Mainframe software provider ASG has announced a new way of licensing its products to save customers the uncertainty of traditional pricing plans.

Under ASG's Enterprise Software License program, users can access present and future software offerings at a site for a flat fee. The aim of the plan is to save customers the time, frustration and resulting "common headaches among data centers trying to keep up with ever-changing environments," according to an ASG statement.

The pricing plan offers customers savings in the cost per unit as capacity increases. For example, a site with 100 MIPS (million instructions per second) of capacity would pay $519,660 for three years access to all current and future ASG products. By comparison, a site with 1000 MIPS would pay $998,434 for the same package.

In addition, a yearly usage fee would be charged based solely upon the portion of the processor used by the product, the company said.

Based in Naples, Fla., ASG has offered software and services for the S/390 since 1986 in the areas of Enterprise Operation Management, Enterprise Application Management and business intelligence.