Re: "Have you seen the forms?"
"The most interesting thing I find is that there isn't a dollar quote anywhere to be seen."
At this level of hardware, there's no such thing as a MSRP or (car analogy) a window sticker price. The price is whatever the sales team thinks they can get out of you.
Sure, there are other variables, like how far they are from hitting quarterly sales goals or escallator clauses, but it comes down to what they can wrangle out of you.
I haven't dealt with IBM sales, but I've experienced it in other industries. Sales team shows up on site, each of them wearing a suit that cost more than my car, and then the negotiations begin.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
