On July 25, 2006 IBM announced the replacement of its Per Processor licensing structure with the Processor Value Unit licensing structure. This change impacts our IBM middleware products using the Per Processor metric in the WebSphere, Tivoli, Lotus, and Information Management brands available on Passport Advantage.
The current marketplace for middleware licensing
- Today customers tell us that the widespread adoption of multi-core chips has presented them with a number of challenges. Among the key challenges are: More complex licensing structures
- Unique licensing requirements for differing technologies
- Fractional licensing to provide necessary licensing granularity
Facing these challenges, customers are asking IBM for:
- As simple a licensing structure as possible, understanding that simplicity needs to be balanced against precise measurements of the potential value that a customer receives from their middleware. This includes the elimination of fractional licenses at the processor core level.
- Greater flexibility in deploying middleware licenses on servers that use multi-core chip technologies, using sub-capacity licensing where they have partitioned those systems more granularly.
- Continued middleware price performance improvements as the underlying hardware performance improves.
- A licensing structure which is more predictable, and clarifies how future processor technologies will be treated in middleware licensing.
Introducing Processor Value Units
A Processor Value Unit (PVU) is a unit of measure used to differentiate licensing of middleware on distributed processors and, over time, will evolve to differentiate processor families based on their relative performance among other factors. The Processor Value Unit structure consists of 4 broad tiers or levels, and all supported processor families have been assigned to one of those tiers. For each product, customers will need to acquire the appropriate number of Processor Value Units for the level or tier of all processor cores activated and ready for use on which the software is deployed.
The table below lists current generally available processors only, as of the publish date. PVU requirements for future processor technologies may differ. For PVU requirements for any processor technologies not listed below, please contact IBM. IBM Software defines "Processor" as a Core.
Table of Processor Value Units [PVUs] per core
The table below lists current generally available processors only, as of the published date. PVU requirements for future processor technologies may differ. For PVU requirements for any processor technologies not listed below, please consult the Guide to Identifying Your Processor Family. If still don't find what you are looking for, please contact IBM. IBM Software defines "Processor" as a Core.
![Processor Value Unit [PVUs] per core](/software/lotus/images/PVUtable.jpg)
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With Processor Value Units, IBM continues the practice of licensing to the processor core. This practice provides the licensing granularity customers require, while offering them the flexibility to configure their systems to best support their business objectives.
Key benefits
Processor Value Units enable sub-capacity licensing at the processor core and provide:
- a licensing structure that avoids fractional licensing or processor factors for multi-core chips
- flexibility and granularity enabling customers to run a product on as few or as many processor cores as they require
- the capability to deliver software price performance improvements as new processor families are introduced
- a sustainable licensing foundation for the future
And, licenses are transferable across distributed systems.