If your company uses IBM Passport Advantage, you’re probably aware of the licensing requirements. As part of your agreement with IBM, you’re required to implement and maintain the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT), generate quarterly license audit reports, and keep a two-year history on file.
You’re also required to stay current with regular product upgrades, and that’s where things may get tricky. In the fall of 2016, IBM discontinued support of the ILMT v7.2.x platform. Support for another platform, v7.5.x, discontinues on April 30, 2017. If your company uses either of these platforms, you’ll be required to upgrade to ILMT v9.5.x to maintain compliance.
Since this is a requirement to keep your business compliant, we probably don’t have to convince you to upgrade. But ILMT v9.5.x has a few surprises up its sleeve.
An Opportunity for Improvements
We don’t usually think of mandatory upgrades as something to look forward to, but with ILMT v9.5.x there are a few advantages you’ll want to explore further. Some of the improvements to look forward to include:
- Robust Reporting: Audit snapshots and on-demand reports (based upon user criteria)
- Enhanced Software Bundling Capabilities: Easier processes for the bundling of software packages and the inclusion/exclusion of chargeable items
- Enhanced Details: Directory signatures for analysis and identification of false discoveries
- BigFix Platform: Included endpoint management features that may be purchased for endpoint security, inventory tracking, OS deployments, patching, etc.
- Better Performance: Reporting of up to 250K endpoints
- Integration Features: Integration with 3rd party tools via exposed REST APIs
And if your company has a large endpoint footprint or a more complex software bundle, IBM will provide processes to migrate existing Virtual Mappings and software bundling decisions to ILMT v9.5.x. That way, the migration process will save you time and preserve the decisions you’ve already made.
The process of upgrading to ILMT v9.5.x and completing migration might seem intimidating, but we’re here to help. You can contact us for more information, or learn more by viewing our most recent upgrade webinar.