The IBM Hybrid Subscription Advantage program is a licensing benefit that applies existing on-premises Cloud Pak for Data software entitlements within the Cloud Pak for Data as a Service portfolio. The workloads that run in IBM Cloud are significantly discounted. The Hybrid Subscription Advantage can be enabled and disabled as hybrid deployment requirements change.
When activating the Hybrid Subscription Advantage, you must review and accept the Terms and Conditions. You can also review the Terms and Conditions here: IBM Hybrid Subscription Advantage - Addendum to SD for IBM Cloud (Public Cloud)
- Participating cloud services and discounts
- Activating discounts
- Deactivating discounts
- Updating discounts
- View summary
Participating cloud services and discounts
The Hybrid Subscription Advantage program provides a deep discount to the participating cloud services and charge metrics. Note that cloud services may have additional charge metrics that are not covered under this program. Cloud services are discounted between 50% and 60%. Software programs are delegated as an entitlement ratio of required license entitlements for the eligible cloud services. The ratios indicate the number of Cloud Pak for Data Software VPCs required to obtain a discount for that individual service or charge metric on cloud.
For example, let's say you are an existing customer with a Cloud Pak for Data Db2 Advanced Cartridge license and want to create a Db2 on Cloud database with 8 VPCs (Virtual Processor Cores). An instance of Db2 on Cloud comes with 4 VPCs. You can purchase 4 additional VPCs to get to your total of 8 VPCs. The cost of your whole 8 VPCs Db2 on Cloud database is USD $1,825.
The Hybrid Subscription Advantage program entitles you to a discount of 60% by leveraging your existing IBM Db2 Advanced Cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data license. To obtain the 60% discount, take a look at the ratio table below. It says that 1 Db2 on Cloud instance requires 1 Software VPC. From there on, every 2 VPCs will require 1 Software VPC. Since we need an additional 4 VPCs to form our 8 VPC system (recall that an instance already comes with 4 VPCs), we will apply an additional 2 Software VPCs.
Therefore, for 3 Software VPCs of IBM Db2 Advanced Cartridge for Cloud Pak for Data as a Service, you will receive a 60% discount (a significant savings of USD $1,095!) towards your Db2 on Cloud service.
| From Software Program | To IBM Cloud Service | Discount | Software to Cloud Ratios (per instance) | Software to Cloud Ratios (additional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Pak for Data Enterprise Edition | IBM Knowledge Catalog Professional Plan | 50% | 12 Software VPCs = 1 Cloud Instance | 1 Software VPC = 1500 Compute Unit-Hours |
| Cloud Pak for Data Enterprise Edition | watsonx.ai Runtime Professional Plan | 50% | 4 Software VPCs = 1 Cloud Instance | 1 Software VPC = 1500 Compute Unit-Hours |
| Cloud Pak for Data Standard Edition | IBM Knowledge Catalog Professional Plan | 50% | 24 Software VPCs = 1 Cloud Instance | None |
| Cloud Pak for Data Standard Edition | watsonx.ai Runtime Learning Professional Plan | 50% | 8 Software VPCs = 1 Cloud Instance | None |
| Cloud Pak for Data Db2 Standard Cartridge | Db2 on Cloud Enterprise Plan | 50% | 4 Software VPCs = 1 Cloud Instance-Hour | 1 Software VPC = 1 Virtual Processor Core-Hour |
| Cloud Pak for Data Db2 Advanced Cartridge | Db2 on Cloud Enterprise Plan | 60% | 1 Software VPC = 1 Cloud Instance-Hour | 1 Software VPC = 2 Virtual Processor Core-Hours |
| Production licenses: • DataStage Enterprise Cartridge • DataStage Enterprise Plus Cartridge • DataStage Enterprise Modernization • DataStage Enterprise Plus Modernization |
DataStage Standard Plan | 50% | 1 Software VPC = 1 Cloud Instance | None |
| Non-production licenses: • DataStage Enterprise Cartridge • DataStage Enterprise Plus Cartridge • DataStage Enterprise Modernization • DataStage Enterprise Plus Modernization |
DataStage Standard Plan | 50% | 2 Software VPC = 1 Cloud Instance | None |
Activating discounts
The Hybrid Subscription Advantage can be activated at any time by Administrators of paid accounts (either Pay-as-you-go or Subscription). It cannot be used with unpaid accounts (Lite or Trial).
Before activating the Hybrid Subscription Advantage, gather the following information:
- The services on Cloud Pak for Data as a Service that you want to include in the Hybrid Subscription Advantage.
- The Cloud Pak for Data Software Program Edition.
- The number of Virtual Processor Cores (VPCs) required. Refer to the Participating cloud services and discounts to determine the VPC requirement for your workload.
You need to be the Account Owner or Administrator for the IBM Cloud Account to activate the Hybrid Subscription Advantage.
Follow these steps to enable discounts for each service:
- Choose Administration > Account and billing > Hybrid Subscription Advantage.
- Before you continue, carefully review the Terms and Conditions.
- Click Add discount to get started.
- Select a cloud service from the list of eligible cloud services. Confirm the qualifying plan.
- Select the software program from the list of software programs.
- The required minimum number of VPCs for the Software Program Edition is automatically entered. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the number of entitlements. You cannot enter a value lower than the required minimum. The total number of VPCs for all services cannot exceed 350 without approval from your IBM representative.
- Check the box to confirm the eligibility of your license entitlements and agree to the terms and conditions.
- Click Apply when finished.
Discounts are applied retroactively to the first day of the monthly billing cycle.
The applied VPCs are not available for on-premises use while enabled for the Hybrid Subscription Advantage.
Deactivating discounts
The Hybrid Subscription Advantage can be deactivated per cloud service at any time.
Follow these steps to deactivate the discount for a service:
- Hover over or click the cloud service.
- Select Remove from the overflow menu.
- Click Remove in the confirmation box to confirm the removal of the discount from the service.
Discounts for the selected services stop at the end of the current billing period, and the Program Licenses are placed back into the pool of on-premises licenses.
Updating discounts
You can update the entitlements that are applied to the discount at any time.
To update the discount:
- Hover over or click the cloud service.
- Select Edit from the overflow menu.
- Enter the required changes for the service. You can change the software program or the number of entitlements to be applied to the service.
- Check the box to confirm the eligibility of your license entitlements and to agree to the terms and conditions if it is not already checked.
- Click Apply.
Updates to entitlements take effect immediately.
View summary
Click View summary to review a report of your total applied entitlements.
Next Steps
Refer to the Billing and usage page for your Cloud account to view your charges.
Parent topic: Managing Cloud Pak for Data as a Service