WP Cloud WIBU WhitePaper Licensing in the cloud EN | Page 10

White Pap er
Licenses in the Cloud: Introducing CodeMeter Cloud
We can see that if architected correctly and with due forethought, storing licenses in the cloud is actually
an exceptionally secure means of creating massive flexibility. CodeMeter Cloud has been designed with
security as its first priority. However, we at Wibu-Systems did not stop there.
CodeMeter Cloud was designed to be massively scalable. It has to be: some of our larger customers need
to protect their software and intellectual property with masses of licenses for their huge customer base.
There could easily be many millions of diverse requests per second, all needing to be fulfilled in real time
and all very technical in nature. Of course, it must also slot into the existing Wibu-Systems’ licensing frame-
work, which means the overall solution needs to be compatible with existing workflows.
As is currently the case, SAP, Salesforce, and others create licenses in CodeMeter Licence Central, and these
can be activated to any CmContainer. But what is a CmContainer?
A Quick Recap
CodeMeter License Central can generate licenses that end users can take to unlock and activate software
or maybe software features. This capability is very flexible, allowing for a diverse array of licensor require-
ments to be satisfied, such as time expiry, usage count, and myriad other ways. In the very simplest setup,
the customer simply needs to enter a ticket number in their browser, pointing to the WebDepot applica-
tion, to find that their application is fully licensed. Obviously, this trivial process hides huge complexity, but
the license is ultimately stored in an accessible location for the user. Traditionally, this has been the user’s
own hard disk (a CmActLicense) or a specially encrypted dongle, either locally or somewhere on the corpo-
rate network. These licenses are held in a protected environment known as a CmContainer.
The Next Step
Having CmContainers local to the company offers obvious advantages, such as traditional offline availabili-
ty. However, in a modern environment, they no longer provide the complete solution, as discussed in the
preceding example use cases.
Dongle Soft License Cloud License
No hardware costs No Yes Yes
No costs for a cloud services provision Yes Yes No
No shipping costs No Yes Yes
License immediately avaible No Yes Yes
No support costs for computer replacement Yes No Yes
Availability in offl ine scenarios Yes Yes No
Highest security Yes No Yes
Portability Yes No Yes
CodeMeter Cloud holds the licenses in a secure web environment, accessible only to those who specifically
need it, and manageable only by those authorized to do so. These licenses are held in specifically designed
CmContainers, but the architecture is such that the end user never needs to worry about where the license
is: only that they can access the software they need when they need it.
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I calculate the answer to be 2x10 42 years, though of course computers are likely to be faster by then.