Authorized SAM Provider (ASP) integrations for IBM

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

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Summary of Authorized SAM Provider (ASP) integrations for IBM

ServiceNow’s Software Asset Management (SAM) publisher pack for IBM enables customers to track and manage IBM licenses across VMware vSphere environments, IBM LPAR infrastructures, and public cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. This is achieved by integrating with Authorized SAM Providers (ASPs) participating in the IBM Client Value Acceleration (CVA) Program, which replaced IBM’s former IASP program as of January 1, 2025.

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This integration allows direct IBM license management without needing IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) or BigFix Inventory, providing a streamlined solution for license compliance and cost optimization.

Key Features

Integration support with authorized ASPs including Anglepoint, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.
Use of the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application from the ServiceNow Store to enable core functionality and license metric tracking.
For Anglepoint integration, an additional specialized application is required to store and manage IBM software data.
Upload and maintain the IBM software discovery catalog from the ASP to enable accurate software identification via ServiceNow Discovery.
Comprehensive software classification and bundling by the ASP, followed by license usage reconciliation using PVU, RVU, and VPC license metrics.
Support for license tracking in public cloud environments through configuration of AWS Config, Azure Alert, or Google Cloud Logging services to auto-update the CMDB.
Reconciliation processes run weekly or on-demand to maintain accurate IBM license positions.
Domain separation support for multi-domain environments to enable domain-specific license reconciliation.

Prerequisites

Participation and prerequisite compliance with the IBM CVA Program.
Installation of the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application and enabling specific SAM properties and plugins (Discovery, File-based Discovery, Domain Support if used).
Downloading and uploading the IBM software discovery catalog from the chosen ASP.
For Anglepoint users, additional installation of Anglepoint’s IBM Licensing application and setup of the Anglepoint Elevate platform.
Configuration of cloud platform services for automatic CMDB updates in public cloud environments.

Practical Outcomes for ServiceNow Customers

Direct management of IBM licensing without reliance on ILMT or BigFix Inventory simplifies compliance and reporting.
Ability to view detailed IBM software usage metrics such as daily peak PVU, RVU, and VPC consumption by device, edition, and region.
Improved license optimization through accurate software classification and bundling done by ASPs, enabling cost-effective license management.
Support for virtualization managers (e.g., VMware vCenter, IBM HMC) to track licenses only on specified virtual machine managers.
Deduplication of IBM software installations across multiple data sources to maintain clean and accurate license data when switching integrations.
Enhanced license calculation accuracy through meta data verification and correction for IBM hosts.

You can track and manage IBM licenses in both VMware vSphere environments and IBM LPAR infrastructures by integrating the Software Asset Management publisher pack for IBM with Software Asset Management providers that are authorized to participate in the IBM Client Value Acceleration (CVA) Program. With these integrations, you can track and manage IBM licensing directly without having to integrate with the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) or BigFix Inventory.

The CVA Program is an invitation-only license verification program that allows clients who contract with Authorized SAM Providers (ASPs) to report on their IBM license usage independently. For more information on the CVA Program, see CVA Program Verification.

Important:

As of January 1, 2025, IBM has withdrawn its IBM Authorized SAM Provider (IASP) Program and replaced it with the CVA Program. If you are an existing IASP Program user, contact your IBM representative to upgrade to the new CVA agreement and migrate to the CVA Program.

The IBM publisher pack supports integrations with the following ASPs:

Anglepoint (through the Anglepoint Elevate platform)
Deloitte
EY
KPMG

To integrate with an ASP, you must request and install the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application from the ServiceNow® Store. This application provides the core functionality and license metrics that are required for tracking and managing IBM licensing directly. If you are integrating with Anglepoint, you must also request and install Anglepoint's IBM Licensing for Software Asset Management application from the ServiceNow® Store. This application enables you to store IBM software information from Anglepoint.

After you install the necessary applications, you must retrieve the IBM software discovery catalog from the ASP that you are integrating with. This catalog, which is maintained separately by each ASP, is a centralized repository of IBM software information that discovery tools, such as the ServiceNow® Discovery application, can use to identify the IBM software that is discovered in your environment. After you retrieve the catalog, you must upload it to your ServiceNow instance.

On successful upload, you can use the ServiceNow Discovery application to run a discovery for your IBM software. The Discovery application uses the uploaded catalog to identify any IBM software that is discovered in your environment. It then sends this data to the ASP for comprehensive software classification and bundling.

After your discovered IBM software is properly classified and bundled, the ASP sends this data back to your ServiceNow® instance. The Software Asset Management application can then use the processor value unit (PVU), resource value unit (RVU), and virtual processor core (VPC) license metrics to reconcile this data so that you can track your IBM software usage and optimize your licensing costs. For more information on the PVU and RVU license metrics, see IBM processor value unit (PVU) and resource value unit (RVU) licenses. For more information on the VPC license metric, see IBM virtual processor core (VPC) licenses.

Prerequisites

Before you can integrate the IBM publisher pack with an ASP, you must complete the following prerequisites:

Complete all prerequisites for participating in the CVA Program. For more information on these prerequisites, refer to the How it works section of CVA Program Verification.
Request and install the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application from the ServiceNow® Store. See Request the IBM License Compliance for Software Asset Management application for Authorized Software Asset Management Provider (ASP) integrations for detailed instructions.
Enable the Use ServiceNow Software Asset Management and Discovery for IBM license compliance (com.snc.samp.ibm.use_samp_ibm_licensing) Software Asset Management property. See Software Asset Management properties for more information on this property.
Activate the Discovery (com.snc.discovery) plugin on your ServiceNow instance. See Request Discovery for detailed instructions.
Activate the File-based Discovery (com.snc.discovery.file_based_discovery) plugin on your ServiceNow instance. See File-based Discovery for more information on file-based Discovery.
Request and install the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store. See Discovery patterns used by ITOM Visibility for more information on Discovery and Service Mapping patterns.
If you want to use domain separation for the integration, activate the Domain Support - Domain Extensions Installer (com.glide.domain.msp_extensions.installer) plugin on your ServiceNow instance. See Domain separation plugin for detailed instructions.
Download the IBM software discovery catalog from the ASP.
If you want to track and manage IBM licensing in public cloud environments, configure one or more for the following services to automatically scan for and update the CMDB with cloud infrastructure changes every 30 minutes:
- For public clouds hosted by AWS, configure the AWS Config service. See Configure AWS Config event notifications for detailed instructions.
- For public clouds hosted by Microsoft Azure, configure the Microsoft Azure Alert service. See Configure the Microsoft Azure Alert service to auto-update the CMDB for detailed instructions.
- For public clouds hosted by Google Cloud Platform (GCP), configure the Google Cloud Logging service. See Configure the Google Cloud Logging service to auto-update the CMDB for detailed instructions.

If you are integrating the IBM publisher pack with Anglepoint, you must also complete these additional prerequisites:

Request and install Anglepoint's IBM Licensing for Software Asset Management application from the ServiceNow® Store. See Request Anglepoint's IBM Licensing for Software Asset Management application for detailed instructions.
Set up the Anglepoint Elevate platform.