Category Archives

12 Posts for Virtualization

Apr 26
2012 

LicensingLive London 2012: From On-Premise into the Cloud

by Jennifer Lewis

Why choose either cloud-based OR on-premise delivery for your software, when you can do both?
by Ariella Shoham, EMEA SRM FIeld Marketing Manager

Last month, we got together again for LicensingLive London, our annual “cloud gathering” at the Royal Institute of Great Britain in London. The surroundings – the RIGB Library, surrounded by hundreds (if not thousands) of scientific publications and books was the ideal setting for discussing some of the hottest topics in the world of Software as a Service.

Mar 14
2012 

Virtualization and a (New) Conflict of Interests

by Darim Rahmatallah

The ongoing debate around virtualization shows no signs of getting old. Virtualization has always created a ‘conflict of interests’ between those who worry about the technology (the software vendors) and those who enjoy the benefits it offers (the end customers of the aforementioned vendors).

There was a temporary sigh of relief in the world of automated license enforcement when new methods and techniques became available to bind software licenses in a more secure and reliable manner to a virtual machine . Almost overnight, all the concerns and fears of license duplication and misuse (albeit accidental or intentional) went away. The ultimate goal of eliminating the requirements for ISV’s to make a ‘VM/no VM’ decision at the time of deploying or activating their software was finally achieved. End customers could deploy applications where they liked, the vendors no longer had to care, and the world was a happy place.

Or so it seemed….

Feb 23
2012 

Virtualization: Why Licensing Matters

by Chris Holland

I recently found a blog post on software licensing and virtual environments that reinforce our position on software licensing and virtualization.  It reflects on the challenges in software licensing in virtual environments, and how IT and innovation are being hampered by monolithic licensing practice in this space.

Here’s my reply to the original post:

“We sure are glad to know this problem is getting more understanding in the IT community!  For exactly the reasons you describe in your article we have adjusted our solutions and strategy to match, and we are the first and only technology solution in this space.”

Sep 12
2011 

How Wobbly is your Business?

by Prakash Panjwani

Here is a term that has made it into our vocabulary a bit too much lately – “wobbly”. Suddenly everything is wobbly – our economy, stock market, jobs market.  The obvious connotation is “uncertainty” but wobbly has also become a cop-out term for not knowing where something is headed. It is a sign of times we are in – or so it feels. Uncertainty in economy leads to uncertainty everywhere else.

My advice – something I try to follow rigorously at work and and personally  – when you are surrounded by uncertainty, do the opposite – be decisive. This is especially true for high tech companies.

May 12
2011 

CIO Magazine: “Cloud is Making Software Vendors ‘Schizoid’”…

by Michelle Nerlinger

While the IT world has largely embraced the cloud as an enabler of innovation and an efficient ax for cost cutting, traditional software vendors are left reeling. For one thing, the switch to cloud means an end to front-end licensing and ongoing maintenance revenues and a steep increase in short-term costs associated with re-architecting. In an effort to cope, many try to fudge… Read More @ CIO.com

Jan 24
2011 

The New York Time on Software Piracy in China

by Justin Benson

In the past we have discussed how many of our customers are interested in fighting piracy in developing nations. Hard data is always a challenge. The New York Times posted a great article yesterday that looked at through a rather unique and powerful view. Hardware is much harder to “pirate” than software. In general, the two are also often sold together. While virtual machines may over time change the ratios in general it’s a safe bet to assume predictable ratios between a countries hardware and software purchases. An increase in one should result in an increase in the other.

Click here to read the article on their site as it delves deeper into this area.

Nov 8
2010 

Eliminating the ‘Gotcha Aspect’ of Software Licensing

by David DiMillo

Licensing is a unique experience for every organization, with distinctive business goals and custom business process. More often than not, the challenge to making licensing work is far from a technical problem; it is a business integration or project management problem. To be successful, software publishers need to adopt a top down approach: defining their software licensing vision and then fine-tuning their license enforcement and management processes and technologies. Consensus must be built, processes must be defined and technology must be aligned with these objectives. This is where I come in.  With over 18 years of experience building, managing, and evolving some of the world’s most complex licensing ecosystems the least I can do is share some of what I have learned!

Oct 4
2010 

The Virtual Revolution Will Not Be Televised

by Jam Khan

“The revolution will not be televised”, the singer Gil Scott-Heron once famously sang. I think he was trying to say that information and truth, cannot be packaged up in a nice “made for TV” special. In fact, by the time it’s happened, it’s probably already passed you by. I can’t help but feel this way about virtualization.  We’ve been hearing the hype for years. No one denies the unbelievable impact it has had, and the value it continues to promise. This is not one of those technologies where you think “if”, it’s really more of “when” and “how”.

Jul 19
2010 

Role Reversal in the Software Industry

by Justin Benson

For many years I sold a Software as a Service (SaaS) only application. When selling to organizations there was kind of an unwritten rule. Small to medium size businesses would be resourced strapped and culturally more open to the idea of a SaaS application. Larger organizations would have dedicated IT resources and potentially feel threatened by outsourced applications. The conclusion was simple – the SMB market was much more fertile while when selling to larger organizations never forecast above 50% no matter what unless you heard from the CIO him/herself that they would be ok with a SaaS application.