Author: staff

TraceTronic Upgrades to The Reprise License Manager (RLM)

TraceTronic Upgrades to The Reprise License ManagerAfter years of using a proprietary, dongle-based in-house solution, there was demand for a more professional solution at TraceTronic.  The existing solution provided insufficient scalability because of an expanding customer base and an increasing license count.  A reliable solution was needed to support floating license scenarios also.

After evaluating various software licensing products, TraceTronic opted for the Reprise License Manager (RLM), which satisfies these requirements and provides an extensive API. Now TraceTronic applications can be extended to support even complex license configurations while offering improved usage feedback and control for users.

TraceTronic connected RLM through Python using C and developed a graphical license management utility on top of it. With the utility, users can dynamically switch between roaming, floating and host-based license modes. Additionally, the utility can display details about license availability, expiry date and much more.

The integration worked seamlessly, especially the mapping from product options to customer-specific license options. The installation of the license server was achieved to our full satisfaction at our most demanding customer sites.

About TraceTronic

TraceTronic makes your ECU work smart and save. As a professional and experienced provider of complete solutions for development and validation of ECUs, we consider the big picture as a perfect interplay of highly specialized solutions with attention to detail. At TraceTronic, therefore domain experts interact with each other, bringing together function development and calibration of ECU software, development of test systems, test and validation of ECU software and software development. With the test automation software ECU-TEST and the analysis software TRACE-CHECK, we offer our customers powerful, high-quality software for the specification, implementation, execution and documentation of test cases as well as for the automated evaluation and validation of recorded measured data. Further information is available at www.tracetronic.com.

Intergraph SG&I Switches to RLM for Flexible License Management

INGR_Color_CMYK_Logo_480pxAfter years of license management issues with another technology provider, Intergraph Security Government & Infrastructure (SG&I) decided to evaluate a new solution that was easy to use, flexible enough to fit our evolving licensing models, and capable of supporting our clients’ diverse licensing needs. With these criteria in mind, Intergraph SG&I has made the switch to Reprise Software’s RLM.

In early 2014, Intergraph SG&I approached Reprise Software to evaluate RLM. During our evaluation period, we found RLM to be everything that we needed in an enterprise-class license management technology. With an elegant graphical user interface, RLM delivers an intuitive user experience for our team. RLM has the flexibility to fit our changing licensing models and business needs. Reprise also has a customer support team that is eager to meet our requirements, friendly to work with and experts on the technology’s capabilities. With RLM, we hope to achieve:

  • Better security for us and our clients
  • Easier license management across our portfolio of products
  • Easier license authentication process for our clients
  • Shorter custom development cycles
  • Lower licensing management and operation costs
  • Easier product and customer transitions

Over 2015, Intergraph SG&I will begin migrating its product portfolio and customers to RLM. Based on the success of its initial RLM implementation and migration, Intergraph SG&I plans to transition its entire product portfolio leveraging RLM over the next few years. The first products using RLM will be released in late 2015.

About Intergraph

Intergraph helps the world work smarter. The company’s software and solutions improve the lives of millions of people through better facilities, safer communities and more reliable operations.

Intergraph Process, Power & Marine (PP&M) is the world’s leading provider of enterprise engineering software enabling smarter design and operation of plants, ships and offshore facilities. Intergraph Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I) is the leader in smart solutions for emergency response, utilities, transportation and other global challenges. For more information, visit www.intergraph.com.

Intergraph is part of Hexagon (Nordic exchange: HEXA B; www.hexagon.com), a leading global provider of design, measurement, and visualization technologies that enable customers to design, measure and position objects, and process and present data.

© 2015 Intergraph Corporation. All rights reserved. Intergraph is part of Hexagon. Intergraph and the Intergraph logo, are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

8 Software Licensing Ideas that Improve Revenues in a Slow-growth Economy

As the economy slows down, software vendors must re-think business as usual.  This post contains Software Licensing ideas that improve revenues when the economy slows down.

Every software vendor eventually encounters a slowdown at some point. When overall capital expenditures are declining it’s almost inevitable that software vendors will feel the pinch too. In addition to redoubling your efforts to improve your core products, the key to successfully riding out a recession is to adopt new software licensing programs.

Regular readers of this blog already know that the best way to stay agile in this changing world is to integrate a license manager within your software. Here are some specific Software Licensing ideas that improve revenues for your marketing/sales teams to help you grow in a softening economy.

