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Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualization
1. W H I T E PA P E R
Software Business Impacts from
Machine Virtualization
Protecting Monetization in a Virtual World
2. Software Business Impacts from
Machine Virtualization
Protecting Monetization in a Virtual World
Overview Virtual Machines
Machine virtualization has swept through enterprises, With virtual machine technologies, each operating system
big and small – creating significant issues for both instance on a physical machine functions as if it is the
software producers and enterprise customers – and a only operating system running on that physical machine.
wide “vendor-customer gap” in customer desires and These technologies do this by virtualizing (abstracting)
application vendors’ practices. Specifically, the way that the machine’s hardware components, one virtual machine
enterprise IT organizations install, provisions administer instance per operating system instance. This type of
and use application software is likely decoupled from virtualization technology is the focus of the remainder of
how application vendors build, license and support their this whitepaper.
software. Application vendors traditionally have placed the
burden on customers to close this gap; today it is shifting Application Virtualization / Application Isolation
back to application vendors. With application isolation technologies, each application
instance running on an operating system instance functions as
Some application vendors have addressed tactical issues if it’s the only application running on that operating system.
that have arisen from machine virtualization, but the industry These technologies do this by virtualizing the operating
has not, for the most part, recognized the transformation system’s file system (and registry on Windows), one virtual file
that is underway. Leading software providers are now system (and registry) instance per application instance. Some
recognizing the vendor-customer gap that exists between application isolation technologies also isolate the operating
the way enterprises want to use software in their virtualized system’s global namespace, so objects like semaphores are
environments, and the way application vendors want to not shared between application instances. All other operating
derive revenue in this new world. Many application vendors system services are shared between isolated and non-isolated
are closing that gap and using their progress as a means to application instance.
increase their value, create competitive differentiation and
grow revenues – all the while driving down costs. Presentation Virtualization
With presentation virtualization (also known as terminal
This whitepaper reviews the current market situation, outlines services), one terminal server machine supports multiple
at the events that created it, and details steps – with an user sessions. Each user session encapsulates the desktop
emphasis on new consumptive licensing models – that environment of one remotely logged-in user. The user
application vendors can take to create positive outcomes in experience is such that each user believes they are the only
today’s virtualized software environments. user on that machine.
Introduction: The Virtualization Landscape Remote Control
The topic of virtualization covers many different technologies. With remote control (also known as KVM over IP), one person
A quick review of the space sets the stage for discussion on can control the host computer at any one time. The keyboard
the specific impact that Virtual Machine solutions are having and mouse connected to the host computer and to each of
both on application vendors and the customers they serve. the guest computers can be active simultaneously and thus
compete to be the source of input. Keystroke and mouse
The most common virtualization technique is virtual machine events from these different input sources can be interleaved.
technology. However, there are other types. Below is a Also, the video of each computer displays the same single
partial inventory of related virtualization types, and the desktop. Therefore, these solutions are not intended for
vendors that supply the technology. multiple guest computers to share the resources of the host
computer at the same time.
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3. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
Virtualization Technology Vendor/Products Software Licensing Issue?
Virtual Machines VMware: Workstation, ESX; Affects licensing
Microsoft: Hyper-V, Virtual PC/Server;
Citrix: Xen Server, Desktop;
Parallels: Desktop and Server (Mac), Server
(Linux), Workstation (Windows and Linux);
Sun: Zones;
IBM pSeries: LPARs;
HP: VPars, Integrity
Application Virtualization Microsoft: App-V; Affects licensing
VMware: ThinApp;
Terminal Services Microsoft: Terminal Server; Affects licensing
Citrix: Presentation Server;
Sun: Secure Global Desktop
Remote Control GoToMyPC, PCAnyWhere, VNC No affect on licensing
Figure 1: Partial List of Virtualization Technologies
Fully Embraced in the Back Office Cost savings
Machine virtualization is today widely used in back Stories of 10:1 server consolidation and server utilization
office environments. The numbers published by multiple moving from 20% to 60% or higher have been published
organizations reveal that there are strong drivers for use of for years. In 2008 and 2009, enterprise IT organizations
the technology within the back office. The reasons for the saw a remarkable shift in the acceptance and use of
broad acceptance become clear when one examines the machine virtualization. The technology quickly moved
benefits that IT organizations can receive from from something that had targeted use, to became widely
machine virtualization. acceptable for most back office applications. In the lead up
to 2008, virtualization vendors continued to expand the
IT Benefits capabilities in their platforms, analyst recommendations
IT organizations have moved rapidly in adopting machine strengthened, and competitive pressure improved pricing.
