IBM Launches Pay-As-You-Go Program on Cloud Storage

To help organizations manage their data volumes and adopt cloud storage solutions, IBM Corp. announced a new pricing program that offers 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 a fraction of the price upon installation. Only when the system reaches a predetermined capacity threshold will the client be charged for the full 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 full balance of subsequent systems when they reach the threshold, 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 MSP Cegeka, in Belgium. 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 financed 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. Each lease and loan is subject to prior credit approval by IGF. The IBM Global Financing offering is available in North America and Europe and in other select countries later this year.

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.

The Advanced System Placement programs are available 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.