Did your recent IBM Cognos support bill include a line for IBM Connections part E03VJLL which, in turn, got you wondering, “What the heck is an IBM Connections license? I don’t remember buying this.”

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In July 2014, IBM made massive changes to IBM Cognos BI licensing. Basically, they supersized many of the IBM Cognos BI licenses by adding functionality. You may have seen Lodestar Solutions Videos on this topic, “Decoding the New IBM BI Licensing Structure”. With the changes in July, IBM unbundled what you may have known previously as Collaboration, and later called IBM Connections, from the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence licenses and gave clients one BI part and one IBM Connections part. IBM separated the IBM Connections from the BI after receiving feedback that, though both businessintelligence and collaboration are important to clients, they are typically managed bydifferent IT resources. The IBM Connections license part E03VJLL extends beyond just IBM Cognos and impacts the enterprise.

So what is IBM Connections?

“IBM® Connections brings social networking to the enterprise and helps you to communicate, collaborate, and build strong relationships with others. Stay connected from the office or your mobile device. IBM Connections consists of the following applications: Activities, Blogs, Bookmarks, Communities, Files, Forums, Home page, Metrics, Profiles, and Wikis. Whether you want to share information, build a network of useful contacts, or follow people, there is an application for you.”

To view the latest IBM Connections marketing information, check out http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/conn.

Sounds interesting right? Your next question might be, “What system requirement does IBM Connections have; ergo, do I need WebSphere or Lotus?” It’s best to visit the hardware and software requirements page for IBM Connections on the IBM site http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27042395 since this information is constantly changing. As of today (Feb 2015), it does indicate that WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment 8.5.5 is a prerequisite.

You may now be thinking, “Can we drop support on our IBM Cognos Connections license without penalty?” Find more information regarding that question by referring to this Lodestar blog: https://lodestarsolutions.com/lodestar/?p=3694.

If you have additional questions regarding your IBM Cognos licenses, Lodestar Solutions is here to help. Contact us at Sales@LodestarSolutions.com.