Contents
Key takeawaysHow Broadcom prices CA softwareWhat changed after the acquisitionWhy the MSU baseline mattersA worked renewal exampleWhy the bundle locks at signingHow to run the renewalWhat we have seenWhat to do nextFAQBroadcom prices former CA mainframe software as an MSPS bundle on an MSU metric tied to your IBM capacity. The bundle is fixed once signed, so the baseline, the product list and the escalator all have to be settled before signature.
- One metric, two bills. The MSPS metric maps to the IBM MSU measure on your LPARs, so the same R4HA peak sizes both the IBM MLC bill and the Broadcom contract.
- Uplifts outrun usage. Opening renewal quotes carried a 12 to 30 percent uplift against flat application development MSU consumption across our reviews.
- Baselines are often wrong. Sub capacity reporting errors inflated the baseline in 6 of 10 environments we reviewed, mostly test and development LPARs priced at full capacity.
- Unbundling pays. Removing low value products that were bundled to protect the DevOps tooling cut 10 to 22 percent from the renewals we worked on.
- The shape locks at signing. Additions mid term carry an uplift and removals rarely lower the price, so sizing happens before signature or not at all.
- Ask for the cap. Escalator caps of 3 to 5 percent are negotiable, but Broadcom does not offer them unless you ask and get them in writing.
How does Broadcom price CA mainframe software?
Broadcom sells most former CA mainframe products through MSPS, a portfolio model that puts a defined set of products under one MSU based metric. That metric maps to the IBM Million Service Units measure on your host LPARs, so the capacity figure IBM bills you on also sizes your Broadcom contract.
Multi year terms are the default. Terms of 3 to 5 years open the deeper discount bands, and the Flexible Software Portfolio (FSP) adds swap rights that let you trade between bundled products inside the term. Swap rights are the one mechanism that softens an otherwise fixed bundle, so they belong in the negotiation from the first draft.
What sits inside the MSPS bundle?
The bundle covers five product categories. Each one needs its own sizing question before you accept the quote, because their value to your operations team differs widely.
| Category | Typical products | The sizing question |
|---|---|---|
| Systems management | CA SYSVIEW, CA NetMaster, CA OPS/MVS, automation | Which automation is actually wired into operations today |
| Storage management | CA Disk, CA Vantage, backup and recovery | What the storage team would keep if it paid the bill itself |
| Security | CA ACF2, CA Top Secret, compliance tools | These are load bearing and rarely the negotiable part |
| Database management | CA IDMS, CA Datacom, DB2 tools | Which databases still run, and until when |
| Application development | CA Endevor, CA Easytrieve, developer tools | This is the high value tooling the rest of the bundle shields |
Security and application development are where switching costs are highest. Replacing ACF2 or Top Secret means a security database conversion and a long parallel run, and Endevor sits inside every change process your developers follow. Storage, systems management and older database tools are where retirement candidates usually hide.
How does MSPS differ from Mainframe Consumption Licensing?
Broadcom also offers Mainframe Consumption Licensing (MCL), which prices the whole Broadcom stack on the total hourly MSU consumption of all production z/OS LPARs. The MCL baseline is set from at least 3 and up to 12 months of IBM Sub Capacity Reporting Tool (SCRT) reports.
- Overage. MCL sets a single overage price for the whole stack at contract start, charged when you exceed the baseline.
- True up. The standard true up is annual, and unused MSUs can roll over from one true up period to the next within the term.
- Reporting. You must send monthly Broadcom ISV SCRT reports, version 25.2 or higher, by the 10th day of each month.
MCL suits a shop that expects to add Broadcom products and wants one rate for all of them. MSPS suits a shop with a stable product list. Ask for both priced on the same corrected baseline before you choose.
Negotiating the Mainframe Deal
What changed in Broadcom mainframe pricing after the CA acquisition?
The room to negotiate got smaller and the opening numbers got larger. Opening renewal quotes in our reviews carried a 12 to 30 percent uplift against application development MSU consumption that had not grown at all.
- Narrower discount bands. Legacy CA pricing room shrank by 10 to 25 percent in many renewal cycles, so the discount conversation now starts closer to list price than long standing CA customers remember.
- Higher default escalators. A cap of 3 to 5 percent a year is negotiable, but Broadcom does not offer one unless you ask. That makes the escalator clause the first page to mark up.
What will the Broadcom account team say, and how should you answer?
- "The increase reflects continued investment in the portfolio." Ask for the price broken down by product and by MSU. Put your SCRT history on the table showing flat development consumption, and ask what the uplift is paying for.
- "The best discount needs a five year term." Ask for 3 year and 5 year pricing side by side. Then ask what swap and removal rights come with the longer commitment.
- "It is a portfolio price, so removing a product changes nothing." Ask for the portfolio requoted without the products you named. A bundle price was built from components, and the account team can price it without them.
