Subscription Licensing
IBM's pay-per-year IBM i licensing model, billed per core per year, introduced as an alternative to perpetual (one-time) licensing.
Subscription pricing trades a lower up-front number for an ongoing annual obligation. For P05, IT Jungle reported a subscription rate of $2,356/core/year versus $3,315/core as a one-time perpetual purchase -- the breakeven point depends on how long you plan to keep the hardware in service.
Related Terms
Perpetual Licensing
IBM's traditional one-time-purchase IBM i licensing model, paid once per core rather than annually.
IBM i Software Tier
IBM's per-core licensing bracket for IBM i (P05, P10, P20, P30, P50) that sets your annual or perpetual software cost based on processor feature code, independent of the Power generation running underneath it.
Annualized Ownership Cost
The modeled per-year cost of owning a system over a defined hold period: amortized hardware, maintenance, and software licensing combined.