The goal of the program is to be able to sell a new Power Systems machine to an end user in two phone calls. The first one is an introductory call to sell the general benefits of a new server over maintaining and old one, and is also in place for the sales rep to get info on the end user’s environment. The second one is a follow-up with a more detailed pitch that also includes discounts and more benefits to help close the deal.

The main crux of the sales strategy is to prove that the cost of buying a new Power Systems server is actually less than maintaining an old System i, iSeries or AS/400. From the story: “If you don’t have the cash and you are using an older box, then IBM wants you to look at your maintenance bills.”

Some internal IBM documents then spell out different examples of how users can presumably save more money in maintenance costs than they’re paying in capital costs to buy a new Power Systems server. One example compares the maintenance costs of an old AS/400 or iSeries 270 with a new Power Systems server, saying a user could save more than $600 a month in maintenance savings, which amounts to more than the approximate monthly lease cost of about $500 a month.