① Guide · Software AG
You do not have to leave Adabas to negotiate it. The credible alternative, the usage baseline, and the deal structure all create leverage while you stay exactly where you are. Here is how to use them.
The migration threat is real. It does not have to be imminent.
Adabas and the Natural application language are among the oldest, most deeply embedded systems on the mainframe, frequently running core transactional workloads that the business cannot afford to disrupt. That depth is exactly why renewal conversations feel one sided: everyone in the room knows a migration is a multi year program with real risk, so the vendor assumes the buyer will pay rather than move. The assumption is what you negotiate against.
As of January 2025, Adabas and Natural operate as a standalone business under Software GmbH, backed by Silver Lake, with a stated multi year commitment to the products and a roadmap aimed well into the future. A focused, investor backed owner can be disciplined about renewal value, which means the buyer side work of baselining usage and building credible leverage matters more, not less.
Adabas and Natural are commonly licensed on a machine capacity basis tied to the MSU or MIPS rating of the systems they run on, often under enterprise agreements written years ago. Because the metric tracks capacity, a hardware refresh can lift the renewal even when database and application use is flat. The good news is that leverage does not require a migration. It requires a believable one, plus a clean baseline and the right deal structure.
A documented, properly costed migration analysis, scope, effort, risk, and timeline, is the single strongest lever. It does not commit you to anything. It establishes the ceiling above which staying stops making sense, and the vendor has to price beneath it.
Match the licensed entitlement to the capacity Adabas and Natural actually run on and use. Where a hardware refresh lifted the metric without lifting the workload, that gap is recoverable and becomes an early correction in the renewal.
Modules, add on products, and environments that are licensed but no longer used are identified and removed from the renewal base. Long lived enterprise agreements commonly accumulate entitlement the estate quietly retired.
The renewal is sequenced so the deadline pressure does not all sit on your side. Starting 18 months out, with evidence ready, converts a vendor timed deadline into a negotiation you can pace.
The renewal is locked with a capacity cap, uplift limits, and exit and transfer rights, so the next refresh does not reset the baseline and a future migration, if it ever comes, is not contractually penalized.
20 to 35% off the opening number. No migration required.
With a costed migration analysis, a corrected capacity baseline, and a rationalized scope, the renewal stops resting on the assumption that you have no choice. Across our engagements, buyer side preparation commonly recovers 20 to 35 percent against the opening position, and it does so while the estate stays exactly where it is. The credible alternative does the work; you never have to execute it.
To take this into a live renewal, see Software AG renewal advisory and the Software AG hub. For the product mechanics, the Adabas licensing page covers the metric in detail, and using competitive alternatives as leverage covers how to make a walk away believable across any publisher.
No. Leverage comes from a credible, costed migration you may never run, from right sizing scope to actual use, and from deal timing and structure. The walk away has to be believable, not imminent.
Commonly on a machine capacity basis tied to the MSU or MIPS rating of the systems they run on, often under long standing enterprise agreements. A hardware refresh can lift the renewal even when use is flat, which is why baselining comes first.
Adabas and Natural became a standalone business in January 2025 under Software GmbH, backed by Silver Lake, committed to the products. A focused owner can be disciplined on value, which makes buyer side baselining and leverage more important, not less.
18 months out. A migration analysis, usage baseline, and scope rationalization take time, and the leverage only exists if it is ready before the vendor controls the clock.