Software Inventory & Software Metering
Software Metering & License Forecasting Connect on the Web
May 27th
Two SAM vendors – Openplain and AssetLabs – integrate their web-based SAM managed services to offer a powerful and immediate method to help customers manage corporate software license agreements.
AssetLabs Inc. and Openplain Ltd. today announced the integration of their web-based ‘SAM’ (Software Asset Management) solutions. This integration enables customers to share data between AssetLab’s AssetCheck and Openplain’s LicenseMetrics services, empowering corporations to optimize, reduce and forecast their software licensing requirements.
LicenseMetrics is a web-based managed service that offers software metering and inventory for PC, MAC, Unix and other network devices. There are no servers or databases to maintain. LicenseMetrics can track usage of desktop, web, virtual and portable applications. LicenseMetrics includes FeatureDetect™, which determines whether the ‘professional or ‘standard’ features of a product are being used, assisting customers in justifying the value of professional editions, or to save money by deploying standard editions ( see http://www.licensemetrics.com/identify-software-underutilization/feature-metering).
AssetCheck is a web-based managed service that offers software licensing, budget and productivity risk analysis and true-up cost forecasting based upon software growth trends. AssetCheck also categorizes and normalizes inventory data, identifies vendor ‘end-of-support’, Windows 7 readiness and enables tagging of various license states (open source, trial, volume license, etc.) (see http://www.assetlabs.com/multi-version-license-forecasting.html)
“The combination of LicenseMetrics and AssetCheck enables corporations to quickly identify ‘wasted’ software licenses and to justify and also budget for essential increases in software deployments,” says Jon Mulligan, CEO of Openplain. “As a web-based managed service, the deployment and ROI of both AssetCheck and LicenseMetrics are immediate to both the corporation and their SAM advisors.”
The AssetCheck managed service will automatically integrate with the software inventory data from LicenseMetrics accounts, allowing LicenseMetrics clients to identify budget and support risks from AssetCheck, while also determining usage analysis from within LicenseMetrics.
“Traditionally, about 20% of all Microsoft’s volume license agreements come due by June 30th each year”, says Steve O’Halloran, CEO of AssetLabs. “As managed services, the integration of AssetCheck and LicenseMetrics becomes a timely and powerful tool for a corporation’s CIO, SAM advisors and Microsoft’s channel partners to immediately determine license compliancy while also laying the foundation for optimizing costs through software metering and true-up forecasting.”
Huge Increase in Virtualisation and SaaS Has Left a Blind Spot for Many Companies
Nov 1st
Demand for LicenseMetrics growing due to fear of software audits
The rapid growth in SaaS adoption and hardware virtualization has meant many companies suddenly have a blind spot when it comes to software licensing. If companies don’t have a clear picture of how they deploy, use and license their software, they risk overspending on licensing or worse – incurring large fines when they receive a software vendor audit.
68% of USA and UK companies now use SaaS applications in comparison to countries like Germany, where usage is just 45%. At the same time, companies are migrating traditional products to virtualized platforms at a phenomenal rate; almost one quarter of all the money spent on visualization projects in Europe last year was spent in the UK. This has presented quite a challenge to IT directors and in most cases has led to a major blind spot – they do not know how software is being used in their firms or whether they are complying with their various licenses and license types.
Developments in the sector have meant that companies simply aren’t keeping track of how and when their software is used. Most firms spend 25% more than they need to on software due to under utilization, but may still not be compliant with their various vendor licenses. This is a worrying development for companies, given the increase in software audits because suppliers know there is a growing problem of license infringements in businesses.”
By deploying a software inventory tool to track the usage of desktop, virtualized and online software giving insight to knowing what products, applications and features are actually used and required, IT directors can ensure they remain compliant but more importantly can identify what products can be removed or downgraded to save costs.
Licensemetrics
Nov 1st
Openplain Ltd. develop and sell LicenseMetrics and OfficeMetrics. LicenseMetrics is an award winning software inventory and usage metering solution. OfficeMetrics is a pioneering workplace analytics tool.
Founded in 2005 and with its head office in the International Financial Services Centre, Dublin, Ireland, Openplain has won numerious awards including Best Emerging Company in the IntertradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition. Openplain’s products and solutions are used in more than 50 countries around the world. Both LicenseMetrics and OfficeMetrics are available as an online and inhouse solutions