cozTools Brings Subscription Pricing To Software Licensing

July 1, 2015 Dan Burger

Cozzi Productions, maker of the SQL Query File software, is now offering a monthly software license option with a cancel anytime feature. Rather than paying the entire software license fee up front, as is traditionally done with software purchases, the subscription-based model lowers the entry point cost for software acquisition. There is no money down and the first three months are free for new customs who sign up before the end of the year–December 31, 2015.

The value proposition of subscription-based pricing varies from company to company. But one of the factors that are most commonly cited is the operating expense versus capital expense comparison. With subscription-based pricing, the software costs most often come from OpEx budgets. Traditional software licensing costs are part of CapEx budgets. The cost of the software is usually perceived much differently when taking these two budget categories into account. Reasons vary from shop to shop, but tax ramifications generally figure into the decision to choose one over the other.

Another point on the board in favor of subscription pricing is that in many cases software licensing is confusing as hell. And like fingerprints, no software vendors use the same formula to arrive at its final figure. At least, it seems that way. On the other hand, it’s easy to visualize per-seat, per-month or per-user, per-month pricing. Thank you, SalesForce.com, for making this widely understood.

SQL Query File, for those who aren’t familiar with the product, is an IBM i-based SQL command tool and report writer. The basic capabilities of the product allow users to specify the type of data output that fits the situation. It could be a normal interactive display or a 132-column report, but it could also be a PDF, a plain text file, or a CSV (comma separated variable file), the type frequently used when exporting DB2 data for use with Microsoft Excel.

To fill in the details on SQL Query File, see the Related Stories listing at the end of this article.

With the new subscription-based pricing, a product license can be purchased for as low as $95 month with a three-month minimum. Here’s how that works. First of all, there’s no money down and the first three months are free for customs who sign up before the end of the year. After the first 60 days, user will receive a renewal invoice at which point they can continue their monthly software license (MSL), or they can cancel the subscription. A new license key is required to be installed at the start of the three-month license term. From that point, if not canceled, the subscription is auto-renewed in three-month increments until ended by the customer.

The $95 monthly rate is based on the user running IBM i with up to six active cores on the Power Systems hardware. The monthly rate is $145 when seven or more active cores are activated. IBM i 7.1 or 7.2 is required.

All Cozzi Productions’ software licenses include up to two IBM i serial numbers at time of purchase. The second serial number availability is for companies with high availability or disaster recovery systems.

A traditionally priced SQL Query File licenses costs $1995 for up to six cores and $3995 for an unlimited number of cores. Software maintenance and support are extra charges. Additional pricing details are available on the cozTools website.

The DB2 for i database, if you haven’t noticed, is getting the lion’s share of IBM’s investments in IBM i. In terms of “people hours,” the database is where the development work is focused. When new versions of the operating system arrive, it’s the database that gets the greatest number of enhancements. Same with the Technology Refreshes, in almost all cases. The addition of advanced SQL capabilities has become the norm.

The power of SQL and data-centric programming is steadily gaining IBM i converts. Data-centric development, monitoring database activity, and an increase in database management are all being emphasized. If you are not yet onboard with SQL, for data access and/or data definition, you are falling behind in modern skills, tooling, and programming framework.

There are more than a couple of good reasons for the SQL emphasis. For one, SQL fits into modern, multi-platform data access, which is a growing priority. And take a look at the relational database market. It is not sitting still. Oracle 11g and 12c and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and 2014 are keeping the pressure on DB2. Continual updating is mandatory for a database to remain competitive.

If one company lacks innovation, that vulnerability will be exploited by the competition. There’s also the application development shift toward using more database muscle and reducing the amount of long-term legacy application maintenance. Not to be overlooked is the DB2 database sitting on top of the operating system, which allows the Technology Refreshes to be their own entities rather than be so entwined into the operating system. Review the Technology Refreshes and you’ll see a lot of DB2 for i tweaking has been going on.

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