Marsha,
There are a couple of things you're running into here.
First, the SN you're using isn't the one they're wanting. You're asking for software while providing a hardware SN. They're looking for software entitlements with the SN you're providing (which won't provide any results because it isn't a software SN).
You shouldn't worry about updating your SSP. That's not really useful to you here. If the software was purchased 10 years ago, there wouldn't be a discount to renew. You'd be purchasing the full price regardless. That's likely not something you're wanting to do.
As the hardware was originally purchased by an academic institution, it's probable they had the Academic Site License for their software and that wasn't transferable. When they sold the hardware, the next user had their own software license. Now, you've purchased the hardware (without software) and are looking for the software license. I'm sure this is incredibly frustrating.
I don't know why the support you're working with wouldn't have shared this with you. There's likely something lost in communication here between your expectations, what you're trying to do, and what they understand you're trying to do.
As you think about this, keep in mind hardware can be sold with, or without, software. If it always included software, you'd have some very upset people when they're paying for software they don't want. (Like the university that originally purchased this). You generally won't have success getting software sharing the SN of hardware. They're often two different things being tracked in these systems.
