IBM sets sights on Sun SPARC customers with enhanced Power Rewards program 5 November, 2008 By Chris Talbot

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Through the Power Rewards migration program, IBM typically offers $1000 (or 1000 points) in migration services per core, but IBM has increased the value for Sun and Fujitsu servers based on SPARC, UltraSPARC or SPARC64 processors to $4000. Part of the reason for this change is IBM experienced an increase in the number of Sun customers migrating to IBM products during the third quarter, but it's also because IBM began certifying business partners to offer the migration services in the program earlier this year, said Scott Handy, vice president of worldwide marketing and business strategy for IBM Power Systems.

Over the last 10 quarters, IBM has been doing about 125 migrations per quarter, but during the third quarter of 2008, Handy said the number jumped to 135 migrations. Typically, 80 per cent of the migrations are from Sun and HP, with the two companies representing an even split, but all the additional migrations during the third quarter were from Sun, he said.

"Many customers who previously had told us they standardized on Solaris and weren't interested in moving are warming up to the idea that they might need another plan," Handy said.

With more customers, IBM needs more capacity to take on those customers, and with the certification of business partners on migration services starting in the second quarter of this year, the capacity is increasing, he said. IBM expects to have 100 partners certified on migration services by the end of the year.

"For the business partners, it's actually pretty lucrative because they get to offer customers free services, but they're still getting paid," Handy said. Customers can make use of their migration services credits by going to IBM Global Services or certified partners.

Handy told eChannelLine that the program does have a cap on the maximum dollar value available for the migration services. It's equal to half the negotiated price of the deal, so if the discounted price is $250,000, then the customer could be eligible for up to $125,000 in migration services, provided they have enough cores.

"We wanted a fresh and more aggressive offer to get them to move. We think we have the capacity now that we've expanded to additional business partners," Handy said.

Additionally, customers could take advantage of the program through multiple transactions, so if they have a phased migration plan to migrate a certain number of cores per quarter, they can use the program each time.

At the same time IBM is trying to entice Sun SPARC customers to its AIX or Linux platforms, the company also has its eye on recruiting Sun channel partners, Handy said. After IBM has certified 100 of its own business partners on migration services, the goal is to get 100 Sun partners to switch to IBM, he said.

"I think we can really start to accelerate our share grab," Handy said.