virtualization in the back office. The most visible and oft- But the strongest push to general acceptance came
cited motivations to adopt virtualization are tremendous from conversations.
costs savings, operating flexibility, improvements to
governance and the importance of green initiatives The seeds for this accelerated acceptance were almost
within corporations. certainly planted in 2006 and 2007, when IT executives
shared from success anecdotes with their peers. These word-
At the end of 2009 Gartner reported that 18% of all of-mouth marketing conversations focused on the dramatic
server workloads were running on virtualized servers -- a cost savings that adopters were driving to their bottom line,
remarkably high penetration1. However, Gartner’s forecast compounding the advocacy of this technology and resulting
for 2010 illustrates that virtualization technology is today in dramatic increases in adoption in 2008 and 2009.
fairly low on the adoption curve. Gartner predicts the share
of server workloads running on virtualized servers to jump Flexibility
to 28%, a fifty percent increase over the 2009 number. In Machine virtualization allows IT organizations to flexibly
2012, Gartner’s research has half of all workloads being configure resources to adjust for variations in computing
virtualized. The rapid adoption of machine virtualization requirements, across time periods, departments and
stems from three areas: geographies. The ease with which computing resources
• IT executives seeing real, easily verified cost savings can be allocated in virtualized environments allows IT
from their peers organizations to flexibility allocate computing power, and
• Support for governance and compliance measures thus maximize resource utilization.
• Delivering results to corporate efforts for green
initiatives.
1
Gartner: Server virtualization now at 18% of server workload - Ellen Messmer, Network
World, October 20, 2009
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4. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
Governance and Compliance “green” brand image, and increased profits from lowering
Operating system (OS) and hardware diversity within yearly operating costs.
an IT organization’s back office greatly complicates the
governance and compliance requirements placed on In sum, machine virtualization simply makes good business
enterprises. A single enterprise IT organization may be sense for small, medium and large organizations.
required to comply with over 100 regulatory and agency
bodies (e.g., HIPPA, PCI, SOX, ISSA, ISO 17799 & 27001, Exceptions are now the Exception
and many more). The result is the rise of efforts such as There are exceptions that may preclude enterprises from
the Unified Compliance Framework (UCF) that allow IT adopting virtualization, but as time passes there are
organizations to more effectively meet their governance and fewer and fewer. The most commonly cited examples of
compliance requirements. applications that should not be virtualized are databases
and transaction systems. Applications with intense
Used in combination with emerging standards like UCF, interactions with storage also have been historically been
machine virtualization is used by IT organizations to excluded, due to perceived performance delays caused by
provide an effective framework for compliance and machine virtualization.
governance. Machine virtualization allows IT organization
to standardize the native OS and hardware in a back The reality is that many large-scale, real-time financial
office with no changes to the applications or impact to the systems are running today entirely on machine
end users. Machine virtualization also greatly simplifies virtualization. With each release, vendors are closing
patch and OS management. Using the management tools the performance and management gaps in machine
available from VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and many others, virtualization; without exception, all applications can be
OS and application updates can quickly be applied in viable candidates for their technology.
a sandbox environment, validated, and then merged
into production. Many application vendors believe their application is an
exception that their customers would not virtualize because
Green Initiatives the nature of the application would be a barrier. The
Green initiatives are delivering cost savings to the published data, conversations that Flexera Software has
bottom line, as well as creating goodwill with customers, held with thousands of software provider customers, and
employees and business partners. Earlier this whitepaper reports from many analysts strongly indicate the contrary. In
referenced the immediate cost savings from 10:1 server fact, very few applications are excepted from virtualization.
consolidation that an IT organization might receive; the cost The likelihood that any application vendor would not have
savings also includes a multi-year green annuity that yields a significant portion of their customers using machine
an immediate return. The annuity starts with the reduction in virtualization is extremely low. In the present or in the near
the electricity used by IT to service the enterprise, but in fact future, no application vendor will be excluded from the shift
comprises much more. in the market.
