IBM set to bump up storage prices outside the US in the new year

Big Blue confirms DS8000 arrays, and various tape libraries and drives will all cost more

IBM has announced it is to up the purchase price of a broad range of storage products from Jan 1, making a nice surprise to usher in the New Year for customers.

The incoming storage product prices are listed in an update on Big Blue's website and do not appear to affect customers in the US, but will apply in Canada, Europe, Japan, and parts of Africa including Morocco and South Africa.

IBM's changes appear to comprise either a 5 percent or 10 percent rise on existing prices, depending on the specific product and territory.

For example, some models in the FlashSystem 5000 and FlashSystem 7000 portfolios appear set for a 5 percent jump everywhere except Japan, where the increase will be 10 percent. However, some models in the FlashSystem 9000 line look to be climbing by 10 percent everywhere except Canada and Switzerland, where the increase is only 5 percent.

Meanwhile, models in the DS8000 series of high-performance, high-capacity disk arrays are due to get 10 percent more expensive pretty much everywhere across the board.

For tape libraries, the increase is 5 percent across the board, while for some other tape storage solutions, it is is 10 percent in all the territories affected.

Other products affected include the IBM Elastic Storage System (ESS), the IBM SAN Volume Controller, and IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS). These products are set to become 10 percent more expensive everywhere except for Canada and Switzerland, where the increase is only 5 percent.

However, a note on Big Blue’s website states that the terms and conditions of existing contracts will determine the applicability and specific effect of the price changes, and directs customers to contact their IBM representative or IBM Business Partner for more information.

IBM did not cite any reason for the overhaul, which may simply reflect an increase in costs owing to inflation and rising energy prices.

For calendar Q3, IBM reported revenues of $14.1 billion, up 6 percent year-on-year. However, it also recorded a loss of $3.3 billion compared to a profit of $1.23 billion a year ago, as reported by our sister site Blocks & Files.

The contribution of IBM’s storage products to these figures is difficult to discern as storage software is reported as part of its software division, and storage hardware is included in its Infrastructure business results. ®