FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises v8.6

Transcription

1 TECHNOLOGY AUDIT FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises v8.6 Flexera Software Reference Code: OI Publication Date: March 2012 Author: Roy Illsley SUMMARY Catalyst In today's economic climate, there is significant pressure on CIOs to control costs and reduce risks, while at the same time finding ways to fund new business initiatives. Software represents a strategic asset that is typically under-managed in most organizations. Hence, it should be a priority for CIOs to find ways to automate and optimize software asset management to uncover cost savings and minimize license liability risk. The recovered time and money can then be diverted to innovation. Ovum has long advocated the need to manage software contracts and software license compliance/costs on a professional basis, beyond the Excel spreadsheets used by most IT departments. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises represents an enterprise-class solution for desktop and data center software assets and provides the information and tools needed to optimize the management of these assets. Key findings The products in FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises are built on FlexNet Manager Platform, which provides scalable software and hardware asset management across more than 13,000 publishers and 100,000 applications. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 1

2 FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises provides specific enterprise license optimization solutions covering Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Symantec, and concurrently licensed engineering applications. FlexNet Manager for SAP Business Suite is a comprehensive solution for optimizing named user licenses and tracking SAP engine use and helps enterprises accurately charge back software expenses internally based on actual use. Workflow Manager integrates with FlexNet Manager Platform and AdminStudio, providing a workflow engine to automate and enforce lifecycle business processes. It supports service level agreement (SLA) management and dynamic notification. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises collects inventory data and automates software asset management and license optimization across Windows, Windows Server, Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS, from desktops to data center servers. It also offers discovery and inventory of virtual servers for VMware vsphere and Microsoft Hyper-V environments and integrates with Citrix XenApp to allow license management for virtualized applications. Flexera Software is a leading adopter of the ISO standard for software identification tags. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises collects ISO tags and recognizes software installations based on these tags. Ovum recommends In contract renewals, an enterprise must understand the options available to it, what it currently has, and what it actually needs. When software vendors introduce new license agreements, an organization needs to have information available about usage and licenses so that it can negotiate the best possible deal. Software license optimization requires a keen understanding of product use rights. Failure to account for these rights can have a significant impact on license consumption and cause substantial unnecessary costs. Enterprises must have the processes and tools in place to effectively manage a wide range of complex license models and purchase agreements to maintain license compliance and reduce the risk of vendor audits. Value proposition FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises combines asset discovery and inventory, recognition, and reconciliation with contract terms, purchase order data, and product use rights to identify license Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 2

3 cost savings and report the "actual license position" of an organization. It can also identify underutilized software (and the associated licenses) and reduce the IT costs associated with new license purchases and maintenance renewals. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises also enables enterprises to maximize volume discounts and reduce the time and effort required for software vendor audits. The solution covers desktops and data centers, including virtualized environments, and has comprehensive solutions for most leading vendors' licensing models, including Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, IBM, Oracle, and SAP. SOLUTION ANALYSIS Functionality The FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises solution has a user-friendly interface and operates using Flexera Software's five steps to software asset management (SAM) best practice: gather inventory, perform application recognition, match up inventory and purchase data, determine license compliance, and optimize licensing. The addition of workflow capabilities enables the solution to integrate into existing business systems and processes. Gather inventory FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises has scalable, cross-platform software and hardware discovery and inventory capabilities (both zero-touch/agentless and agent-based). These are currently used by Flexera Software customers across infrastructures with tens to hundreds of thousands of devices and hundreds of sites. The solution is able to deal with complex distributed environments such as low-bandwidth connections, devices hidden behind routers, and mobile devices. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises stores not only discovered software information but also the details of the hardware on which it resides, thus the solution has the added benefit of delivering core hardware asset management functionality should a customer wish to use it. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises integrates with existing configuration management and inventory tools, including out-of-the-box integrations with Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). Its inventory and financial data adapter pulls data from already owned discovery tools such as ConfigureSoft, Altiris, and Centennial, and from Active Directory and human resources (HR) systems to associate users and groups to hardware and software assets. FlexNet Manager Suite also integrates with Citrix XenApp and EdgeSight to collect user access rights and application usage data to enable license management for virtualized applications. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 3