For example, the recommended temperature range for a The Vendor-Customer Gap
data center is between 65F and 81F, while most run at The way in which IT organizations are installing,
68F. With power density increasing every year from more administrating, and using applications are, in many cases,
blade servers, faster processors, and more networking gear inconsistent with the way the application vendor had
shrinking in size; virtualization is the single biggest factor designed, tested, defined support or licensed the application.
to reducing data center cooling demands. Over a period of This gap between application vendors and their customers
years, the green annuity payout continues into the future by creates additional cost to the IT organization, increases the
lowering equipment retirement costs. complexity of the application, reduces the perceived value,
and increases the IT organization’s governance risks.
Furthermore, the hazardous materials and the disposal This vendor-customer gap comprises a number of issues,
impacts of IT are tremendous. Reducing the amount of described below.
equipment needed to service enterprise IT needs also lowers
the impact fees that enterprises pay at the time of purchase Product Features
to offset the municipal burden when a CRT, server or switch
is disposed. Reliability
Rooted in the design tenant of cheap hardware that is easily
Finally, carbon credit offsets are widely available. When replaced with no service impact, machine virtualization
an enterprise can reduce it environmental impact, it can sell allows for trivial movement and cloning of applications.
that reduction on the open market. For many organizations, Planned maintenance on enclosures or emergency situations
machine virtualization can easily result in the entire can be easily addressed. Commercial solutions like VMware
deployment being paid for in just a few months from selling High Availability (HA) and Microsoft’s Failover Cluster can
the carbon offset credits, in addition to the improved detect impending hardware issues and shift applications to
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5. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
alternative hardware before the hardware failure, with no thinking application vendors today are delivering solutions
impact to service availability. that embrace virtual machine scalability.
In 2011, the industry will likely see offerings from major Provisioning / Administration
vendors in a recovery process called regenerative recovery. Enterprises begin with clear and well-established
Rather than have duplicate resources standing by ready virtualization environment. But because machine
for the virtual machine to be re-instantiated, regenerative virtualization provides such an easy path for customizing
recovery allows the virtual machine to be dynamically and making changes, enterprises can quickly fall out of
regenerated on the remaining hardware resource while compliance. The next phase of the evolution of virtual
being actively used. This next generation of reliability machines is about control.
will help IT administrators to reduce the amount of spare
capacity currently required in data centers, allowing IT organizations currently are faced with what is best
applications to be kept running on damaged equipment, described as “sprawl.” The core capability of machine
albeit at lower performance. If performance falls below virtualization is abstraction from the hardware. All the
defined thresholds, the application can be shifted to advantages of machine virtualization spring from this
spare resources. key capability, but this is also the biggest complication.
Applications can dynamically come into existence and
The virtual machine technology brings IT organizations a disappear just as quickly. The focus of all the machine
very robust, flexible and extensive foundation for highly virtualization vendors is therefore on refining
reliable data center architecture, further driving adoption of the provisioning and ongoing administration of the
virtualization. This underscores the gap between software virtualized environment.
vendors and customers, increasing the urgency for software
providers to support virtualization. Provisioning and administration is the one area where
IT organizations have not seen any savings from virtual
Scalability machine technology. In fact, the current studies indicate
Virtualization gives IT organizations the ability to manage that the costs have increased. An IT organization that is
scalability swings that characterize today’s enterprise in compliance can just as quickly become non-compliant.
business environment: Accounting systems come under Application vendors delivering solutions that complement
heavy load at the end of the month, quarter or year. Order virtual machine provisioning and administration solutions
management systems see strong spikes for the first few are clearly desirable to IT organizations.
days or weeks with new product introductions. The first
two months of a year have HR systems under load with Software Licensing
employee review and goal setting processes. Software is a unique enterprise purchase because the
value the software delivers can be increased by simply
Traditionally, IT organizations accommodate computing increasing the organization’s use of it. The role of software
spikes by architecting systems to handle between 70% licensing is to match the value between the application
and 90% of the expected load. However, this compromise vendor and the enterprise. Creating the alignment in value
means that most of the time the systems are significantly allows the enterprise to extract the maximum value from
underutilized, yet when the demand is greatest, the system the application, while at the same time giving both the
is unable to service the users. Virtual machine technology enterprise and the application vendor assurance that
allows IT organizations to respond to demand by the software is not being used in excess of the
dynamically growing or contracting system capacity. agreed-upon value.
