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Flexera Opens New Offices in China to Address Application Usage Management Demand

By Rory Lidstone, TMCnet Contributing Writer

According to Flexera Software, an increasing number of companies in China have begun to adopt global best practices and standards of late, in order to maximize the value of their enterprise applications and optimize their spending. As such, demand for application usage management solutions is at an all-time high in the country.

In order to effectively address this demand and better service its over 700 customers in China, Flexera has decided to open two new offices — one in Beijing and one in Hong Kong.

A recent survey conducted by Flexera Software and IDC (News - Alert) found that software license compliance audits have grown in frequency over the last year or two. These audits allow software vendors to seek additional compensation from companies, in the form of a "true-up" penalty, when use is discovered that falls outside of the original licensing terms. The survey found that 64 percent of enterprises had undergone an audit in the prior 18-24 months, with 24 percent reporting a total true-up of over $1 million.

Companies can avoid this with an application usage management solution.

"Chinese enterprises and application producers increasingly understand the tremendous competitive advantages that application usage management can deliver," said Tom Canning, vice president of APAC at Flexera Software. "By opening our offices in Beijing and Hong Kong, we can more effectively provide the localized expertise and resources needed to maximize return on software investments."

Huawei (News - Alert) subsidiary HiSilicon Technologies turned to Flexera's software license optimization solution, FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications, to centrally manage its license servers and report on concurrent license usage. So far, the company has already gained significant value from this software as it has enabled maximum availability of its electronic design automation software, while minimizing the need to buy additional licenses. FlexNet Manager will only increase its value over time as vendors perform license compliance audits.

"We have already helped hundreds of Chinese companies solve these challenges, and we are confident that our local presence, combined with our global leadership in this area will strongly position us in the market," said Oscar Wong, head of Flexera Software's Hong Kong office.

The FlexNet Manager Suite is ideal for enterprises, as well as governmental and educational institutions, allowing them to maximize their return on high-value software investments while maintaining license compliance. Meanwhile, Flexera's application readiness solution, AdminStudio Suite, helps power an enterprise's application readiness process for migrating to Windows 7, application and desktop virtualization and basic everyday application packaging operations.