Software Metering And License Forecasting Connect on the Web
Ottawa-based AssetLabs Inc. and Dublin’s Openplain Ltd. have 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.
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.)
“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.”