In addition to providing a strong foundation for reliability, Traditional methods to measure or cap software utilization
virtual machine technology equally establishes a robust have been tied either to the capacity of the hardware the
platform for scalability. As loads increase on a given software employs (hardware capacity licensing), the number
application, additional virtual machines are easy brought of users accessing the application (user licensing), or to
on to service the load. The physical machines could be the number of machines that can use the software
maintenance spares, excess capacity on other machines, or (machine licensing).
a group of systems designated to meet the capacity needs
of any application. Hardware capacity licensing is based upon the idea that
the software running on a more capable machine is able
The tool set from virtual machine vendors allows load to perform more work. From that additional work, the
monitoring on applications and, when thresholds are enterprise gains additional value. With user- / machine-
exceeded, the tools automatically deploy additional based licensing, the more users who are able to access the
instances to service the load. To close the gap between system, the more value is being delivered to the enterprise
customer desires and traditional industry practices, forward- from the application. All the traditional licensing and the
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6. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
subsequent pricing models are rooted in either the capacity Software vendors need to accept that hardware licensing
of the system to do work (hardware) or the capacity of the models and machine-based licensing can breakdown
workforce to do work (users / machine). entirely in a virtual machine environment if not properly
addressed. User-based licensing can remain effective
Virtualization technologies have changed the landscape of depending on the nature of the application. Tracking and
hardware capacity licensing, making it very easy to create approving expense reports, for example, require that the
multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, or user’s identity be an integral part of the application. A
make a very capable machine appear less capable. While spreadsheet application can deliver all its value without
the advantages of machine virtualization are obvious and ever knowing the identity of the user. Virtualizing the
enticing for the enterprise customer, this technology poses expense tracking system would not impact a user-based
challenges for the software producer using traditional licensing method, but the anonymous nature of spreadsheet
hardware capacity license enforcement. This is because users would.
virtual machines can be configured to have the same
attributes (e.g., MAC address, port number, IP address, etc.) While software providers struggle with historical licensing
that match the details of an existing license. This situation is methods, virtual machine technology opens up new software
depicted in Figure 2 below. licensing models that center on the idea of consumption.
The software is licensed to perform a volume of work, with
the enterprise paying up front (pre-pay) or after the fact
(post-pay). Consumptive licensing is perceived as more
License Server License Server
attractive to enterprises, and software vendors looking
Bound to Physical Bound to Virtual
Hardware is Hardware is for market advantages are embracing the idea. Machine
Hard to Replicate Easy to Replicate virtualization makes consumptive licensing far more
practical and is being used as a platform for this new
license model.
Guest OS
Regardless of an application vendor’s position on the
Operating System topic of machine virtualization, enterprises require clear
VM Hypervisor
rules, presented simply, that specify how many times
Guest OS an application can be installed, deployed, and used.
Unfortunately, many application vendors do not have end
LICENSE
SERVER user license agreements (EULAs), contracts and support
Guest OS
LICENSE policies that keep pace with the realities of today’s IT
SERVER
deployments.
Support
Technical support presents particularly delicate issues in
today’s virtualized environments. When customers call
Guest
Gues
Gue t OS
Guest O
ue with software support issues, application vendors can
Guest OS
Guest OS
st
t LC
LIC N
LICENSE
CEN
Guest OS LC
LIC N
LICENSE
CEN
SERVER
SE V
ERV
E
SERVER
SE V
ERV
E escalate an already stressful situation by trying to sort out
LICENSE
SERVER virtualization issues concurrently with software performance
problems.
Figure 2: License Server Instances Bound to Physical or Virtual Hardware Even more off-putting is a stance that vendors can take
when a support or engineering organization simply refuses
User-based licensing can remain intact, but machine-based to move forward on a support issue that involves machine
licensing can be entirely ineffective in a virtual machine virtualization, since it is “not supported.” If a customer
environment. In order for a given application to quickly perceives that the support policy is being used as an
deploy on any machine in the data center, the technology easy method to reject or de-prioritize their issues, then an
must make any given machine appear to have all the already difficult situation can easily escalate into rancor.
characteristics of the original base machine. So changes
in CPU, memory, video capabilities, and network adapter Take Steps to Close the Vendor-Customer Gap
configuration are reported to the guest OS as being just Many application vendors have realized that there is a
like the original machine. Attaching the right to run to the gap between what they had been building, selling and
identity of a given machine is pointless unless the licensing supporting versus what their customer has been installing,
system is aware of the virtual technology and accounts for using and administering. These vendors are achieving
the abstraction of the hardware. remarkable success, and effectively closing the vendor-
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7. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
customer gap, by more closely delivering what their Scalability
customers need. 14. Does the application manage state in a manner that
allows user and transaction processing to float over
Answering a few questions is the first step in determining constantly changing application architecture?
where an organization / application is and the reality 15. Does the application allow additional components
of the gap that exists between customer demands and or entire additional copies rapidly coming into
application vendor reality. However, it is easy to establish existence or just as quickly disappearing?
both the long-term and quick efforts that can deliver the
results that can improve software providers’ customer Administration / Provisioning
relationships, and revenues. 16. Does the application allow for remote management
without local “super-user” access?
