① Commercial · Rocket Software
Rocket typically licenses against the total MIPS and MSU capacity of every system its software touches, including systems coupled into the environment. Every upgrade, every sysplex change, every inherited contract definition moves the bill. We realign the licensed capacity with what you actually run.
Capacity definitions, not consumption, decide what Rocket costs you.
Rocket Software's portfolio grew through decades of acquisitions: ASG Technologies in 2021, then the former Micro Focus Application Modernization and Connectivity business from OpenText, a $2.275 billion deal closed in 2024. Much of the mainframe line is licensed on capacity, and Rocket's standard terms typically define that capacity broadly: the total MIPS rating of all systems where the software is installed or operating, including systems coupled into or accessing the licensed environment.
That definition is where spend leaks. DR machines, dev and test LPARs, and coupled systems can fall inside the licensable footprint without anyone deciding they should. Verification clauses commonly require annual declarations of peak and average usage backed by SCRT and RMF data, so the vendor's picture of your capacity is current even when your contract terms are decades old, written by companies that no longer exist. The mismatch between modern reporting and inherited language is the optimization opportunity, and the audit risk. Observers have reported increased Rocket compliance attention since the acquisitions; Rocket Audit and Compliance Reviews: What to Expect covers that side.
Rocket, ASG, and Micro Focus era agreements indexed into one capacity picture: which products, which metric, which machines, which definitions. Inherited paper rarely matches the current estate, in either direction.
Independent reconciliation of where Rocket products actually run and at what peak and average MIPS and MSU, validated against SCRT and RMF data before any declaration reaches the vendor.
Coupled system language, DR and dev test scope, and full machine versus LPAR capacity terms renegotiated to match how modern estates actually operate. A definition change typically outlasts any discount.
Rocket offers flexible licensing models in the patterns we observe post acquisition. We model each against your trajectory, capacity based, usage based, or term structures, so metric selection is your decision backed by numbers, not the vendor's default. Background: MSU explained and MIPS explained.
Findings convert into contract language at the renewal table: capacity caps, scope carve outs, and declaration procedures that protect you next cycle. Renewals of inherited agreements get the full treatment in Rocket Software Renewal After the Micro Focus Acquisition.
Mainframe spend negotiated across the seven major publishers
Engagements delivered since 2019
Typical renewal reduction when capacity findings reach the table
Audit notice or renewal under 18 months out? We mobilize within 48 hours.
Rocket commonly licenses mainframe products against total system capacity: the MIPS or MSU rating of every system where the software is installed or operating, which in standard terms can include systems coupled into or accessing the licensed environment. That makes the licensed footprint definition, not just your workload, the primary cost driver.
Capacity based licensing reprices when rated capacity grows, even if the Rocket products' actual usage is flat. An upgrade to a larger machine typically raises the licensable MIPS or MSU figure across every capacity licensed product on that machine. The optimization question is whether the contract ties cost to rated capacity, to LPAR capacity, or to something you can control.
Rocket's standard terms typically allow it to request verification including peak and average MIPS or MSU usage for the prior year, SCRT reports, and RMF partition data. Because that reporting establishes your billable position, we validate it independently before it goes to the vendor, the same discipline we apply in Rocket Software audit defense.
Yes. Rocket closed its $2.275 billion acquisition of OpenText's Application Modernization and Connectivity business, the former Micro Focus portfolio, in 2024, after acquiring ASG Technologies in 2021. Agreements written by predecessor companies are now renewing on Rocket paper, and observers have reported increased compliance attention as Rocket maps what customers run. Inherited terms deserve review before they renew.