By Insight UK / 2 Sep 2019 / Topics: Software
With this acquisition, HCL created a new business division - HCL Software - for selling, supporting and further developing these software products. As selling software is a brand new activity for HCL, there are some uncertainties around what could happen.
Some examples:
The product-groups in scope of the acquisition are:
For a complete list of all products transferred to HCL, visit ibm.com/downloads/cas/AL1OBXBJ
As an existing IBM customer for one or more of the product-families above, you will have received a letter from IBM, with one of 3 following options:
The contract is assigned by notice:
Contract conveyed to HCL per transfer of business (30th June, 2019) HCL will honour and fulfill all obligations in your IPAA and IPLA contract HCL will provide support Next renewal is with HCL Only applicable for divested products
The contract is being retained by IBM:
Contract is retained by IBM through expiration of the contract Typically for ELAs/ESSOs and other contracts that contain reason to retain HCL will provide subscription and support (subcontracting between IBM and HCL) At contract expiration, a PoE will be issued and subscription and support will be fully transferred business as usual to HCL from that date
The contract requires written consent to assign:
Primary contact in Passport Advantage will receive a request for consent to assign the contract to HCL which requires a response within 30 days. It is unknown what will happen when client refuses to assign contract to HCL yet
New Master License Agreement, including Audit Clause
All acquired products are under a new HCL Master License Agreement (MLA). This MLA also contains an audit clause, which gives HCL the right to do an audit on your installed base. A few highlights from this new audit clause include:
On the license-compliancy topic, there are still a lot of uncertainties. In IBM, every product has its own License Information Document, which is accessible for everyone in an organisation. With the transfer to HCL, all the detailed licensing information has been moved into a License Portal, and can only be accessed once your company HCL contact has added you to this portal.
What should I do next?
Be prepared and make sure you understand your current deployment situation for the products that are part of the transfer. Having a good understanding of your compliancy position before you begin negotiations with HCL about your next renewal or next license purchase puts you in a better position. With this knowledge you are also well prepared when HCL decides to become active in doing license audits. As a start:
At Insight, we are ready to help you with any kind of licensing or contractual question related to HCL Software, IBM Software and the possible combination of the two.
Please reach out to Jurgen Grolleman for further assistance.
