Big Blue promised 25 percent discounts to HP clients switching to selected Rational and Tivoli software.
The migration programs allow IBM Business Partners to extend discounts of up to 25 percent on licence fees when migrating customers from Mercury software to IBM.
IBM will also offer clients a 25 percent discount when they move from HP's applications to IBM's.
Al Zollar, general manager of Tivoli Software at IBM, promised to make the transition "non-disruptive".
Today's system management promotion builds on long established efforts by IBM to poach HP server and storage customers.