The business of software licensing is growing robustly. Over the years, Reprise Software, a leader in the space, has heard a lot about pay-per-use licensing and software monetization, but they report much of the software industry still relies on traditional licensing models. Floating licensing and single node-locked licenses are still in vogue, but the major trends drive how customers obtain their licenses (subscriptions), and where and how licensing systems are deployed (Cloud).
SourceForge recently caught up with Matt Christiano, CEO and Chief Architect at Reprise Software, to discuss current trends in the software licensing space, and to offer some insight into ways to choose the right deployment strategies for various software categories.
Q: Matt, can you please share with us a brief overview of your company? When was Reprise Software established and what are your goals? How did you earn your expertise?
A: Sure. We’re a privately held company based in California. We were founded in 2006 and are a premium provider of license management software with a growing customer base in over 35 countries. Our flagship product, Reprise License Manager (RLM), protects the revenue streams of hundreds of software publishers and ensures the maximum use of licensed software for thousands of end users, large and small. Based on our customers’ input, we continually enhance RLM along our fundamental principles of flexibility of use, simplicity of design, broad platform coverage and monetary value. We created the most widely-deployed license manager, FLEXlm, at GLOBEtrotter Software. At Reprise, we do business in the ways that made us successful at GLOBEtrotter. We provide an exceptional product, we improve it continually, and we support our customers beyond expectation.
Q: What software categories do you serve and who are a few of your current prominent customers?
A: The number of software categories using RLM are too numerous to mention. The common traits of software that can benefit most from RLM are high-value per seat applications where unauthorized overuse can be especially costly. Those categories include Engineering/Design, of all types, Imaging, including medical and film special effects applications, Oil/Gas exploration, GIS and other physical sciences, and many others. Representative customers in those spaces are Siemens, Dassault Systèmes, AutoDesk, CMGL, and Kongsberg.
Q: In which software categories do you see the most rapid adoption of software licensing today? Why those categories?
A: For some reason, movie special effects software plug-in publishers seem to be proliferating, probably because of the explosion of video as a primary form of digital media. Actually, digital media of all types and robotics are two growth areas for us.
Q: What exactly is “software licensing” and how does it work? Why is it important for software publishers?
A: Software license management or “software licensing” from the publisher’s point of view is basically making sure that you are getting paid fairly for your customer’s use of your software. The technology locks licenses to workstations or servers to ensure that the terms of the user’s license are being complied with. Vendors use software licensing to vary their licensing policies to maximize adoption of their products, including evaluations and subscriptions. End users rely on software licensing to keep them compliant.
The nuts-and-bolts of how this works is transparent to the user. He runs his software and gets a license. The application itself, by using the RLM api, makes sure that it finds all applicable licenses, and authenticates them at run time. If there is a problem, the application knows about it so that the proper next logical steps can be taken in the application. The fundamental elements of a license are: version, count, and expiration date. Other parameters can optionally be set to specify add-on features or other restraints on the use of the license. At the heart of the license is the notion of the “hostid” which is the physical part of the computer to which the license is tied to prevent use on unauthorized machines.
Q: How do you address the most challenging current software licensing issues with your products?
A: Two of the biggest trends in the industry are subscriptions and cloud deployment. We address these by offering two cloud-based solutions to simplify deployment. First, to address subscriptions, we offer our activation and entitlement management system, Activation Pro. It handles run-of-the-mill activations, as well as automatic subscription license renewals. Again, the details are all under the covers so that customers need not fuss with the mechanics of how it works. Secondly, vendors want to simplify deployment of floating or concurrent licenses in the cloud. So, we leveraged the power of RLM and created RLMCloud as a way to support license servers in the cloud. With RLMCloud, you can still support on-premises license servers, but you add the option to serve your customer’s licenses in the cloud. The benefits are obvious: tighter control, less end customer effort, better handling of virtual machines, usage data collection, etc.
Q: As the Industry’s most experienced vendor in the software licensing space, what sets Reprise Software apart in terms of products and support?
A: First of all, we are 100% focused on the needs of the software developer. We have embraced the web. We integrate all of our products into a seamless whole, while making access as open as possible through industry-standard interfaces, such as web services. We work with world-class partners to fill out the whole licensing ecosystem. Uniquely, our technical support is handled by experienced developers. If you search for reviews of Reprise’s products and services on line, you will see wide confirmation of superior levels of support.
Q: Finally, what drives Reprise Software? What is your overall design philosophy and guiding principles?
A: We design products to serve software vendors with the most functional breadth and ease of support. Our goal is to make products easy to maintain because minimizing labor costs is critical. We believe in backward compatibility. Ultimately, we admit we are not geniuses. So, we rely on clever input from our customers and prospective customers to guide us toward innovative product improvements.
About Reprise Software
Reprise Software is a privately held company based in San Jose, CA. We are a premium provider of license management software with an extensive and growing set of customers in 35 countries. Our flagship product, RLM, protects the revenue streams of hundreds of ISVs and yields the maximum use of licensed software for thousands of end users. We continually enhance RLM along our fundamental principles of flexibility, simplicity, power and value. Our experience with license management makes Reprise Software the most trusted name in the industry. We created the most widely-deployed license manager, FLEXlm, at GLOBEtrotter. At Reprise, we do business in the ways that made us so successful at GLOBEtrotter. We provide an exceptional product, we improve it continually, and we support our customers beyond expectation. Reprise was founded in 2006 and is debt-free, growing, and profitable.