IBM is adding a variety of features to the next version of its DB2 relational database, due for release in November. But it"s also boosting the price of the enterprise edition of the software.
IBM officials this week disclosed that Version 8 of DB2 Universal Database will ship Nov. 21 for Unix, Linux and Windows systems (see story). As part of the rollout, they said, IBM plans to consolidate its DB2 Enterprise Edition and DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition packages into one offering priced at $25,000 per CPU -- $5,000 more than the company now charges for the base version of the software.
In addition, database clustering support will now be sold as an add-on feature costing $7,500 per CPU. Clustering is currently included in the extended version of the enterprise edition.
IBM isn"t just raising prices: The per-CPU cost for the workgroup version of DB2 will be cut from $14,000 to $7,500, the company said. And IBM officials pointed to new functionality that"s coming in Version 8 in an attempt to justify the price increases at the enterprise level.