IBM Launches Pay-As-You-Go Model to Get Clients on Cloud Storage Quickly

Aggressive, first-in-the-industry pricing program helps organizations deploy IBM cloud storage systems quickly to focus more on building their business and less about the cost of equipment

Armonk, New York - 25 Feb 2013: To help organizations more easily and efficiently manage their swelling data volumes and adopt cloud storage solutions quickly, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new pricing program that offers high-performance storage systems without the heavy up-front costs.

The new IBM Advanced System Placement program for clients is a pay-as-you-go program that lets organizations purchase IBM XIV storage systems for only a fraction of the price upon installation. Only when the system reaches a predetermined capacity threshold will the client be charged for the balance of the system. At that time, a second unit will be delivered for only $1. The cycle continues and clients only pay for the subsequent systems when they reach the threshhold, and an additional system is delivered for an additional $1.

“Though this is a data consumption model, the technological impact on our clients, whose data volumes are growing rapidly, will be profound,” said Luc Greefs, Director of Shared Technology and Infrastructure Delivery at the company. Cegeka provides private cloud solutions, such as Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, Storage as a Service, telephony services, and more, throughout Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland and Romania. “For Cegeka, it means we’ll be able to get customers onto cloud storage solutions quickly, and they’ll be able to pay for it when they have the revenue to support it.”

A financing version of the Advanced System Placement program is also available through IBM Global Financing. With this option, qualified clients sign a 36-month Fair Market Value (FMV) hardware lease and software loan, and payments for the first six months are set at a fraction of the overall cost. As with the cash purchase version, when the first system reaches a certain threshold, a second system is delivered and the payments for the first system continue as planned. The second system will come with a second 36-month lease, but the first six payments are free. By combining the Advanced System Placement program with a hardware lease program, payments become predictable and manageable.

The Advanced System Placement program complements IBM’s existing Capacity-on-Demand pricing program, which is designed to help organizations with less aggressive growth projections deploy high-capacity storage systems with ease.

The Advanced System Placement programs are available now worldwide through IBM. The company plans to expand the program to include additional IBM System Storage products and IBM Business Partners over the next quarter.

For more information go to www.ibm.com/xiv and www.ibm.com/financing.