IBM Lowballs DB2 Express Pricing

The database, which will cost $499 per server plus $99 per named user, takes aim at small and midsize businesses and is available now, IBM said.

A possible $499 price point was first reported in CRN last February. Until Wednesday, the only official price guidance out of IBM was that the database would be less than $1,000 per server.

The newly shipping database can run on single- or two-processor Windows 2000/2003 or Linux boxes although IBM had originally set the processor limit at four, said Jeff Jones, director of strategy for IBM's Data Management Group.

IBM characterized the long-promised DB2 Express (actually IBM DB2 UDB Express) as part of a continuum starting with DB2 Personal Edition for single users at the low end, up through DB2 Workgroup Server Edition for larger departmental use, and beyond that to the enterprise edition.

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DB2 Workgroup Server Edition, which supports various Unix flavors as well as Windows and Linux, is $999 per server plus $249 per user. It scales up to four processors. The Workgroup Server unlimited edition is $7,500 per CPU for unlimited users.

The Express version, IBM insists, is full-bore DB2 without support for clustering or partitioning. For those perks typically demanded by larger companies, users need upgrade to a higher-end version.

DB2 Express joins joins WebSphere Express Portal Server and WebSphere Express Application Server in IBM's Express portfolio.

IBM has said it will add Content Manager Express to the portfolio as well.

With DB2 Express, users and solution providers can take a solution from the low end up through unlimited edition without changing application code, Jones said.

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 standard edition retails for $4,999 per processor for unlimited users (or $4,781 per processor under Microsoft's open license), according to Microsoft's Web site.

IBM is banking that solution providers and ISVs will embed this database into their applications.

Solution providers were pleased with the pricing. "If it were few hundred bucks cheaper, we'd be happy, but this is pretty good," said Sam Fatigato, president of Ascendant Technology, an ISV in Austin, Texas.

"The great thing about the whole Express lineup is that we can show the customer the technology and get some exposure without them having to spend a couple hundred thousand up front. We can start for less than $10,000. We can help people understand the benefit for not much money," he said.