- "Your MSU figure comes from SCRT, which is the contract measure." Agree, then show the LPARs where the baseline used full capacity while SCRT reported a lower sub capacity value.
- "The escalator is standard." Reply that you sign only with a written cap, and propose 3 percent.
Broadcom enterprise agreements brief
Bundle sizing, term length and escalator terms for Broadcom contracts, including CA mainframe software.
Get the white paper →Why does the MSU baseline decide the price?
Every percentage in the negotiation applies to the baseline, so an inflated baseline inflates everything that follows. Sub capacity reporting errors inflated the baseline in 6 of 10 of the customer environments we reviewed, always in Broadcom's favor.
Two errors came up again and again. Test and development LPARs were charged at full capacity when sub capacity was available, and reported peaks had never been reconciled against what the contract actually entitles. Production LPARs typically did subset correctly to their peak.
The same MSU peak drives the IBM bill and the Broadcom bill, so every point of capacity you take out pays twice.
How do you check your own MSU baseline?
You can rebuild the baseline from data your systems team already collects. Do it before the quote arrives, and do it LPAR by LPAR.
- List every LPAR. Mark each as production, test or development, and note whether it runs any Broadcom product.
- Check that SMF 89 recording is on everywhere. Broadcom product LMP key checks write SMF 89 usage records, and the Broadcom ISV SCRT report depends on them.
- Run the CAISCRT job. Broadcom ships it with Common Components and Services, and it must be run with IBM SCRT, not with modified IBM JCL.
- Read the report correctly. It lists the Broadcom products that ran each month, with versions. Its MSU figures measure z/OS consumption during the hours the product was running, not the resources the product itself used.
- Compare against the quote. Put the SCRT values per LPAR next to the MSUs Broadcom used, and note every LPAR priced at full capacity.
Which capacity changes cut both invoices?
Two changes lower the rolling four hour average (R4HA) peak behind your IBM Monthly License Charge. Defined capacity caps on each LPAR limit how high that peak can go, and retiming batch work out of the peak window lowers it further.
Because the Broadcom position is sized on the same MSUs, both changes cut the Broadcom baseline as well. Do this work first, before either negotiation opens. The IBM side is covered in our mainframe CIO advisory and the MSU reduction guide.
What does a corrected CA renewal look like in numbers?
The example below is hypothetical. Say you pay $2,400,000 a year for an MSPS bundle sized on 2,000 MSUs, and assume the price scales in proportion to baseline MSUs. Broadcom opens the renewal at a 20 percent uplift with flat usage and a 7 percent annual escalator over 5 years.
| Step | What changes | Year 1 price | 5 year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening quote | 20 percent uplift, 2,000 MSUs, 7 percent escalator | $2,880,000 | $16,562,128 |
| Baseline corrected | Test and development LPARs move from 400 MSUs at full capacity to 150 at sub capacity, so the baseline falls to 1,750 | $2,520,000 | n/a |
| Bundle resized | Two low value products removed, worth 12 percent of the price | $2,217,600 | n/a |
| Escalator capped | 7 percent escalator replaced by a 3 percent cap | $2,217,600 | $11,773,540 |
The prepared position costs $4,788,589 less over the term, about 29 percent below the opening quote. The baseline correction alone takes 12.5 percent off every later year, and each percentage Broadcom concedes afterward applies to that smaller figure. An uncorrected baseline carries its error into every year of the term.
Why is the bundle shape fixed at signing?
Once you sign, the bundle only flexes in Broadcom's direction. Adding a product mid term carries a price uplift, and removing one rarely reduces the price. Any product that enters the bundle without review becomes a commitment for the whole term, whether or not anyone runs it.
The only time to size the bundle is before signature. Go category by category, and name the retirement candidates before the quote arrives so they are never in the base you negotiate from.
Why consolidating every CA product into one bundle usually costs more
The usual advice is to put every CA product into a single portfolio because the bigger bundle gets the deeper discount band. We disagree for most mainframe customers.
In the renewals we reviewed, low value products were bundled to protect the high value DevOps tooling, and unbundling them cut 10 to 22 percent. The extra discount from a bigger bundle rarely covers the cost of the products you would otherwise drop. Price the bundle with and without each retirement candidate, and let the difference decide.
How do you size each category before the quote?
- Systems management. Match each automation product to the rules and procedures that still fire in production.
- Storage. Ask the storage team which tools they would pay for from their own budget.
- Database. Put a retirement date on every IDMS and Datacom workload that has one, and price the bundle to that date.
- Security and development. Assume these stay, and negotiate on rate and term for them instead of scope.
How should you run a Broadcom CA mainframe renewal?
