Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express are comprehensive IBM offerings that cover software license acquisition including Fixed Term Licenses and Software Subscription and Support product upgrades and technical support under a single, common set of agreements, processes and tools.

Passport Advantage is designed for larger enterprises, while Passport Advantage Express, a transaction-based offering, is designed to meet the needs of medium-sized businesses.

Features and Benefits

• Includes Software Subscription and Support (technical support and product upgrades) with each new license.
• Provides Selected Support for certain Open Source and other non-warranted code.
• Provides comprehensive and flexible upgrade coverage.
• Streamlines budgeting for software upgrade and migration costs.
• Provides secure access to Passport Advantage Online.
• Incorporates flexible, easy-to-access, responsive, cross-platform customer support from IBM.
• Provides access to IBM software technical support for all of a customer's designated IT staff.
• Provides 24x7 access to support resources for business-critical outages.
• Provides self help via the Internet.

Passport Advantage

With Passport Advantage, you get volume licensing designed for companies with larger IBM relationships. You qualify for volume discounts with your significant initial purchase. The Passport Advantage offering builds on the size of your individual transactions. The offering is based on your Relationship Suggested Volume Price (RSVP) Level. You receive your RSVP Level based on your initial acquisition of software and Software Maintenance. Future transactions are then based on either your RSVP or on the size of the transaction, whichever results in the better price for you. RSVP is recalculated after every transaction, which can mean even better pricing for subsequent transactions.

Each Passport Advantage license you purchase comes with Software Maintenance. Prorated renewal pricing is available to coordinate Software Maintenance coverage to a single anniversary date.

If you're engaging in a larger transaction, it makes good sense to have a relationship agreement with IBM. Partnering with a proven team affords your business the opportunity to leverage its combined acquisition power. Passport Advantage discounts your volume purchases over time, providing even greater discounts based on the size of individual transactions. What's more, additional sites within your enterprise, located anywhere in the world, can enroll under the same agreement.

Passport Advantage Express

Passport Advantage Express offers the features of Passport Advantage with the simplicity of transaction-based acquisition. Passport Advantage Express features a single price level, there are no points and no aggregating. No significant initial purchase required. Renewals take place on a per-transaction basis, rather than all being synchronized to a single anniversary date. Renewals are on a per-transaction basis, allowing you to spread the cost over your budget year. The Software Maintenance benefit is identical to that of Passport Advantage.

Passport Advantage Express is designed for single-site, small and medium business enterprises. This new offering combines the full Passport Advantage product list with the simplicity of transaction-based acquisition. Passport Advantage Express does not require a relationship agreement, each transaction is subject to the terms and conditions in place at the time. Also, license acquisitions will include Software Maintenance coverage.