| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 279.1 | Don't count on it | MDVAX1::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Fri Dec 16 1988 15:14 | 5 |
| Oracle seems to use on the car salesman theory. They mark high
and keep coming down until they get the order. We lost a good
opportunity to replace Oracle with Rdb when Oracle discounted below
Rdb prices on a cluster-wide license. I can only imagine what they
would do to attract an OEM.
|
| 279.2 | Oracle has flexible pricing. Check their bid. | DEBIT::DREYFUS | | Fri Dec 16 1988 15:15 | 43 |
| Oracle has high prices and unless challenged will try to get their price.
Most of the time, they aren't challenged to strongly. However, they
also have a great deal of price flexibility. Most of their prices
are negotiated with the customer. Also note, however, that the
discount that they can offer in many situations is limited by their
GSA schedule.
It seems that the federal government doesn't want to pay more than the
private sector for the same product. The GSA schedule sets the terms
and conditions for sale to the feds and thereby sets a floor for the
private sector. If the dollar volume of the private sector sale is greater
than the amount set in the GSA schedule, heavier discounting is allowed.
If Oracle is treating this customer as a VAR, a different price schedule
is used.
You might check to see that Oracle is not violating the GSA schedule.
I have heard reports that Oracle will make a sale at a low price and
then come back to the customer later with some story about GSA schedules
and how the customer can either pay more or return the software. Funny
how this usually happens after the customer has already invested development
time with the system.
The discount that you have specified is usually much greater than Oracle
will go. I have heard 50% discounts. You should check the products
that were included in the bid. Did they sell Oracle 6.0 with TPS or 5.0?
6.0 is the only product comparable to Rdb. Did they sell networking,
precompilers, etc. Could the customer take advantage of runtime licensing.
A common ploy for Oracle is to under-bid the account and then finish the
solution later at an undiscounted price.
Take a look at maintenance costs over a 5 year period. This is not often
included in the bid but can be very illuminating. In studies that
I have done, Oracle maintenance is more than product licensing costs over
5 years - and they don't usually discount maintenance. Our maintenance
costs are a fraction of licensing costs.
Hope this helps. Call with questions.
-- David
dtn 381-2893
|
| 279.3 | list, not dicsounted price | COOKIE::JANORDBY | The government got in again | Fri Dec 16 1988 20:37 | 6 |
|
Remember that Oracle service is based on LIST price, not the price
paid for the software. Over 5 years, the maintenance can actually
be significantly more than the initial cost of the product.
Jamey
|
| 279.4 | They do try | TELGAR::WAKEMANLA | Another Eye Crossing Question! | Fri Dec 16 1988 22:50 | 10 |
| I was working with an SCMP that started talking to Oracle without
asking me. I was able to difuse the issue and Rdb has a good chance
now of being the defacto db. I also know of two OEMs who started
Oracle development and then dropped it in favor of Rdb/SQL. Seems
Oracles Tools and Pre-compilers were not up to their requirements.
Larry
P.S. Before they sign an agreement, they should have a good business
lawyer who understands OEM/VAR business examine the sgreement.
|
| 279.5 | Thanx | CGOS01::GBARNABE | SWS/RZO/Canada "OPRCOM Asseteer" | Sat Dec 17 1988 06:37 | 10 |
| Thank you all very much for this information. Please note that I am in
Canada, and that the customer is the local provincial (ie state) government,
which probably does not have one of those agreements.
I will recomend the above to the OEM. Unfortuneately, they are still learning
what Digital is all about, being a long time Wang OEM.
-- regards,
Guy
|
| 279.6 | GSA smoke and mirrors | DPDMAI::CLEVELAND | Grounded on The Rock | Thu Jan 26 1989 16:27 | 11 |
| Don't be fooled in thinking that Oracle WON'T price below GSA.
When I had the opportunity to watch pricing in action and GSA was
brought up, often the words used were along the line of "If we
structure a ""special"" unique deal (i.e. include 2 pc copies with
the sale or offer consulting services) then it's different than
GSA and we can go low".
Also find out when their end of quarters are. If they are not making
their budget their Sales Mgrs get VERY aggressive with pricing.
They don't want Mr. Gary Kennedy (VP Oracle - EX Sales Mgr Chicago
office) on their rears for low sales volume - they usually don't
have a rear left afterwards.....
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