① Journal · Broadcom (CA)
Top Secret, the Broadcom (CA) external security manager, gates every access decision on the mainframe, which makes it both essential and sticky. That stickiness is exactly why the renewal is won on the numbers, not on a switching threat: the MSU baseline, the escalator, and the consumption option are where the money actually moves.
Security is sticky. So the baseline is the negotiation.
Top Secret is the Broadcom (CA) external security manager for z/OS and Db2, one of the three external security managers on the platform alongside its sibling CA ACF2 and IBM RACF. It is commonly licensed on mainframe capacity, historically in MIPS and now usually in MSUs, through Broadcom's LMP license keys. Broadcom has also introduced Mainframe Consumption Licensing, which bills against actual MSU consumption rather than a fixed contracted capacity. Because security touches every access decision, it is among the hardest products to displace, and Broadcom knows it.
This matters because the usual displacement lever is weak here, so the renewal is won on the numbers. The contracted MSU baseline sets the floor, and Broadcom's standard annual escalator, commonly in the range of five to seven percent, compounds the cost regardless of any change in use. Since the 2018 CA acquisition, renewal uplifts in the thirty to eighty percent range have been documented across enterprise cases. The buyer who reconciles the baseline, caps the escalator, and models the consumption option holds the position. Read this alongside our Broadcom (CA) support cost escalation piece and the Broadcom (CA) publisher hub.
Top Secret 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 |
| 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 |
| Entitlement scope | The systems and partitions Top Secret is licensed on | Scope to the LPARs it genuinely protects |
| Term structure | The multi year shape and timing of the deal | Align the term to real need, not the vendor calendar |
| Bundle position | Top Secret priced within a wider CA portfolio deal | Value each product so security is not subsidizing others |
Escalator ranges and uplift figures 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 contracted baseline is the floor the whole renewal builds on. If it was set on a peak you no longer drive, or on capacity that has shifted off the protected LPARs, you are paying for headroom that buys nothing. Measure real consumption against the baseline and bring it back to reality before the vendor anchors the next term to the inflated number.
The baseline is the renewal. Get it right first.
A five to seven percent annual escalator is the quiet compounder. On a flat baseline a six percent rate compounds to roughly nineteen percent over three years, a raise nobody approved and nothing in the estate earned. Press for a written cap for the full term so the recurring line stays tied to value rather than to a percentage the vendor sets each year.
An uncapped escalator is a raise on autopilot.
Mainframe Consumption Licensing bills on actual MSUs rather than a fixed contracted capacity, which can favor an estate running well below its baseline. Do not take the model on the pitch. Build the renewal under both fixed capacity and consumption on your real numbers, then choose on cost. A licensing change is a negotiation event, and the buyer who has modeled it holds the position.
Decide the model on math, not on the slide.
Top Secret is often priced inside a wider CA portfolio deal where a sticky security product can quietly subsidize weaker ones. Value each product on its own so the negotiation is honest, and the leverage you hold elsewhere in the portfolio is not spent defending a security line that was never really at risk of moving.
Price each product, do not let one carry the rest.
④ Where the Top Secret number is won
You will not rip out security. So win it on the baseline. Reconcile, cap, 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, through Broadcom's LMP license keys. Broadcom has also introduced Mainframe Consumption Licensing, which bills against actual MSU consumption rather than fixed contracted capacity. Read the exact metric and term from your specific entitlement rather than assume.
The contracted MSU baseline and the annual escalator. The baseline sets the floor, and an escalator commonly in the five to seven percent range compounds regardless of use, roughly nineteen percent over three years at six percent. Reconciling the baseline and capping the escalator are the two largest levers.
Less than with most products. An external security manager gates every access decision, so displacing to RACF or to the sibling CA ACF2 is a real, multi year project. The threat rarely carries weight alone. The stronger position is a clean baseline, a capped escalator, and a modeled consumption option, with any alternative held in reserve.
Confirm the metric and contracted baseline, measure real MSU consumption against it, and model the consumption option both ways. Press for a written escalator cap and reconcile the entitlement against the systems Top Secret actually protects. Start eighteen to twenty four months out. Our Broadcom (CA) cost optimization service runs the full play.
Related: CA 11 licensing · Easytrieve renewals · CA Dispatch renewals · Broadcom (CA) support escalation · Broadcom (CA) publisher hub · Broadcom (CA) cost optimization
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