Before You Patch Your IBM System… Are You Legally Entitled To?

Does Your Business Make a Habit of Breaking Licensing Agreements?

It may sound dramatic but if you’ve moved IBM support to a Third Party Maintenance (TPM) provider and continued to download or apply updates, patches or firmware without an active IBM contract, you could already be in breach.

If you have moved to a TPM you may well have been told to download all the available updates before your contract with IBM expires. However, the IBM Maintenance Agreement states:

"Customer's right to upgrade to a new version, release or update may only be exercised during the Software Maintenance Period and expires at the end of the Period if Software Maintenance is not renewed."

So, whether you’ve already moved your IBM maintenance to a TPM or are considering it, here’s what they likely haven’t disclosed and what you may already be missing or will miss without IBM support:

❌ No Upgrade Protection
You lose the right to IBM OS upgrades. Without a current IBM SWMA, you won’t receive licence keys for newer releases and legally, you can’t apply any upgrade post-support expiry even if you have downloaded the software beforehand.

❌ No Legal Access to Fixes or Updates
PTFs (IBM i) and TLs (AIX) are only available under active maintenance. No active IBM support means no legal access to download or apply past patches, present patches or future patches regardless of availability on Fix Central.

❌ Licence Transfer Restrictions
Planning a hardware refresh? Without IBM Software Maintenance (SWMA), your existing software licences may be non-transferable. You’ll likely have to repurchase your software stack.

❌ Reactivation Penalties
Want to return to IBM SWMA later? Be prepared for after licence charges up to 2.5x the standard annual fee.

If you’ve downloaded firmware, microcode, or OS updates while not covered by IBM contracts, you may already be in breach of licence terms. Just because you can download and apply updates doesn’t mean you’re legally entitled to do so.

(See "Supporting Legal Detail" at the end for IBM's contractual language.)

It’s not just the software side that suffers. Here’s what you’re getting when hardware support is back with IBM:

✅ IBM-Trained Engineers
Only IBM can train engineers on the latest architecture. TPMs lack up-to-date knowledge and access to proprietary diagnostic tooling, which can delay or compromise service delivery. And they often use Intel engineers that lack real IBM experience.

✅ Genuine, In-Country IBM Spares
IBM no longer holds all parts centrally in Europe; they are now stocked in-country and regionally positioned near key customer sites.

✅ Advanced Monitoring Tools
IBM’s proprietary predictive tools automatically identify which parts are required before failures occur. These are not available to TPMs, which can mean more guesswork, slower fixes, and longer outages.

✅ Firmware & Microcode Access
Some firmware and microcode updates require entitlement keys for download. Even those that don’t still require an active IBM maintenance agreement for full and legal entitlement. The only way to ensure your firmware level is always in line with your patching strategy is to have IBM HWMA.

Our Exclusive Offer: Reinstatement Without the Penalties

As with all markets, buying hardware and software maintenance has matured. In today’s environment, buying IBM Hardware and Software Maintenance at a realistic price point is very often more cost-effective than a TPM bundle, yet most customers never see a properly benchmarked IBM quote.

So what’s the fix? Baby Blue is working directly with IBM to offer a reinstatement amnesty programme for businesses who want to return to manufacturer support:

• ✅ No after licence penalties
• ✅ Full IBM Software and Hardware Maintenance reinstated
• ✅ A better commercial model than your current TPM
• ✅ Hardware + Software support, combined, with one accountable partner

The Bottom Line

In a world of rapidly evolving cyber threats and with compliance and regulation advancing to meet that threat, you simply can’t afford to cut corners on hardware maintenance. Lower-grade support brings higher risk. Sub-par third-party delivery models not only increase risk, they can also often hide it.

Baby Blue can help you return to full IBM cover, without the usual cost barriers and likely at a lower total cost than you're paying today for third-party.

📞 Let’s talk. You might be surprised how easy (and affordable) it is to get back on solid ground.

Supporting Legal Detail:

• IBM grants access to "the most current commercially available version, release, or update" during the SWMA period only. [Source: IBM TSA - Z126-8668]
• Firmware and microcode updates must be downloaded using entitled access, which is valid only under active SWMA. [Source: IBM GTMS - Z126-8565]
• IBM Fix Central requires legal entitlement to access firmware and PTFs. Access is restricted to systems covered by an active Hardware Maintenance Agreement (HWMA) for firmware, or an active Software Maintenance Agreement (SWMA) for software fixes like PTFs. Entitlement is validated using your IBM ID linked to a current support contract. If no entitlement is found, access can be blocked. [Source: IBM Fix Central Access Policy]