1. New Pricing/Payment Models
Slowing sales mean that it’s time to get creative with licensing. If you are now selling only permanent licenses, consider going to time-limited licenses, both to add recurring revenue and to avoid “giving away” too much value. Try selling annual licenses to reduce the upfront cost of your licenses.  Price the annual licenses at a level that will increase your revenue over time.  Also consider a pay-per-use scheme for those customers who prefer to be billed that way.

2. License High-Value Components Separately
Some software vendors use an economic dip to decouple some of their high-worth software modules from their basic product so that prices can be reduced on the basic product while still capturing higher revenue from those customers who are will to pay for the more expensive options. The lower cost of the basic version can open up new accounts and increase your market share as well.

3. “Productize” what you used to give away for free
A lot of companies who use a license manager are not, strictly speaking, software companies at all.  Many technology companies often “throw in” software as a kind of “enabler” or loss-leader, focusing instead on collecting revenue from hardware sales or consulting fees. Wherever there is perceived value in software, there is also potentially untapped incremental revenue.

4. Increase your Maintenance Subscription Rate
License Managers are very useful tools to ensure that your customers use only the software versions for which they have paid support fees.  Try using the version number field in your licenses to encode a support-expiration date in the form yyyy.mmdd (2015.0531).  Let a license manager compare it to the “release date” of each version so that your customers must remain current with their maintenance payments in order to access newest releases.

5. Scale your Licenses by Geographical Scope
Use a license manager to restrict licenses by time zone or region to penetrate new markets at a much lower cost. Sales gains can be realized by charging a premium for licenses that allow use across wider geographies. Sell higher priced licenses to organizations whose software usage needs to span wide geographies. Allow these customers to use your licenses as their teams “follow the sun.”

6. Deepen Penetration within your Existing Customers
Often the best source of new license revenue is found within your existing customers. Not all users within a customer are the same. So try creating license classes that are specific to each user type. A license manager makes it easy to build one release image of your product that takes on different functional behaviors (“lite”, “basic”, “advanced” etc.), each one determined by the specific license key you issue. You can later sell upgrades by supplying an additional license key to turn on greater functionality. The pricing of these various classes of licenses should match the value that different user types ascribe to your software.  Examine software usage patterns to create a balanced set of licensing options that appeal to the widest audience within your best customers.

7. Lower customer cost by Hosting License Servers in the Cloud
Sales increases can also result by lowering your customers cost of ownership.  In cases where your customers prefer not to install on-premises license servers, offer them license servers in the cloud.  This may remove barriers that IT groups sometimes erect when they are asked to manage licensed software, speeding product evaluation and deployment. Once licenses are served in the cloud, customers can then expand their usage by simply adding extra licenses to their cloud-managed pool, including new releases and options.

8. Find a lower-cost Software Licensing Vendor
While you are looking for new revenue sources, you might also consider making changes on the other side of the ledger. If you are tired of paying ever higher fees to use your old third party license manager, maybe it’s time to consider a lower cost alternative. Reprise Software is in the sweet-spot in this regard – providing a world-class license management system at a much more affordable price.

 

JTB World adds RLM support

JTB World adds RLM support to its Usage Reporting Tools

Reprise Software is pleased to announce that JTB World has added support for RLM into its suite of license usage reporting tools.

These tools can be used by you or by your customers to monitor historical usage for departmental charge backs or usage-based pricing models.

You can find out more here:

https://blog.jtbworld.com/2014/04/jtb-flexreport-80-adds-reprise-license.html

Please contact JTB World directly for more information.

Tetcos Selects RLM and Activation Pro

Tectos selects RLM and Activation Pro

Tetcos Selects RLM and Activation Pro to Streamline Licensing Operations

We at TETCOS, a niche simulation software firm, have been developing NetSim since 2004 and PhySim since 2009.

In our initial years we used an in-house dongle based license management system. This solution was highly inflexible (for example, there was no possibility of having internet based activation) and prone to communication problems between clients and the license server.

In 2007, we approached Reprise Software, and they responded immediately with a free 30 day RLM evaluation. The RLM product was easy to use with a detailed product manual and their support very fast. In addition, their pricing was affordable, so we shifted to RLM.