20 Questions Software Producers Should Answer 17. Does the application provide detailed reporting of
Based on input from application vendors attending two which users perform which administrative functions
recent Flexera Software-hosted virtualization summits, from where on the network?
software providers should answer, at a minimum, the 18. The traditional roles of server, networking, storage,
following questions: and application administrator are becoming blurred.
Does the application account for the blending of
General these roles for administrative and provisioning tasks?
1. How many of our customers are using virtualization
today? At what rate is this growing? Support
2. What virtual platforms are our customers using and 19. Does our support policy include machine
in combination with what OS platforms? virtualization?
20. Though machine virtualization does a remarkable
Software Licensing job masking hardware changes, subtle differences
3. Have we defined a virtualization policy and has this can leak through (e.g., hardware ID values
policy been communicated to our customers? becoming significantly longer). Are we testing and
Support statement, EULAs, contracts, customer documenting the use of the application on the
communications, etc. popular machine virtualization packages?
4. Can we use the same policy as we do for the
physical hardware environment? These questions will give application vendors an accurate
5. Is there a compliance problem in our install base view of the gap between their virtualization-related
and can it be quantified? practices and market demand.
6. Are there new markets or new ways to serve markets
because of virtualization (e.g., time rental via SaaS, Software Producers Respond to Licensing in a
virtual appliance)? Virtual Environment
7. What specific problem do we want to solve? Are At Flexera Software’s virtualization summits, participating
we concerned with intentional overuse (piracy), application vendors responded to a survey about their
unintentional overuse (compliance), or both? virtualization practices. The survey results below focus on
8. Should pricing be based on physical or virtual the software licensing challenges a virtual environment
resources (sub-capacity pricing)? creates; as the numbers indicate, most of the respondents’
9. Should alternate pricing models be defined to license organizations have not defined and communicated their
in virtual environments? (e.g., consumptive models virtualization policy. While most have not quantified a
like pre- or post-paid) Should we charge more specific compliance problem around virtualization, they
based upon the additional virtualization test matrix recognized the potential for overuse – a problem that must
involved? Is there a market to charge less for limited be solved. Finally, the results indicate that most customers
capability? intend to initially apply traditional software licensing and
pricing models to virtual environments.
Reliability
10. Can the application tolerate being rapidly moved
from one machine to another?
11. The application has a strong set of reliability
features, but do those features duplicate or even
worse interfere with reliability capabilities present in
virtual machine technologies?
12. How does the application report error conditions
and can that notification be easily directed and
interpreted?
13. Beyond just error conditions, are notifications for
current status, application load, and application
health easily directed and interpreted?
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8. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
Survey Results
Question 1: Has your company defined and communicated your virtualization policy? % of Votes
Yes 21%
We are in process of creating a policy, but it is not complete. 21%
We have not started on a virtualization policy. 42%
I don’t know. 14%
Question 2: Have you quantified a compliance problem around virtualization? % of Votes
We have quantified a compliance problem and need to solve this problem. 20%
We have not quantified a compliance problem, but we want the ability to enforce 60%
our license policies in virtual environments.
We don’t care about enforcing or monitoring compliance around virtualization. 6%
I don’t have an opinion at this time. 13%
Question 3: Have you defined new ways to monetize your software around % of Votes
virtualization?
No, we will use existing licensing and pricing models. 64%
No, but we have started to discuss this. 14%
Yes, we have defined new models to better match our software usage within virtual 7%
environments.
I don’t know. 14%
The Gap Widens - New licensing models are appearing but is instead installed, maintained, and administered by
Still, the vendor-customer gap is growing larger. Several the vendor,, and 2) most SaaS solutions are based on
new software licensing models are being talked about in consumptive license models. Enterprises have realized that
enterprises. Stories of enterprises selecting vendors based consumptive licensing is easily applicable to traditional
on their ability to provide applications in these new models software and, in a difficult economic and business
are being published. The virtualization trend will continue to environment, presents many advantages.
grow and gain momentum.