Run it as a sequence. Correct the baseline first, then size the bundle, then price the term, and only then discuss discount. Each step changes the number the next one works on, which is why the renewals that went well started months before the quote.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 12 months out | Collect SCRT reports per LPAR and rebuild the MSU baseline. Start capacity work on the R4HA peak. |
| 9 months out | Review each bundle category with its owner and list retirement candidates. |
| 6 months out | Price alternatives: third party support and selective tool retirement. Ask Broadcom for MSPS and MCL on the corrected baseline. |
| 3 months out | Negotiate term length, FSP swap rights and the escalator cap. Mark up the contract terms below. |
| 1 month out | Check the final order form against the agreed baseline, product list and cap before signature. |
Arrive with the alternatives priced. Broadcom responds to a credible walkaway across its portfolio, and a costed plan for third party support or tool retirement gives you one. The wider Broadcom negotiation pattern is covered in our Broadcom audit defense guide.
Which contract terms should you ask for?
- A written escalator cap. Without it the default escalator compounds on every year of the term.
- Baseline definition tied to SCRT sub capacity values per LPAR. This stops test and development LPARs being counted at full capacity at the next renewal.
- FSP swap rights naming the products. You can then retire one tool and adopt another inside the term without a new uplift.
- A preset price for mid term additions. It takes the surprise out of adding a product later.
- A reduction right at each anniversary. Broadcom will not offer it by default, and asking tests how fixed the bundle price really is.
- A hardware change clause. A machine upgrade should not reprice the bundle unless consumed MSUs actually rise.
How should you choose between a 3 and a 5 year term?
A longer term opens the deeper discount band and also fixes the bundle shape for longer. If you plan to retire a database or a storage tool within the term, the 5 year discount may cost more than it saves. Take the longer term only with swap rights and a reduction right attached.
What have we seen in CA mainframe renewals in 2024 and 2025?
Morten Andersen reviewed roughly 20 to 30 Broadcom CA mainframe renewals between 2024 and 2025. Across those renewals the opening uplift ran far ahead of any growth in MSU consumption. The customers who did better had corrected their baseline, settled the product list and priced an alternative before the quote reached them.
The portfolio model does what Broadcom designed it to do. A product by product negotiation becomes one number, low value products sit behind high value ones, and sizing errors become commitments for the full term.
What to do next
- Rebuild the MSU baseline per LPAR. Use SCRT and SMF 89 data and flag every LPAR priced at full capacity.
- Start capacity work on the R4HA peak. Defined capacity caps and batch retiming lower the IBM and Broadcom bills together.
- Review each bundle category with its owner. Name the retirement candidates before Broadcom sends the quote.
- Price the alternatives. Cost third party support and selective retirement so your walkaway is real.
- Mark up the contract. Ask for the escalator cap, FSP swap rights, the baseline definition and a reduction right.
- Get help where you need it. Our Broadcom practice runs CA mainframe renewals with you on a fixed fee.
Frequently asked questions
How does Broadcom price CA mainframe software?
Mostly through the MSPS portfolio model. A defined set of CA products for systems management, storage, security, database and development is licensed under one MSU based metric tied to IBM Million Service Units on the host LPARs. Contracts usually run 3 to 5 years, and the longer terms carry the deeper discount bands.
What did Broadcom change about CA mainframe pricing?
It narrowed the discount room and fixed the product shape. Legacy CA discount bands shrank 10 to 25 percent in many renewal cycles, escalators now default high, and the portfolio is locked at signing. Customers used to renegotiating product by product now face a single bundle price that turns sizing mistakes into commitments for the whole term.
Can you remove products from an MSPS bundle?
You can, but mid term it rarely lowers the price, while adding a product raises it. Remove products at renewal, before signature, and negotiate Flexible Software Portfolio swap rights so you can exchange one bundled product for another inside the term instead of paying for software you retired.
How do you reduce Broadcom CA mainframe costs?
Work in order. Correct the MSU baseline LPAR by LPAR, take out the low value products that shield the high value tooling, cap the escalator in writing, and price third party support or selective retirement as your alternative. Capacity work on the R4HA peak helps too, because it lowers the IBM and Broadcom invoices together.
What is in the MSPS bundle?
Former CA products in five groups: SYSVIEW, NetMaster and OPS/MVS for systems management; CA Disk and Vantage for storage; ACF2 and Top Secret for security; IDMS, Datacom and the DB2 tools for databases; Endevor and Easytrieve for development. Customers rarely leave the development and security tools, and the other groups ride along with them.
Does the IBM MSU peak affect the Broadcom bill?
Yes, directly. The MSPS metric reads the same MSU measure on your LPARs that IBM uses, so the rolling four hour average peak behind your MLC invoice also sizes your Broadcom position. Defined capacity caps and moving batch work out of the peak window reduce both vendors' charges.
What is Broadcom Mainframe Consumption Licensing?
MCL is Broadcom's alternative to product bundles. It prices the whole Broadcom mainframe stack on total hourly MSU use across production z/OS LPARs, with a baseline taken from 3 to 12 months of SCRT reports, one overage rate, an annual true up and roll over of unused MSUs. Because every production z/OS LPAR counts, capacity work on the peak matters even more under MCL.