IBM Store · Set up with IBM
Set up with IBM. We do it with you.
Before IBM fills an order, your company is set up with IBM: a customer number, a Passport Advantage site, sometimes a cloud account. You never need any of it to receive your price. We find each number with you, or set it up, before you order.
The numbers IBM uses, and where they live
Your IBM Customer Number (ICN) is how IBM knows your company. The IBM Support site asks for it when someone at your company requests support access, and an administrator on your account approves the request.
Your Passport Advantage site number belongs to your company's site in Passport Advantage Online, IBM's portal where authorized users download software, renew IBM Software Subscription and Support, manage entitlements and view reports. Your site's Primary Contact approves access and can list every contact on the site under Account management.
Your site's Administrative Contact receives Proofs of Entitlement and renewal notices, and IBM also sends electronic Proofs of Entitlement to your IBM Business Partner when you obtain new licenses or renew. If a number is not handy, that is fine. We find it with you.
Source: IBM Support: Managing Your Support Account Access (modified April 16, 2025); IBM: Passport Advantage Online for Customers; IBM: Passport Advantage Key Contacts, opened October 25, 2026.
Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express, in plain words
IBM describes Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express as programs that use a common set of agreements, processes and tools. Under Passport Advantage, a company can acquire and renew IBM software licenses, IBM Software Subscription and Support, cloud services and appliances.
Passport Advantage is the program a company enrolls in. IBM says enrollment brings better pricing, one annual renewal anniversary date for software, and several company sites gathered under one agreement number. Enrollment is a form returned to an IBM Business Partner or IBM, or an online enrollment with an IBMid.
Passport Advantage Express runs under its own agreement, the IBM Passport Advantage Express Agreement, and IBM describes a path for moving Express entitlements into Passport Advantage later. Which route fits your company, and exactly what Express covers for your order, we confirm with IBM for you.
Source: IBM: Passport Advantage / Passport Advantage Express Overview; IBM: Passport Advantage Program Overview; IBM: How to Enroll in Passport Advantage; IBM: Passport Advantage Express Agreements (modified January 9, 2026), opened October 25, 2026.
Already buying IBM through another partner?
Moving your Passport Advantage site to First Light is done with IBM, and we do it with you. We confirm IBM's current steps for your site and prepare the paperwork, so your part is a signature from the right contact.
Your licenses, entitlements and renewal dates stay yours throughout. IBM's pages name your site's Primary Contact and Administrative Contact as the people who authorize changes to the account, so we work with them from the first call.
Source: IBM: Passport Advantage Key Contacts, opened October 25, 2026.
Cloud account IDs and marketplace offers
On IBM Cloud, your account ID is under Manage > Account > Account settings in the IBM Cloud console. On AWS, your account ID is a 12-digit number.
IBM software is listed on AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace and Google Cloud Marketplace. IBM says its Azure offerings suit customers who want to draw down their Microsoft spend commitment, and that IBM technology on Google Cloud Marketplace can apply committed Google Cloud spend.
Each marketplace has private offers made out to your account. On AWS, the seller creates a private offer for the AWS account you designate, and the seller of record can be a channel partner. Azure's multiparty private offers are sold through a channel partner or reseller. On Google Cloud, for a channel private offer the reseller creates a sub-billing account for you to accept the offer.
Which route IBM offers for your product and your account, we confirm with you before you order.
Source: IBM Cloud Docs: Managing IBM Cloud account settings (last updated October 23, 2026); AWS: View AWS account identifiers; IBM and AWS Partnership; IBM and Microsoft Partnership; IBM and Google Cloud; AWS Marketplace: Private offers in AWS Marketplace; AWS Marketplace: Private offers page; Microsoft Learn: Private offers in Azure Marketplace; Google Cloud Marketplace: Accept a private offer from a vendor, opened October 25, 2026.
We align it with IBM for you. It's part of the price.
You bring your cart. We review it, then align your IBM account: for a new customer, we set it up with IBM; for an existing one, we confirm your site and its designation.
We file the deal registration, and you have your price within one business day. Nothing here asks you to learn IBM's systems. It is our pleasure to do it with you.
Nobody needs a number to get a price; if one is not handy, we find it with you.
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