2. K2: Software Asset Management

3. What is Sassafras K2?
• K2 is a point product for advanced software and hardware asset
management
o Purchase and entitlement tracking
o Policy driven license management
o Software and hardware auditing
o Software product recognition
o Software usage metering
o Usage, audit and compliance reporting
• Global Enterprise Scalability – 50K+ client computers supported by a single
server process
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4. Sassafras Software Inc.
• K2 is published by Sassafras Software, based in New Hampshire USA.
• Sassafras Software is a pioneer in SAM since 21 years
• K2 is deployed in USA, Europe, Japan and Australia
• K2 is deployed in over 2+ Million client computers
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5. Customers
• Adobe Systems
• Apple Computer
• Microsoft Corporation
• IBM
• British Broadcasting Corporation
• General Motors
• Toyota Corporation
• NASA
• Stanford
• University of California
• MIT
• University of Michigan
• ….
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6. Software Asset Management (SAM). Why?
• Reduce your software costs. Procurement, support, upgrades, …
• Increase employee productivity
• Eliminate business and financial risks
• Comply with vendor software license agreements
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7. SAM: A key to reducing costs and improving productivity
“Companies over spend by 15% to 20% on software licenses”
– Gartner Group
“Companies routinely spend 10% to 20% of their software budgets
on updates and support services they may not even need”
– Gartner Group
“Companies can save between 10% to 30% of their annual software
costs by implementing a good software asset and license
management solution”
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8. K2 Components
Client–Server Architecture
• KeyServer – Server process
• KeyAccess – Client agent, which runs on desktops, laptops, and servers
• KeyConfigure – Management console
• KeyReporter – Web based reports
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9. Architecture
Server Clients
KeyAccess
KeyServer
KeyAccess
KeyConfigure
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10. Purchase tracking and reconciliation
• Software Purchase Records and Histories
• Contract and Purchase Document Storage
• External Purchase Data Importing
• Calculation of Current Entitlement Position
• Automated Reconciliation of Entitlements against Management Policies
• Purchase data can be imported in XML format from other procurement
systems
• Can be tightly integrated with other procurement systems
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11. Software product and Hardware discovery
• K2 agent discovers software products and hardware configuration details
• Automatic product identification, filtering and classification
• Online product identification database
• Program version identification and control
• Manage physical and virtual instances
• Extensive audit reports
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12. Application Usage
• K2 can measure usage of any discovered software product
• Provides comprehensive and accurate view of software usage
• Making incorrect assumptions of usage can be a costly mistake.
• Extensive usage reports
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13. License Management
• Define flexible usage policies to control access to any software product
• Node locked, floating/concurrent use, site and leased licenses
• License compliance is an ongoing process, enforce compliance
• Security. Blackout selected software usage
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14. Complete Software Asset Life Cycle
5. Optimize Software 1. Procurement
Assets 2. Discover Software/Hardware
4. Enforce License Policy 3. Monitor Usage
Maintain Compliance Reconcile Achieve Compliance
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15. Will K2 affect the network and end users?
• The presence of the K2 is invisible to the end users regardless of network
size. Good citizen
• A typical K2 client will generate less than 30 Kbytes of traffic over the
course of an eight-hour workday.
• Largest installation of 50K+ clients
• The K2 components run silently and require little or no administration
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16. K2 Reports
• Built-in report templates can produce hundreds of detailed and summary
reports
• Web based reports and scheduling
• Direct support for customized external reports
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17. Integration
• Flexible IT Data Integration
• Authenticate with common third party tools Active Directory, LDAP,
Kerberos, others…
• Data easily accessible through open standards
• Help desk, Procurement, Service desk, Service call management etc.
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18. System Requirements
• No server grade OS or hardware required.
• No database or third party back-end tools required
• One server process supports tens of thousands of clients.
• Server
o Windows 7, Vista, NT, 2008, 2000, 2003, XP
o Mac OS 7.5 to OS X 10.5
o NetWare 4.2 - 6.5
o Linux 2.2 and higher
• Client
o Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, Win 7
o WTS (thin-client): NT 4, 2000, 2003, Citrix 1.7
o Mac OS 7.5 to OS X 10.5
o Linux 2.2 and higher
o Solaris 9 and higher
o Support for virtual clients
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19. Licensing
• K2 is configured and priced by the number of computers and thin client
sessions that will be managed.
• The per-client price varies with the size of the installation.
• License is perpetual.
• Technical support is free for life of the product.
• Upgrades are additional (and optional).
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20. Thank You
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