Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan
Best Practices in Software Monetization
Figure 2 :
Functional Aspects of a License Management System
•
•
•
•
“Security is as
important [to
Seamless
Scalable
Secure
us] as 3
Software Is Monetized Through Licensing........................................................................... functional
Software Is Monetized Through Licensing........................................................................... 3 in a
capabilities
Enables all business
• Evolves with software
• Withstands current
Licensing Must Resist Hacking to Be Effective.................................................................... 3
models
evolution
levels of hacking
license management
Licensing Must Resist Hacking to Be Effective.................................................................... 3
technology and can
Fits into vendor
• Can support growing
system.
evolve Solution................................ 4 If the security
Core Characteristics of an Effective License Management with inevitable
development
customer base, even a
can be 4
hacking Solution................................ broken, all our
Core Characteristics of decade out License Management intensification
an Effective
environment
investment and R&D
• Protects Architecture .................... 5
Considerations
Integrates with sales in Choosing a License Management Securitylicensing
• Continuously
Considerations in Choosing a License Managementroutines and internal
Security Architecture .................... 5 effort is
integration
process and customer
maintainable, even
intellectual property
management systemsWibu-Systems in Action .............................................................................. 7
as developers come
Solution Brief:
for nothing
Solution Brief: Wibu-Systems in Action .............................................................................. 7 and the
• Provides appropriate
and go
Does not interfere
value is lost.”
balance between cost
Choose developed Management Solution ...................................... 10
withKey Takeaway: How to • Can be a License and
end user quality
and Solution ...................................... 10
risk mitigation
Key Takeaway: How to Choose a License Management
—Embedded
of experience
maintained independent
of original LM vendor
• Can carve an adequate
software
About Frost & Sullivan .......................................................................................................... 11 vendor
hack-free window
About Frost & Sullivan .......................................................................................................... 11
of time
CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING A LICENSE MANAGEMENT
SECURITY ARCHITECTURE
A license management solution performs several security functions, as shown in Figure 3.
The relative importance of these different aspects varies across product form factors. For
example, integrity verification is crucial for on-premise software deployment but is not as
relevant for cloud-based deployments. As another example, on-demand feature management
is critically important for embedded devices where shipped hardware uniformly supports
basic and advanced functionality, but features are enabled or disabled in the field via the
license management layer, depending on ongoing customer needs. Similarly, protecting knowhow or intellectual property contained within a software application is often the most
important requirement for scientifically or technologically intensive applications, while data
security (for example, securing the keys that verify the integrity of a software license or the
integrity of a software usage log file) is important in enterprise licensing scenarios.
Figure 3:
Facets of Security in A Well-Designed License Management Solution
Anti-Piracy
Secure
On-Demand
Features
Know-How
Protection
License
Management
Security
Data
Security
Integrity
Verification
Access
Control
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