IBM software · Databases
Transactions, analytics and vectors in one database.* Your price in one business day.
For the teams who run the core business systems: IBM Db2, sized to your cores and workloads by our engineering team and priced before you commit.
One of our engineers replies within one business day.
The IBM support date to plan around.
Db2 11.5 base support ends April 30, 2027; extended support runs to April 30, 2031.
Planning the move to Db2 12.1? We take your license count first, edition by edition, so you know the number before you order.
IBM states the dates for every Db2 11.5 edition except Db2 Base Edition, whose base support ended September 30, 2025.
Source: IBM’s Db2 Distributed end of support (EOS) dates, modified January 22, 2026, opened October 23, 2026.
Plan. We look at what you run today and agree the order of work with you. Our engineering team, with IBM Expert Labs (formerly IBM Lab Services).
One of our engineers replies within one business day.
What Db2 12.1 adds to your database.
- It keeps vectors beside your transactions, with similarity search in SQL.
- It tunes its own performance, with AI that analyzes your workloads.
- It runs more than three HADR standbys across regions.
The Db2 you run today may be serving you well. This is what 12.1 adds.
We size it with you. You see your price first, within one business day.
AI inside the database.
Vectors where the data lives.
IBM says Db2 combines transactional, analytical and vector data in a single platform. Db2 12.1.5 adds DiskANN vector indexing for similarity search, semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation.
Embeddings in SQL.
Two new SQL functions, TO_EMBEDDING and TEXT_GENERATION, generate embeddings and text inside the database, from models registered from watsonx.ai or OpenAI-compatible engines.
Tuning it does itself.
IBM says Db2’s AI-powered optimization continuously analyzes workloads, recommends improvements and automates performance tuning.
Source: IBM’s Db2 page, opened October 23, 2026.
Three of IBM’s own figures.
More than three standbys.
Db2 12.1.5 runs HADR with more than three standbys across regions, with dedicated reporting standbys and cascading HADR.
Up to 45% faster updates.
IBM says mod pack updates on Linux run up to 45% faster in Db2 12.1.5, based on its internal testing.*
Up to 128 vCPUs as SaaS.
Db2 SaaS on IBM Cloud, Performance plan: from 4 vCPUs and 50 GB, up to 128 vCPUs and 40 TB of storage with 196K IOPS, compute and storage scaled independently.
* IBM’s words and figures. “Combines transactional, analytical and vector data in a single platform” is from IBM’s Db2 page. The 45% is IBM’s internal testing of Db2 12.1.5 mod pack updates on Linux, as IBM’s announcement of June 25, 2026 states it; IBM gives no further conditions. The SaaS sizes are from IBM’s Db2 pricing page. All read October 23, 2026.
Source: IBM’s Db2 page, opened October 23, 2026.
Count the cores first.
IBM offers Db2 12.1 in three AI editions: Community, free, up to 4 CPU cores and 16 GB of memory; Standard, up to 16 cores and 128 GB; Advanced, with no limit. IBM’s pricing page lists the license metric as VPC. We count your cores with you, edition by edition, before you order.
Three more databases we offer.
IBM Informix, with an install footprint IBM says can be 100 MB or less, from small devices to servers. MongoDB Enterprise Advanced with IBM. SingleStore with IBM, with IBM as one source of procurement and support.
Source: IBM’s Db2 page, opened October 23, 2026.
What you get.
If you run the databases.
You get HADR with more than three standbys across regions, schema changes on column-organized tables without downtime, and mod pack updates IBM measured up to 45% faster.* Our engineering team plans the 12.1 move with you.
If you build the applications.
You get vectors, similarity search and embeddings in SQL, beside the transactions your applications already write. Models register from watsonx.ai or OpenAI-compatible engines. Our engineering team sets it up beside yours.
If you are the CIO.
You get one plan for the Db2 11.5 date, April 30, 2027: the edition, the core count and where it runs, on premises or as SaaS. Pay only for what you need. See your price first, within one business day.
You have real choices. Here is each one, plainly.
Keep the Db2 you have.
Nothing to buy. Nothing to move. What Db2 12.1 adds will still be here when you are ready. IBM’s base support for most 11.5 editions runs to April 30, 2027.
Buy from IBM itself.
IBM sells directly to fewer than about 100 companies and organizations in the United States. Everyone else buys through an IBM Business Partner. So the real choice is which partner.
Buy through another IBM Business Partner.
Same IBM software. Same IBM programs. Ask three things: who counts your cores, how soon you see the price, and who is with you through the upgrade.
Choose a different database.
Right when your team already runs it everywhere. Compare three things: vectors beside your transactions, HADR standbys across regions, and AI that tunes performance for you.
Use your cloud provider’s managed database.
Right when everything you run lives in that one cloud. Db2 runs there too: IBM offers Db2 SaaS on AWS, and Amazon RDS for Db2 takes your own license.
Buy it through us.
You get the same IBM software. And you get our engineering team: we count your cores with you, show you your price first, and stay with you through the upgrade and support.
IBM builds Db2. We size it with you.
You see your price first.
Tell us what you’re after. One business day later you have a price, sized to fit, with nothing in it you don’t need.
Our engineering team owns it.
The engineers who size it set it up and stay through support. IBM Business Partner since 2008, 29 of 29 IBM proficiencies, one team the whole way.
It is our pleasure to meet you.
230 briefing centers in 113 cities. Pick one; one of our engineers brings the coffee. Or meet us online.
Our engineering team sizes Db2 to your workloads, picks the edition and the deployment that fit, gets the licensing right, then sets it up and supports it.
It would be our pleasure to size yours.
How our engineering team delivers
Get it running.
Our engineering team, with IBM Expert Labs (formerly IBM Lab Services)
Plan.
We look at what you run today and agree the order of work with you. Delivered remotely.
Build.
We design it, install it and move your workloads across, then hand it over working. Delivered remotely.
Stay connected.
After go-live, IBM’s specialists stay on call beside our IBM engineers.
One statement of work and one invoice, from us.
One of our engineers replies within one business day.
The proof.
IBM’s published results
Source: IBM’s Db2 page, opened October 23, 2026.
Our trusted and valued customers are shown on our home page. It is our privilege to work for them. See our customers
We would rather tell you now. Db2 is not the fit if the application your 11.5 database serves retires before April 30, 2027, or if what you need is a data warehouse for analytics and BI rather than a database for core business systems. For that, ask us about Netezza. See IBM Netezza
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Software: IBM Db2
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Our engineering team, with IBM Expert Labs (formerly IBM Lab Services).
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Pay only for what you need. See your price first, within one business day.
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