Frost & Sullivan
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Frost & & Sullivan
intended to be used. As advanced markets saturate, software publishers are expanding into
emerging markets to continue growing revenues and market share. Emerging markets, however,
typically suffer from high rates of piracy due to typically feeble legal enforcement against pira cy
and a social culture that condones, and even embraces, unlicensed or under-licensed software
Software Is Monetized Through Thus, it is increasingly business-critical for vendors to incorporate technological
consumption. Licensing........................................................................... 3
Software Is Monetized Through Licensing........................................................................... 3
solutions that are designed to prevent uncontrolled copying and counterfeiting of software and
Licensing Must Resist Hacking to Be Effective.................................................................... 3
software-powered products.
Licensing Must Resist Hacking to Be Effective.................................................................... 3
Core Characteristics of an Effective License Management Solution................................ 4
Core Characteristics of an Effective License Management Solution................................ 4
Figure 1:
Considerations in Choosing a License Management Security Architecture .................... Management.
Security and Entitlement Management are Complementary Facets of License 5
Considerations in Choosing a License Management Security Architecture .................... 5
Solution Brief: Wibu-Systems in Action .............................................................................. 7
Solution Brief: Wibu-Systems in Action .............................................................................. 7
Security
Key Takeaway: How to Choose a License Management Solution ...................................... 10
Key Takeaway: How to Choose a License Management Solution ...................................... 10
About Frost & Sullivan .......................................................................................................... 11
About Frost & Sullivan .......................................................................................................... 11
Entitlement
Management
It is important to note that the adverse impact of piracy extends beyond the publishers
themselves to their paying customers as well. In conversations with software licensees,
particularly in the case of high-value software such as animation, simulation and modeling,
Frost & Sullivan found that customers of these software packages were themselves citing
piracy as a problem. This is because competitors pirating these expensive software platforms
can offer significantly lower prices for comparable services, forcing legitimate licensees to
either drop their prices and sacrifice profitability or lose business.
To summarize, efficient management of entitlement for legitimate users is a clear business
necessity. However, entitlement management alone solves only one-half of the software
monetization problem. A license management solution must offer both comprehensive
entitlement management and robust anti-hack security to be truly useful. Many software
publishers believe that security is neither achievable nor necessary. However, technology
advances are negating the achievability myth, while simultaneously adding urgency to the
necessity aspect.
CORE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE
LICENSE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
To fully reap return on their R&D investment in their software and software-powered products,
and indeed in their investment in the license management solution itself, Frost & Sullivan
strongly recommends that vendors ensure their solution is designed to achieve three core
properties: seamless, scalable and secure, as shown in the figure below.
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