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## 1.3.1 IBM Storage Utility Offerings 

The IBM 2078 Model U5A is the IBM Storwize V5030 with a three-year warranty, to be used in the Storage Utility Offering space. These models are physically and functionally identical to the Storwize V5030 model 324 with the exception of target configurations and variable capacity billing. The variable capacity billing uses IBM Spectrum Control™ Storage Insights to monitor the system usage, which allows allocated storage usage above a base subscription rate to be billed per TB, per month. 

Allocated storage  is identified as storage that is allocated to a specific host (and unusable to other hosts), whether data is written or not. For thin-provisioning, the data that is written is considered used . For thick provisioning, total allocated volume space is considered used. 

IBM Storage Utility Offerings include several IBM storage products. For more information these products, see this website. 

IBM Storage Utility Offering models enable a variable capacity usage and billing. These models provide a fixed total capacity, with a base and variable usage subscription of that total capacity. IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights is used to monitor the system capacity usage. It is used to report on capacity used beyond the base subscription capacity, which is referred to as variable usage . The variable capacity usage is billed on a quarterly basis. This enables customers to grow or shrink their usage, and pay for configured capacity only. 

IBM Storage Utility Offering models are provided for customers who can benefit from a variable capacity system, where billing is based on actual provisioned space above the base. The base subscription is covered by a three-year lease that entitles the customer to use the base capacity at no additional cost. If storage needs increase beyond the base capacity, usage is billed based on the average daily provisioned capacity per TB, per month, on a quarterly basis. 

## Example 

A customer has a Storwize V5030 utility model with 2 TB nearline disks, for a total system capacity of 48 TB. The base subscription for such a system is 16.8 TB. During the months where the average daily usage is below 16.8 TB, there is no additional billing. 

The system monitors daily provisioned capacity and averages those daily usage rates over the month term. The result is the average daily usage for the month. 

If a customer uses 25 TB, 42.6 TB, and 22.2 TB in three consecutive months, Storage Insights calculates the overage as follows (rounding to the nearest terabyte) as listed in Table 1-7. 

<img src='content_image/998198.jpg'>

The capacity that is billed at the end of the quarter is a total of 39 TB-months in this example. 

Disk expansions (2076-24F for the Storwize V7000 and 2078-24F for the Storwize V5030) can be ordered with the system at the initial purchase, but cannot be added through MES. The expansions must have like-type and capacity drives, and must be fully populated. 