4 Perform application recognition FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises has a highly effective application recognition library (ARL) that analyzes data from many sources, including installer evidence such as Add or Remove Programs and the MSI database, file evidence, the Windows registry, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and other Common Information Model (CIM) classes, and ISO software identification tags. This library is updated monthly to ensure that it accurately reflects changes in available software; in fact, many of the new software fingerprints requiring recognition are supplied by Flexera Software customers. Importantly, the ARL lays the foundations for matching application installations to license purchases by mapping the "technical inventory," or software fingerprints, to proper application names. Match up inventory and purchase data To facilitate the matching of software install volumes to license purchases, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises' configurable and flexible inventory and financial data adapter allows collection of data from many financial systems such as Ariba, SAP, and PeopleSoft. It also provides a stockkeeping unit (SKU) library of products from all major software vendors. This SKU library contains over 300,000 software part numbers (SKUs) and helps automate the mapping of license and purchase order information to the installed applications. Determine license compliance At the compliance stage, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises reconciles purchases with installed software inventory to produce over-buying or under-buying visibility for each installed application. In doing this, it handles a multitude of licensing models and purchase-agreement types: License models/metrics include: device based, named user, number of processors/cores, processor points (e.g. IBM Processor Value Units [PVUs]), with either full capacity or sub-capacity licensing, resource value units (RVUs), user value units (UVUs), client access license (CAL), server and CAL, and concurrent user. Purchase agreements include: enterprise, select, select plus, cumulative license program (CLP), and maintenance plans, such as software assurance and upgrade plan. In addition, the license optimization solutions for Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, and Symantec include a comprehensive product use rights library (PURL) which defines the product use rights for each application when purchased under different purchase programs, with or without maintenance, etc. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 4

5 This helps an enterprise to take full advantage of its software licenses, by ensuring that all product use rights are factored into the reconciliation process. Product use rights include: upgrade/downgrade rights, right of second use, multiple installation rights (multiple versions of software on the same machine), virtual use, disaster recovery (DR)/failover rights, and more. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises enables the enterprise to achieve an "actual license position" for each application. This automated reconciliation process takes SAM beyond just the tracking of software assets. It enables enterprises to efficiently use the software licenses that they already have and to acquire only those that they need. With information on the number of licenses held for each software product, enterprises can redeploy software instead of blindly buying more licenses. It also facilitates central control and management so that savings can be achieved through volume licensing discounts. Optimized licensing predictive analysis and trend analysis In addition to license optimization based on the application of product use rights, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises provides contract and vendor management capabilities that allow tracking of maintenance payments and renewals. Its dashboard-based approach helps organizations to track license and maintenance fees, set alerts for contract expiry and renewals, consolidate vendors, and re-harvest unused or unallocated licenses. In doing the latter, the solution goes beyond traditional SAM activities to include the capability to identify installed software that is underutilized or not being used, which allows organizations to defer new license purchases and/or potentially reduce ongoing maintenance fees. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises includes a business-reporting portal, utilizing industryleading business intelligence technology to provide reports on key business indicators, historical and trend analysis, and more. A report builder is also available, which uses a simple drag-anddrop interface. FlexNet Manager for SAP Business Suite offers additional license optimization capabilities based on techniques unique to SAP. It finds inactive and duplicate users, and uses role assignments, transaction analysis, groups, CPU consumption, and much more to determine the most optimal named user license type for each user based on how they use SAP. In virtualized environments especially, complex license types can unwittingly be sent into breach when making "harmless" environmental changes. FlexNet Manager Platform, FlexNet Manager for IBM, and FlexNet Manager for Microsoft include an industry-first simulation capability, enabling license managers to predict the impact on license consumption of Oracle Processor licenses, IBM PVU licenses, and Microsoft Server Processor licenses, respectively, when changing hardware Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 5

