New Web Site Offers Misleading “Teaser” Pricing To Host IBM i Applications
This week I came across a cloud hosting company that had spent BIG BUCKS to update their web site.
This new web site featured the latest fashionable designs, modern graphics and professionally made videos featuring the founder.
It even featured an online estimating tool to let visitors know how much their hosting service cost.
The online pricing estimator offered enticing pricing…Too enticing.
Initially, I was very impressed…until I started to dig deeper.
The online estimator did NOT provide for:
- V7R2 or V7R3 (in fact if the user needs IBM i, the operating system is billable at $14,995 per core! This would also suggest that the IBM software support is billable as well),
- User count (if IBM i V7R2 and V7R3 are billable, the user count may be billable at $2500 per blocks of 10 users),
- How to host 3rd party application software with keys (the transfer fees can be a deal killer),
- How your system gets saved,
- Advanced Job Scheduler or BRMS (which is also billable software),
- Connectivity, whether point-to-point VPN or MPLS, or
- Bandwidth fees to handle traffic volume.
From the many years we have been hosting IBM i applications, we have learned it is impossible to get an accurate quote from someone who does not know what they are doing.
As you can imagine, proper accurate pricing and successful hosting requires thorough analysis by experts.
Will You Pay Too Much For Stuff You Don’t Need Or Use?
Over the years, I have visited other web sites that boast of their capabilities and value-added services.
On the surface they sound impressive…unless you understand the IBM i. Too often these providers began hosting Windows, UNIX, Linux and mainframes.
It is almost like IBM i was an after-thought.
How come?
Because hosting providers that manage multiple technologies have to make sizeable investments in hypervisor, provisioning and anti-virus software for these platforms…unneeded software for IBM i because it is already included.
So you pay more for hosting management tools that do not benefit your IBM i application hosting.
Cloud Hosting With 21 Or More Data Centers
IBM i hosting providers will need multiple data centers to offer their clients a range of redundancy and disaster recovery.
On the other hand, some hosting providers boast about how many data centers they have. One even claims to have 21 data centers.
So, do they have IBM i POWER servers in every data center?
Of course not.
That would be a HUGE investment. This hosting company is not that well capitalized.
In fact, they rent space from a data center “chain” with 21 locations…they do not own any of the data centers.
But if you don’t know any better, the claim “We have 21 data centers” sure sounds good and makes them appear bigger than they really are.
If You Want A Safe Expert IBM i Hosting Solution, You Need Expert Analysis
USA-based Cloud400 has been working on IBM i since 1988 when AS400s were first introduced.
Quite simply, if you want to understand the true cost of IBM i application hosting it takes in-depth knowledge and analysis to understand your needs and what is being proposed.
Bring us any quote for a FREE evaluation. We will let you know what you are really getting…or not getting.
Cloud400 – The Knowledgeable IBM i Hosting Solution
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