Over the last several years, Reprise has continuously added features to RLM which has helped us improved our product offering. Here are a few examples that have helped us meet our customer needs better:

  • The internet activation feature for providing easy evaluations to our customers. Rather than physically ship we just send an FTP download along with an activation key.
  • License options such as License Roaming, Dongle based licensing, Minimum license checkout time, license sharing within a machine, etc.
  • A diagnostic module that logs useful information at both the client and server enabled us to quickly resolve license related issues.

Most importantly, we have not faced any license related issue in the field and Reprise has kept the price affordable. RLM, and timely support from the Reprise team, has played an important role in our success.

About Tetcos:

Tetcos develops network simulation software, NetSim, and communication simulation software, PhySim and has an extensive and growing set of customers in over 15 countries. Visit: www.tetcos.com

GNS Science adopts Reprise License Manager

GNS Science reaps business benefits from Reprise License Manager (RLM)

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GNS Science had reached a point with our GLOBE Claritas product where our in-house software licensing system was starting to act as a barrier to business.  We needed the flexibility of being able to license per user, or per core, as well as offering modular licensing for some key components. We also needed those licenses to be robust, and server based.

With the Reprise License Manager (RLM), we got all of this, and more. We were able to extend our product lines to include high and low capacity solutions at attractive price points, as well as deliver a scalable cloud-based licensing solution. By using Reprise we have been able to unlock whole market segments that we were priced out of with our in-house solution. RLM gives us the flexibility of being able to license per user, or per core, as well as offering modular licensing for some key components, while at the same time providing robust, server based licenses.

The support from Reprise has been excellent, and their pace of development means that we can continue to offer our clients new functionality, such as “roaming licenses” for remote or in-field use.

I would not hesitate to recommend Reprise RLM as an excellent solution for a business-to-business product suite allowing tailored solutions with minimal overhead.

 

About GNS Science

The GLOBE Claritas seismic processing software is produced by geophysicists who work within the Business Development Group of GNS Science. GNS Science is New Zealand’s leading supplier of earth and isotope scientific research and consultancy services.  https://www.globeclaritas.com/

 

When do I need the RLM License Server?

The Reprise License Manager product is capable of supporting many license types. Some are appropriate for standalone, single-user licensing models and others are used to support more complex network licensing and pricing scenarios. Determining when a license server must be installed is not always clear.

So, let’s spend a few minutes talking about the various jobs a license server performs, and when it is needed to support various license types.

Uncounted v. Counted Licenses

The biggest factor that determines whether a license server is required is whether licenses are counted or uncounted.  Counted licenses require a license server because it must “count” concurrent licenses. Counted licenses are used whenever the ISV wants to limit or record concurrent license usage. Counted licenses can be identified by a positive integer in the “count” field of the license.

Uncounted licenses, on the other hand, do not require a license server because there is no need to count usage. Uncounted licenses can be identified by the word “uncounted” or or the number “0” in the license count field of the license. Each uncounted license must be node-locked to a hostid. For ease of administration at larger sites, uncounted licenses for multiple computers may reside in a license file that is managed by a central license server, but this is not required.

The other license type that does not require a license server is the “single” license type. This is also a node-locked license, but it can be used by only one user at a time (concurrent count of “1”). The enforcement of “single” licenses is done via file locking, not by license servers.

The RLM License Server

The basic job of the RLM License Server is to service license requests from RLM-enabled client applications over the network. Based on the needs of the application, the license server redirects license requests to the ISV-specific license server which actually grants or denies the request based on what is specified in the license and on the current usage conditions.

License servers also manage “roaming,” named-user, and token-based licenses. They manage held and shared licenses, and offer an admin interface, diagnostic tools, and are responsible for writing debug and report logs.

Licensing Mobile Users with RLM

Roaming Licenses with RLM

If you sell floating licenses for your software products, you can increase the value of your licenses by allowing them to be removed from the network when your users hit the road.

With RLM, you can give users a license that will allow them to remain in compliance even after they’ve disconnected their laptop from the corporate network.  Whether for a few hours, a few days or a few weeks, “roaming” licenses can be valuable to your users, and set you apart from your competition.

Increasingly, users want to take their work “on the road.” RLM’s built-in license roaming capability allows users to check out a license from a server, physically disconnect from the server and continue to use the license for a specified number of days, after which the license is automatically returned to the server when it expires on the mobile computer.

As an ISV, you control whether licenses are allowed to roam, and how long they can be checked-out in the disconnected state. No API changes are required beyond providing a special rlm_roam license to your customer.

RLM license roaming was designed to allow ‘disconnected’ use for short durations up to a few weeks.