Marketing Bulletin No. 93
June 21, 2000  
User Level and Pricing ChangesAs was previously announced, Niakwa has changed the pricing of the NPL RunTime Package Software (Gold Keys). This marketing bulletin describes those changes. The following changes are reviewed: Additional sections in this Marketing Bulletin include: Authorized NPL Distributors have been sent updated NPL Quick Price List(s) reflecting new prices effective July 1, 2000. As you review the Quick Price List and this Marketing Bulletin, you will notice that the increases are not as severe as we originally announced. In addition, we have done our best to minimize the increase of the prices for the most popular RunTimes (Windows low-end groups.) While Product Groups 1 and 3 no longer appear on the Quick Price List, the associated products can be made available on a special order basis. We’ve changed the NPL user groups based on numerous requests from our Resellers. Now NPL User Groups will better match those of Microsoft, Novell, SCO, and others. The new user breaks are at 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, and unlimited (or site license.) Because NPL RunTimes are priced on a per user basis, the price of a 5-User RunTime will naturally reflect a higher price than a 4-User RunTime. While the per user price has not actually increased, there are now 25% more users supported than the former 4-User RunTime, thus the increased price. But you will also see later that the price has not necessarily increased 25%. (See the detailed examples on the following page.) In addition, we have tried to minimize the impact of the user count changes at the low-end by adding a 3-User RunTime to Groups 3, 4 & 5. The following additional platforms have been added to the product Groups: Group 2 (Windows 3.11, 95, 98*) Group 4 (Windows 3.11, 95, 98*, NT, 2000*, and Terminal Server Editions*) Group 5 (SCO Open Server UNIX)
* Supported in Release V only. Note: While Group 2 will currently operate on an NT network, Group 4 will be the recommended RunTime for NT when Release 5.1 (IP Only support) is released. Group 2 was never intended for NT support, but rather for very low-end peer-to-peer NetBIOS networks such as Netware Lite and LANtastic. It will still be possible to operate NT as a peer-to-peer NetBIOS network using a Group 2 RunTime. We have minimized the impact of the price increase for the most popular Gold Keys, those for 10 users and less. In addition, we have added a new 3-User Gold Key to Groups 3, 4, and 5 to lesson the impact of the discontinuance of the 4-User Gold Key. The former 4 and 8 User Gold Keys have been replaced with 5 and 10 User Gold Keys respectively, thereby adding 25% more value to the product. The price for the new 5 and 10 User Gold Keys reflects the increase in value of the additional users, but we kept the actual price increase to a minimum. [Examples were included in the printed version of the Marketing Bulletin] Existing RunTimes of the old user levels 4, 8, 16, etc, can still be upgraded to a higher NPL Revision Level (ex: 4.x to 5.x) without increasing the users to the “new” user levels of 5, 10, 15, etc. It is the customer’s and reseller’s option whether to add the additional users at that time. Upgrade pricing policies will remain unchanged. If additional users are added at the same time as the revision level upgrade, the difference in price between the higher count RunTime and the lower count RunTime will also apply, at the then current pricing. While upgrades to the same or higher user levels are allowed, downgrades to a smaller user level are not allowed. For example, a 4-User can be upgraded to a 5-User, but not a 3-User. A 25-User can be upgraded to a 50 or 100-User, but not a 15-User. The standard formula of difference in price plus the Exchange Fee applies. Note: In most cases, the additional users can be added via a new Registration (or BUMP) code, eliminating the need to replace Gold Keys and making for a much faster transaction. The new user level RunTimes are available now should you wish to order before July 1st. The prior user level RunTimes (1, 4, 8, etc.) can be ordered up through June 30, 2000. After that date, only revision level upgrade orders and replacements of existing RunTimes will be honored for old user levels. For any additional pricing questions, please contact Niakwa via email at sales@niakwa.com, or your authorized Niakwa Distributor.
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