Optimized Software Licensing – Combining License Types in a License Portfolio

Abstract

The increasing number of diverse concepts and pricing models for software licensing complicates the allocation of the license portfolio at optimal cost. License types are combined considering the users’ prespecified demand and availability requirements. Optimal licensing for a particular group of users can be estimated without detailed knowledge of the individual user behavior, of group size, and the cost ratio between single user and network licenses. In the case of multiple heterogeneous user groups, however, optimal licensing of use-intensive applications can only be carried out considering group-specific capacity profiles, due to compensation effects. In order to cover cost-intensive peak loads and reduce risk of service quality of network licenses or load fluctuations simultaneously, it is possible to additionally use on-demand licenses, whose offers are still limited to only a few types of application.