, ptx, OS/390, AIX, OS/400, and OS/2 are registered
trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United
States or other countries or both.
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Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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DYNIX/ptx and DYNIX are registered trademarks of Sequent Computer
Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM Corporation.
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Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service
marks of others.
