24 Apr 3 Things You Should Know About Virtual Software Licensing
When it comes to software licensing, are you still playing by the old rules? The old way of managing your software licenses has become outdated as the shift to virtual and cloud hosting models is increasingly the norm for IT organizations.
CIOs can get their software licensing procedures up-to-date by optimizing their cloud environment to shave big bucks off their software licensing costs.
To help you get started on a path towards greater efficiency, here are three things you should know about virtual software licensing.
1. You don’t always have to license the entire virtual cluster.
Many CIOs mistakenly believe they must license the entire virtual cluster, making it difficult to cut down on software costs. If you can control where the software runs, then you can license just the piece of the software your company needs.
To do this, you need the right management tools to help you navigate the constraints that govern which virtual machines (VMs) should go together. Factors like utilization, workload type, compliance, security, technical compatibility, and SLAs may dictate whether you can run certain pieces of software piecemeal.
2. You don’t have to switch to an internal cloud to simplify licensing.
When you move to an external cloud, things get a lot easier. However, this simplification may not necessarily extend to internal cloud computing. If you run the infrastructure, you will need analytics to figure out licensing processes. While some CIOs look forward to taking on this challenge, many find themselves becoming the asset managers as they build out a cloud, quite by accident.
If you like a good challenge, then you can be rewarded by the agility of migrating to an internal cloud environment. Just be prepared for the higher degree of complexity this newer environment will create.
3. Moving to a Per-Host Model Can Lead to big savings.
If you are an IT manager who licenses each software instance, you may think the cost efficiencies of virtualization don’t apply to you. This is one situation where you’ll be happy to know you are wrong!
Moving to a virtual environment can lead to the possibility of moving to a per-host model. In this scenario, licensing an entire physical host server allows an unlimited number of instances to be run.
However, this benefit is yours only if you can control VM placement and maximize its infrastructure. If you can reconfigure the environment to fit the expensive pieces on a subset of your infrastructure, you can achieve major cost savings.
USACI prides itself on helping our customers realize cost savings on software licensing. We would welcome the opportunity to do the same for your company. Gives us a call at 888-393-6565 x506 or sales@usaci.com for more information.
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