① Journal · Broadcom (CA)
Easytrieve, the Broadcom (CA) reporting language, follows the same capacity priced renewal as the rest of the CA portfolio. But unlike security or scheduling, it carries a lever the strategic products do not: it is a mature tool whose footprint can often shrink. That changes the negotiation.
Capacity priced, but reducible. The footprint is the negotiation.
Easytrieve Report Generator is the Broadcom (CA) reporting language with a long lineage, from Pansophic to Computer Associates in 1991 to Broadcom in 2018. It is commonly licensed on mainframe capacity, historically in MIPS and now usually in MSUs, activated through Broadcom's LMP license keys, with Mainframe Consumption Licensing available as a usage based alternative. On the surface it renews exactly like the rest of the CA portfolio: a contracted baseline, an annual escalator, and the familiar uplift pressure since the acquisition.
What sets Easytrieve apart is that it is a rationalization candidate. It is a mature reporting language, and over the years much of the reporting it once carried has drifted to newer tools, leaving entitlements larger than the live footprint. That gap is leverage. The buyer who can show exactly how many Easytrieve programs genuinely still run, and what depends on them, walks into the renewal with a real option the vendor cannot dismiss, whether the outcome is a smaller entitlement, a capped renewal, or a managed wind down. Read this alongside our CA Dispatch renewals piece and the Broadcom (CA) publisher hub.
Easytrieve cost drivers · what each one is and the buyer side lever on it · illustrative, not a quote
| Driver | What it is | Buyer side lever |
|---|---|---|
| Contracted MSU baseline | The capacity the license is metered against | Reconcile the baseline to real consumption before signing |
| Live program footprint | How many Easytrieve programs genuinely still run | Inventory active use and right size the entitlement |
| Annual escalator | The yearly increase, commonly five to seven percent | Cap the escalator in writing for the full term |
| Consumption licensing | Mainframe Consumption Licensing billed on actual MSUs | Model fixed capacity against consumption and choose on cost |
| Rationalization path | Reporting already moved or movable to other tools | Plan a wind down on your timeline, not the vendor's |
| Bundle position | Easytrieve priced within a wider CA portfolio deal | Value it on its own so it is not propping up the bundle |
Escalator ranges describe commonly observed Broadcom patterns, not a quote or a guarantee. The exact metric, baseline, and term follow your specific entitlement; treat the basis as something to read from the contract, not assume.
The biggest lever unique to Easytrieve is proving how little of it is still load bearing. Many estates run a fraction of the programs the entitlement implies, with the rest long since migrated or dormant. A clean inventory of active programs and their dependencies turns a vague legacy tool into a measured, right sizeable line, and that measurement is the leverage.
Count what runs. The gap to the entitlement is the lever.
Easytrieve still rides a contracted MSU baseline and a five to seven percent escalator that compounds to roughly nineteen percent over three years at six percent. Bring the baseline back to real consumption and cap the escalator in writing for the full term, so the recurring line stays tied to value rather than to a percentage the vendor sets each year.
Right size the baseline, then cap the climb.
For a tool with a shrinking footprint, Mainframe Consumption Licensing can favor the buyer because it bills on actual MSUs rather than a fixed baseline set in a heavier era. Do not take it on the pitch. Model the renewal under both fixed capacity and consumption on your real numbers, then choose on cost, with the declining usage trend working in your favor.
A shrinking footprint is an argument for consumption.
Because reporting can move off Easytrieve, a managed wind down is a credible option rather than an empty threat. Even where you intend to keep it, the existence of a real, costed migration path changes the renewal dynamic. Plan it on your timeline, not the vendor's, and the conversation shifts from defending an entitlement to choosing whether to keep it.
A costed exit is leverage even when you stay.
④ Where the Easytrieve number is won
Strategic tools you keep. Legacy tools you can measure. Count the footprint, then sign the term.
Typical reduction negotiated on renewal spend
Mainframe spend negotiated on the buyer side
Engagements delivered since 2019
On mainframe capacity, historically in MIPS and now usually in MSUs, activated through Broadcom's LMP license keys, with Mainframe Consumption Licensing available as a usage based alternative. Read the exact metric and term from your specific entitlement rather than assume.
The contracted MSU baseline and the annual escalator, the same as the rest of the CA portfolio. But Easytrieve adds a lever the strategic products lack: its footprint can shrink. Quantifying how much reporting genuinely still runs in Easytrieve versus what has moved on is frequently the largest single lever.
Often yes. Many estates run far fewer active Easytrieve programs than the entitlement implies. A clear inventory of what genuinely depends on it gives real leverage, whether the outcome is a smaller entitlement, a capped renewal, or a managed wind down on your timeline rather than the vendor's.
Inventory active programs and what depends on them, measure real MSU consumption against the baseline, model the consumption option, and press for a written escalator cap. Start eighteen to twenty four months out so any reduction or wind down is planned on your timeline. Our Broadcom (CA) cost optimization service runs the full play.
Related: CA Panvalet licensing · Top Secret renewals · CA Dispatch renewals · Broadcom (CA) support escalation · Broadcom (CA) publisher hub · Broadcom (CA) cost optimization
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