6 properties, moving virtual machines, installing new software, etc. This enables license managers to manage their licenses proactively, not reactively. Reporting and audit facilities FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises has numerous out-of-the-box alerts and reports (see Figure 1), which include pending contract renewals and savings, software re-harvest opportunities, software installed, software usage and trends, license compliance, and unmanaged/unauthorized software. There are dashboards with drill-down or drill-through facilities, and customizable views or Web reports can easily be created. These reports not only fulfill day-to-day SAM needs but are also vital inputs to software-related audits such as software vendor audits, Business Software Alliance audits, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) disclosures, or internal risk and liability assessments. To meet the needs of SOX compliance, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises provides sophisticated role-based administration capabilities with a full historical audit trail. Figure 1: Example reports from FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises Source: Flexera O V U M Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 6

7 Workflow Workflow Manager manages lifecycle processes such as service, software, hardware, and contract requests, including the ability to automate the procurement of new contracts. Through its integration with FlexNet Manager Platform, Workflow Manager can validate license availability for software requests and determine license costs and pending approval from stakeholders. It can make license assignments to specific users in FlexNet Manager Platform. Workflow Manager also enables assets/services to be retired at end of life, which helps organizations maintain high-quality compliance records that can be easily audited, saving both money and time. Go-to-market strategy Flexera Software's target market for FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises is horizontal, as the software meets the needs of enterprises in a wide variety of industries, particularly Fortune 1000 or Global 2000 companies needing to reduce IT spend and ensure software license compliance. It is sold directly through sales representatives, broken up by regions, in the US and Europe. It is also sold through resellers, and various partners, in the US, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. The standard license model for FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises is a perpetual license. However, subscription-based licensing is also available. Deployment FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises uses scalable n-tier server architecture that Flexera Software states will offer full support for practically any network environment. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises is already deployed across a number of very large (greater than 150,000 workstations) environments and has been tested with one million asset records. The personnel required for the deployment of FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises vary by customer, depending upon, for example, whether they have an existing trusted inventory source and available purchase order and licensing information. At its simplest, a basic installation that imports SMS/SCCM inventory data can be up and running in a matter of hours. Deployment example 1 A global consulting, outsourcing, and services company had many different, disparate systems in place for asset management, none of which fully or consistently met its requirements. The Flexera Software solution was deployed enterprise-wide as an asset management "tool of choice" to be used by 600 asset managers responsible for managing 400,000 computers. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 7

8 This organization was able to save substantial compliance and labor costs by implementing this solution, which was easier to use, more consistent, and more capable than previous systems. The initial implementation project extended over eight months and involved integration with a wide variety of business systems, extensive process definition, and user training. Deployment example 2 A global solution provider uses the Flexera Software solution to provide hosted software asset management services to its customers. Its SAM team consists of approximately 50 personnel who are responsible for managing its customers' software and licensing from procurement through to retirement. End customers of the service range from organizations with a few thousand computers through to enterprises with many tens of thousands of computers. The implementation project involved defining and building a "standard" solution and set of interfaces to be provided for each customer, to normalize and minimize the per-unit cost of the solution across many customers. The initial implementation extended over approximately six months. FlexNet Manager Platform SKU Library data is used extensively to minimize effort and cost associated with processing procurement records and matching them up to optimized entitlement data. The capabilities of the implemented solution are substantially greater than the homegrown solution that was previously used to provide software asset management services, allowing this organization to now meet its service level agreement (SLA) obligations to its customers when it had not been able to do so in the past. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 8

9 DATA SHEET Key facts about the solution Table 1: FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises data sheet Product name FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises Product classification Software asset management & license optimization Version number 8.6 Release date March 2012 Industries covered All Geographies covered All Relevant company sizes All Platforms supported All Languages supported English, German Licensing options Perpetual or pay as you go Deployment options Client install Route(s) to market Direct, channel URL European headquarters Asia-Pacific headquarters ELO Maidenhead, UK Melbourne, Australia Company headquarters North America headquarters Schaumberg, Illinois, US Schaumberg, Illinois, US Source: Ovum O V U M Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 9

10 APPENDIX Methodology Ovum Technology Audits are independent product reviews carried out using Ovum's evaluation model for the relevant technology area, supported by conversations with vendors, users, and service providers of the solution concerned, and in-depth secondary research. Author Roy Illsley, Principal Analyst, IT Solutions Consulting We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect. Ovum (Published 03/2012) Page 10