unmask the truth in licensing webinar
DESCRIPTION
Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold VP of Product Management, Kevin Gillis dicusses the differences between WUG licensing and Solarwinds licensing with great insight from Ex-Solarwinds customer, Brian Harrell, Network Engineer from the Judson Independent School District.TRANSCRIPT
Unmask the Truth in IT Management Licensing
Kevin Gillis, VP Product Management
Ipswitch Network Management Division
Brian Harrell, Network Engineer
Judson Independent School District
Thanks for joining us today.
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One of you will be the lucky winner of a brand new Amazon Kindle!
Basics of Commercial Software Licensing
• Grant of right-of-use to customers and end users based on mutually agreed terms and conditions
• The Intellectual Property (IP), outright ownership of the underlying code is never transferred
• Terms and conditions typically include:– Price of license and support/upgrades (annual cost)– The how, where, by whom and how much the software is used– License duration (e.g. 1 year)
The Perils of Software Licensing
That’s great!
You’re in their
budget until the
end of time now!
That’s great!
You’re in their
budget until the
end of time now!
Yeah…those guys at ACME
had no clue on the
software license…
Yeah…those guys at ACME
had no clue on the
software license…
Two Software Sales Guys
Economics of Software Licensing
Customer and Vendor Win:License price and “real” customer value is well matched
Customer Wins: Vendor charges less than real customer value delivered
Value / Price
Amount (Scale) of Software Use
Vendor Wins: Vendor charges more than real customer value delivered
Fairly Priced
How Does This Play Out in Real Life?Customer tries to negotiate price down:To levels closer or below their “perceived” value
Vendor tries to push up “perceived” customer value:To support internal customer justification to pay more
Value / Price
Amount (Scale) of Software Use
Variable Factors in Software Pricing
• Single biggest variable is estimating “how much” the software is used through one or more “scale” factors
– Simple scale factors • e.g. Sales tool licensed by seats (number of sales staff)
– Pro: Can be directly associated with delivered value– Pro: Easier to plan growth and budgets
– Complex scale factors • e.g. Sales tool licensed by amount of data stored
– Con: Hard to associate with delivered value– Con: Poor visibility in planning growth and budgets
Complex scale factors try to push up ‘perceived value’
more than ‘real’ value
Licensing Practices in IT Management
Simple ‘Scale’ Factors Complex ‘Scale’ Factors
Number of devices, systems (physical and virtual) and applications managed
Number of device sub-components monitored e.g. interfaces, managed objects
Number of separate products with distinct capabilities installed
Number of product sub-components e.g. reports, data volumes
Number of administrative users Number of monitored metrics e.g. performance counters, alerts
Number of view-only users Tiered pricing by device size and type
Level of Support (8/5, 16/5, 24/7) Location-restricted licensing
Business unit-restricted licensing
Node-locked licensing e.g. tied to machine MAC address
Size of host machine e.g. #CPU’s
“Named User” restricted licensing
Licensing Practices Unmasked Product Sub-Components
Reporting Engine
Processing Engine
Collection Engine
Data Store
ReportingReporting
Collection Engine
Processing Engine
Integrated Product –One Single License and Price
Componentized Product – Multiple Licenses and Pricing
Data StoreData Store
Licensing Practices Unmasked
Monitor Based
Device Based Licensing – each device comes with unlimited monitors
•CPU Monitor•Memory Monitor•Disk Monitor•Network I/O Monitor•Transaction Monitor•Unlimited for one price
•Critical SQL Services/Params
•Reporting Services•Max SQL Server Page
Buffers•Cache Usage on SQL Server•Wait Locks on SQL Server•Unlimited for one price
Monitor Based Licensing – each with a different license and price
CPU Monitor
Memory Monitor
Disk Monitor
Network I/O Monitor
Transaction Monitor (s)
Critical SQL Services/Params
Max SQL Server Page Buffers
Cache Usage on SQL Server
Wait Locks on SQL Server
Reporting Services
Licensing Practices Unmasked
Element Based
6 Cisco 6500 Switches = 1,000’s of Elements
Element-Based Licensing – 100's or 1000’s of element licenses and scaled pricing
Each Cisco 6500 series
switch can scale from 10’s to
1000’s of elements with up
to 1152 ports per switch
6 Cisco 6500 Switches = 6 Devices
Device Based Licensing – one single license regardless of the number of ports and physical or virtual interfaces configured
Licensing Practices Unmasked
Element Based
6 Cisco 6500 Switches = 1,000’s of Elements
Element-Based Licensing – 100's or 1000’s of element licenses and scaled pricing
Each Cisco 6500 series
switch can scale from 10’s to
1000’s of elements with up
to 1152 ports per switch
6 Cisco 6500 Switches = 6 Devices
Device Based Licensing – one single license regardless of the number of ports and physical or virtual interfaces configured
Economics of Software Licensing
Customer and Vendor Win:License price and “real” customer value is well matched with DeviceBased Licensing
Value / Price
Amount (Scale) of Software Use
Vendor Wins: Vendor charges more than real customer value delivered with Element or Monitor Licensing
Fairly Priced
Licensing Practices Unmasked
Tiered Devices
Flat Device Licensing – Charges for 2 routers
One price for all sizes of devices
Tiered Device Licensing –Charges for a Small Tier Device and a Mid Tier Device. Each device is charged at separate license rates
…simple and direct …complex and indirect
A Company Office1. Cisco 891 Branch Office Router
2. Cisco 7600 Series Router
Cisco 891Branch Office Router
Cisco 7600 Series Router
Licensing Practices Unmasked
Restricted Use Licensing
Free Use Licensing As long as it is used by the purchasing customer organization
Restricted Use Licensing The right to use the software (license) is limited by the number of concurrent users and/or location
Location Based:Limit to the number of concurrent users – typically within a single business unit.
