IBM Passport Advantage Newsletter
17 November 2003

The following document was kindly provided by IBM to IIUG. It resulted from discussions between the IIUG Board members and IBM representatives to address member input regarding Passport Advantage.

The purpose of this newsletter is to familiarize both end user customers and business partners with the Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express Programs. In addition, this document serves as a reference document to learn more about the tools available to customers and resellers.

Passport Advantage is IBM's licensing program by which a customer may acquire licenses, software maintenance and maintenance after license for all IBM open platform software brands, including Tivoli, Lotus, WebSphere, DB2 and Rational in the near future. A high priority for IBM has been to ensure that IBM Informix customers and Business Partners have the ability to leverage the same programs and receive the same benefits as other IBM customers and Business Partners.

The following Adobe Acrobat files serve as quick reference guides for the Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express programs.

• IBM Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express - A Quick Reference Guide for Business Partners
   
• IBM Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express - A Quick Reference Guide for Customers

For additional information on these programs please access the Online Tutorial or view the Program Information section at http://www.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage.

IBM Distributes Product CDs to Passport Advantage maintenance customers and also provides the ability to download software from the Passport Advantage On-line Customer Site at the following url: http://www.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage.

Please note: CDs for initial purchases must be purchased through your reseller of choice or downloaded via the PA On-line Customer Site. Future product updates will be automatically sent for those products covered under Maintenance as they are released to the market.

Software maintenance is renewable and ensures that you have the latest and greatest software and have access to IBM's technical support site and staff. Passport Advantage licenses and renewal part numbers are not version or platform specific.

Below, please find important information pertaining to the two Web Tools available to all Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express Customers:

PA On-line Customer Site

The URL for Passport Advantage On-line Customer site is http://www.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage. From the IBM Passport Advantage page choose Customer Site from the right hand navigator.

Username and Passwords: All PA Customers must complete the IBM registration which will allow unlimited users to have their own user IDs and passwords to access the site. IBM registration will enable you to create a user ID and password that accesses all IBM sites. For instance, you can access the PA On-line Customer Site and if you are an authorized Technical Support caller, you'll be able to access the IBM Support site with the same user ID and password. Simply enter your self created IBM Registration ID to access the support site.

The primary contact for your organization will be the first to register and is required to grant access to other users. Up to four users can be granted "secondary contact" access. This allows them to grant access to additional users. An unlimited number of people can be granted "user" access, which gives them access to all applications on the PA On-line Customer Site.

Functionality of PA Customer Site:

• View Customer Purchase History
• View and Print Proof of Entitlement Certificates
• Submit Contact Updates
• Access to electronic downloads for Software with active Maintenance
• Review and Renew Maintenance Renewals On-line
• Purchase Licenses direct from IBM
• e-Notifications

Contact Information for PA On-line Customer Site:

Any questions regarding this tool should be directed to the IBM Passport Advantage eCustomer Care Team via the methods listed below.

North America:
1-800-978-2246
paonline@us.ibm.com

Latin America:
paonline@us.ibm.com

Europe, the Middle East and Africa:
Passport_Login@ie.ibm.com

Asia Pacific:
Passport_Advantage@Lotus.com
+65-4464996

Japan:
+81-3-5496-3111

Please note: the eCustomer Care Team handles inquiries regarding the PA On-line Customer Site only.

Electronic Service Request (ESR) Tool

The URL for the ESR Tool is http://www.ibm.com/software/support. This tool can be used by selecting Submit & Track Problems from the software support Web Site and then selecting (ESR).

Username and Passwords: All PA Customers must register with the IBM Software Support web site. This is a two step registration process they must complete prior to submitting electronic incidents. Customers must have active maintenance, and their Site Technical Contact (STC) must have previously entered them as an authorized caller on the named caller list via the ESR Tool.

Functionality of ESR Tool:

• Submit PMR's ( Problem Management Records) Electronically
• Receive an e-mail notification when you create or update a PMR. The e-mail contains the PMR number and a short description, for easy identification on the Web.
• Site Technical Contact ( STC) and Secondary Site Technical Contacts (SSTC) have the ability to manage the Named Caller List

Contact Information:

If you require assistance registering or navigating through the ESR Tool please submit an email to esrhelpdesk@us.ibm.com.

For general PA inquiries (North America only) please utilize the expertise of the Passport Advantage (PA) Hotline. The Passport Advantage (PA) Hotline provides expertise to customers, business partners and distributors by delivering the most current PA Program information.

The PA Hotline can be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern, at 800.266.8720 (North America only), or by e-mail at pahotlin@us.ibm.com.

Stella Demopoulos
eCustomer Care Manager/SWG Distributed Software
Phone: 617-693-0305
Tie Line: 693-0305