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Study: Enterprises Not Monitoring Virtualization Licenses

By Casey Houser, Contributing Writer

A recent report from Flexera Software shows that many enterprises are not properly managing their license agreements as they apply to virtualization, and as a result they are suffering from penalties due to misuse.

The report discussed recently at VirtualizationWorld365.com, "Flexera Software 2013-14 Key Trends in Software Pricing & Licensing Report," was prepared by both Flexera and IDC (News - Alert) and analyzed the intentions of IT executives alongside the key issues and market trends in which software vendors and intelligent device manufacturers are a part. Notably, the report considers the intentions vendors and manufacturers have regarding their licenses and the acceptance of those intentions by their enterprise customers.

The survey revealed that 42 percent of application producers intend to change their license agreements to suit virtualization requirements. That statistic, alone, should not cause much of a stir. However, it comes with the caveat that a reported 39 percent of enterprises either do not manage their software licenses in virtual environments or they manage them manually. It is obvious that the combination of those realities does not make for a positive end result.

As Amy Konary, research vice president of software licensing and provisioning at IDC, points out, enterprises are finding themselves hit with penalties following software audits because they are not keeping up with the demands of their changing licenses. This is causing them more than headaches; it is amping up their overall software costs and eliminating savings they once expected by going virtual.

"Virtualization adds great complexity around software licensing and creates new compliance challenges for customers," Konary said. "We've seen instances in which the savings that organizations anticipate through virtualization disappear, and costs actually increase due to higher licensing fees."

There is a large disparity in the perceived complexity of dealing with licenses, the report shows. A large percentage of application producers, 59 percent, indicate that they believe it should not be hard for enterprises to determine how their licenses affect software usage.

Yet, the behavior of enterprises tells a different story. VirtualizationWorld365.com notes a previous Flexera study, "Key Trends in Software Pricing and Licensing Survey on Software License Audits: Costs & Risks to Enterprises" that points to 85 percent of organizations being incompliant with their software licenses.

It appears that vendors are changing their tactics and updating their licenses to cover virtualization requirements, and businesses will have to adapt. If they do not, they could find themselves with hefty fees that could ultimately undo any savings they had predicted by using virtualization, and ignoring any changes could well result in red tape and hassle for those responsible.