Concurrent Users:Use anywhere, but limits are set on the number of concurrent users.
Node-Locked: Typically USB key or Mac address lock the license to a particular computer.
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Comparative Case Study in LicensingWhatsUp Gold Solarwinds Big 4 Vendors
Simple, direct device / system / application based licensing
Complex, “element based” licensing e.g. interfaces, ports, logical volumes and monitors
Complex, “element based” licensing e.g. interfaces, ports and monitors
Applications included Pay for each monitor used Applications not included
Single tier of device pricing regardless of size of server or router or switch, etc.
Element based licensing inherently scales pricing by device size
Complex, multi-tiered pricing based on device and system size over and above element count
No user based licensing No user based licensing Administrative and “view –only” user licensing
Agentless Agentless Expensive. Agents are extra
The Downside of Element-Based Licensing
• Charges for device and managed sub-component or “element”
• Hard to know which elements to start with
• Difficult to project how the deployment will grow over time
• Fewer monitors are deployed – potentially leading to inadequate coverage
• Quickly becomes expensive, as you monitor more elements
• Inevitably, idle ports are monitored (wasted investment)
• Priced to push all customers to higher-priced enterprise level licensing
License Cost Comparison
Device vs. Element Based Licensing
WhatsUp Gold (Device-Based) Solarwinds (Element & Monitor Based)
200 network devices - 2,400 elements based on 12 interfaces per device
200 servers - 2,000 monitors based on 10 monitored elements per server including resources and applications
200 network devices - 2,400 elements based on 12 interfaces per device
200 servers - 2,000 monitors based on 10 monitored elements per server including resources and applications
Total Device Count is 400Total License Count is 400
Total Device Count is 400Total License Count is 4,400 (2,400 + 2,000)
Licenses Required: • WhatsUp Gold Premium Edition $5,195• Application monitoring included $0
Licenses Required:• Orion NPM Enterprise License $20,975• Orion APM Enterprise License $19,995
Total Cost w/ 1 Year Maintenance: $5,195 Total Cost w/ 1 Year Maintenance: $40,970
Buying Element Based Licensing is like…
Buying your dinner one bow tie pasta….at a time
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Solarwinds WhatsUp Gold
The Licensing Need to Know List
1. Remember to calculate the true 3 year licensing and maintenance support of a product before purchasing– Discounts offered in year 1 don’t usually carry over– Lock in discounts on multi-year service agreements if you can
2. Simpler Licensing = Simpler Management– With unlimited elements you don’t have to work or waste time counting,
tracking or load balancing to stay in compliance– Price links directly to value
3. Apples to apples comparison on features…make sure you look at what’s included and what’s additional….
4. If you need a calculator or a dictionary to understand the licensing, it’s probably too complex!
5. Do your homework. There are vendors that provide real value with straightforward licensing.
Real Customer Example
• Introducing Brian Harrell, Network Engineer at the Judson Independent School District in San Antonio, TX
• JISD Facts– 20,000 students– 3,200 staff– 30 locations– 400+ network, servers and applications under management
– Initially selected Solarwinds – used it for a year and then switched to WhatsUp Gold. Let’s find out why.
Next Steps
• Visit WhatsUp Gold and try our new Cost Comparison Calculator
• Download our Licensing Practices in IT Management – A Primer
• See how WhatsUp Gold compares to Solarwinds Orion in our whitepaper Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold vs. Solarwinds Orion Comparing Product Offerings
Visit http://www.whatsupgold.com/compare/
• The 2nd Webinar in the Need to Know Webinar Series – on March 25, 2010 at 10 AM EDT
– The New Breed of SMB Infrastructure Management
• The 3rd Webinar in the Need to Know Webinar Series – on March 31, 2010 at 10 AM EDT or April 1, 2010 at 2 PM EDT
– Power Forward with the All New WhatsUp Gold 14.2
– Featuring WhatsUp Gold WhatsVirtual & WhatsUp Gold Failover Manager
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Questions?
www.whatsupgold.com
IpswitchWhatsUp Gold