Consumptive licensing makes it is easier to clearly identify
At the heart of the new licensing models is the idea of and report the value an enterprise receives from a software
consumption. Enterprises are increasing requesting the application. For example, an expense reporting application
ability to either pre-pay or post-pay for a quantity of work that is licensed by the number of expense reports processed
from the application. While similar to paying for user clearly articulates the software’s value.
access, the core of the concept rests with the idea that
as work is performed; some metric is consumed or used Consumptive licensing allows the enterprise to purchase in
up. There are strong advantages for both the application a way that better addresses the level of price risk they are
vendor and the enterprise for these license models. willing to take. By making no commitment to the volume,
the enterprise pays a premium; when the same enterprise
Software as a service (SaaS) licensing models present is willing to commit to a minimum or floor, it receives a
useful lessons that can be easily replicated in addressing discount. Application vendors also can receive a number of
virtualization issues. The two core value propositions of benefits as well.
SaaS to an enterprise are: 1) the software is not on-premise,
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9. Software Business Impacts from Machine Virtualizat ion
Using the same example from above, an expense Specifically, virtual machine technology opens up new
application that is priced simply by user would be subject to licensing models that center on the idea of consumption.
debate and price erosion. In the past, application vendors The software is licensed to perform a volume of work,
have attempted to deal with this issue by creating different with the enterprise pre-paying or post-paying. Machine
user roles and pricing them accordingly. The roles start virtualization makes consumptive licensing far more
simple but over time the roles get more granularly defined. practical and is being used as a platform for this new
It becomes more difficult to determine which features license model.
should be available to which role. There can even be a
disagreement as to who in an enterprise should be in what Consumptive licensing is perceived as more attractive
role. In the end, application vendors end up discounting to enterprises, and software vendors looking for market
heavily to address the perceived disconnect. Consumptive advantages are embracing the idea. Software providers can
licensing addresses the disconnect between how value is follow a straightforward decision path to determine whether
measured and how value is delivered. consumption-based licensing models are appropriate
for both customers and the provider. This new licensing
Machine virtualization brings the topic of consumptive approach makes it is easier to clearly identify and report the
licensing to the foreground. Licensing the software to value an enterprise receives from a software application. It
perform an amount of work is a very attractive license also allows enterprise customers to purchase in a way that
model when applications are dynamically deployed, run better addresses the level of price risk they are willing to
for a period of time, and then disappear as quickly as they take. As a result, consumptive licensing effectively addresses
came. It does not matter if: the disconnect between how value is measured and how
• the applications run on one or fifty machines value is delivered.
• the application can run once on a given machine or
ten copies can run on the same machine For more information about how consumptive licensing can
• the machine has a single core / processor or the top benefit software providers and their customers in today’s
of the line latest eight cores / sixteen processors. virtualized IT world, please visit www.flexerasoftware.com.
The desire at enterprises for consumptive licensing is About Flexera Software
growing rapidly, driven both by SaaS and by machine Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic
virtualization. Application vendors can reduce discounting solutions for Application Usage Management; solutions
and simplify their product by embracing consumptive delivering continuous compliance, optimized usage and
license models. The role of consumptive license models is maximized value to application producers and their
increasing and all indications are that this trend customers. Flexera Software is trusted by more than 80,000
will continue. customers that depend on our comprehensive solutions-
from installation and licensing, entitlement and compliance
Conclusion management to application readiness and enterprise license
Virtualization technology is now firmly entrenched in many optimization - to strategically manage application usage
aspects of enterprise data centers; popular techniques range and achieve breakthrough results realized only through the
from virtual machines and application virtualization, to systems-level approach we provide. For more information,
presentation virtualization and remote control. Machine please go to: www.flexerasoftware.com
virtualization, in particular, is widely used in today’s back
office environments. The cost savings and flexibility (and
IT, compliance and “green” benefits) of virtualization
technology are strong drivers for its use within the
back office.
Today, however, the ways in which IT organizations
are installing, administering and using applications are
frequently inconsistent with the way the application
vendor had designed, tested, defined support or licensed
the application. This gap between application vendors
and their customers creates additional cost to the IT
organization, increases the complexity of the application,
reduces the perceived value, and increases the IT
organization’s governance risks. Fortunately, this “vendor-
customer gap” affords new opportunities for software
vendors to evolve their licensing practices, and thus
enhance revenues while improving customer satisfaction.
Flexera Software: FlexNet Producer Suite White Paper Series 9
