Find the answers to the most common technical questions about the Academic Initiative program.
Common questions
Q: What type of technical support is included in this program?
A: Limited support is provided for the products on our software brand pages. We provide self-help through these FAQs and our Rational support pages. We encourage you to use the forums on these pages to get quick answers to your technical questions.
Academic Initiative members can request technical support, which we answer on a best-effort basis.
Q: Can I make copies of the offerings?
A: Academic Initiative members may make copies for eligible academic use including teaching. learning and non-commercial research. The offerings may not be distributed to others who are not involved in your teaching or research. For more information, read the Software Usage Guidelines.
Q: What is considered "eligible academic use"?
A: Offerings provided through the IBM Academic Initiative may be used for teaching, learning and non-commercial research. The offerings may be used in lecture notes, presentations and assignments for courses taught at a accredited institution. Refer to our Software Usage Guidelines for specific restrictions that apply to certain products.
Non-commercial research is research whose results will be published in the public domain and not provided exclusively to the sponsoring organization. If research results are the exclusive property of a specific organization, this is considered "research for hire" and not non-commercial research. If the results are to be published in conference proceedings or technical journals, the use would be acceptable.
For more information, read the Software Usage Guidelines.
Q: What software can I download?
A: Academic Initiative members can download software, such as selected middleware and developer products including Rational, WebSphere, Information Management, Lotus and Tivoli software at no charge. A few additional products are available by CD only. Go to our Get software page to download software or request CDs.
Q: Is there a limit to how many products I can download and use?
A: There is no limit to what you can download from the Academic Initiative site. You may download any of the products in the Software Catalog as many times as you want. A few additional products are available by CD only. Visit our Get software page for more information.
Q: Can I request a product on CD? How long does it take to receive?
A: Most products are available only by download and a few additional products are available only on CD. We do not offer a CD/DVD that contains all of the available software. You can request the products that are offered on CD on our Get software page.
Most CDs are shipped the next day. Your country might have customs regulations which delay the receipt of a CD. If you have questions regarding your request or would like to know if your CD was shipped, you can email our software delivery team for an update.
Q: What are the optimal system settings for downloading software?
A: Access to a high-speed communication line will decrease the amount of time it takes to download most of the software, and sufficient disk space to store the files will be necessary.
To prevent download errors, ensure that you have pop-up blockers disabled. In some cases, JavaScript has caused errors. To turn off JavaScript, open Internet Explorer, click on 'Tools', then 'Internet Options', click on the 'Advanced' tab, and check the box entitled 'Disable script debugging' under the 'Browsing' category.
Q: Which of the following two methods should I use to download software: Download Director or HTTP transfer?
A: The preferred method of download is the Download Director. Download Director allows you to download one or many software files at once, with the ability to pause or resume the download. HTTP transfer only allows you to download one file at a time, with no pause or resume capability. The Download Director requires the Sun Java plug-in to be installed. In environments where this plug-in is not available, use the HTTP transfer method.
Q: Can students obtain software to use on their personal machines?
A: An IBM Academic Initiative member can load software onto a secure server and enable qualified students to download it directly from that server. The Academic Initiative member may also create as many copies of the software as needed and load it on students' machines. Members and students are both responsible for adhering to the Academic Initiative Program Agreements as well as the Software Usage Guidelines.