The problem: full capacity by default.

Sub-capacity licensing lets you license only the virtual cores actually running IBM software rather than the entire physical host. A WebSphere instance using 4 of 32 host cores is 480 PVU under sub-capacity, against 3,840 PVU at full capacity. That gap is where audit exposure is made or unmade.

The catch is that sub-capacity is not automatic. It requires ILMT, or an approved tool such as Flexera One ITAM or HCL BigFix Inventory, deployed within 90 days of first eligible deployment, running continuously, with quarterly reports retained for two years. Miss any one of those conditions and IBM defaults you to full capacity charging for the affected period. The lookback can run two to five years of back payments at full capacity rates.

In an audit, IBM looks for the gaps: a broken agent, a missing report, an install on ineligible technology. Each gap is leverage to default a product to the physical core count. Our job is to close those gaps with evidence before the finding hardens into a number.

Our approach

A buyer side sequence that rebuilds the defensible virtual capacity position product by product.

01

Contain

Freeze the data response. Nothing about your virtual environment goes to IBM until it is scoped and we know what it proves.

02

Reconcile

Rebuild the virtual core count per product against ILMT history and the correct virtualization rules for each hypervisor.

03

Challenge

Dispute every full capacity default where the sub-capacity conditions were actually met, with the report trail to back it.

04

Settle

Reinstate sub-capacity going forward and write the agent and reporting plan into the settlement letter.

What you get

01

Virtual core recount

An independent per product virtual core count, mapped to the correct rule for LPAR, VMware, Hyper-V and eligible cloud.

02

ILMT evidence pack

The quarterly report trail, agent coverage map and configuration record that proves the sub-capacity conditions were met.

03

Full capacity rebuttal

A line by line rebuttal of each full capacity default IBM applied, tied to the period and the evidence that reverses it.

04

Reinstatement plan

A forward plan to keep sub-capacity defensible: agent health, report retention and eligible technology checks.

Result on the record.

Financial Services · ILMT

$3.1M

penalty avoided

Sub-capacity reinstated

Missing agents and misconfigured reports corrected before full capacity charging landed.

Manufacturing · WebSphere + Db2

71%

claim reduced

Methodology challenge

Incorrect PVU values and denied sub-capacity reversed against clean ILMT evidence.

Method

Contain

first move

Hold the data

The sub-capacity defense begins before any environment data leaves your network.

Sub-capacity defense, before full capacity charging lands.

Defend the virtual core count now.

The IBM Audit Brief