OpenLM for Engineering Licensing vs. Snow License Manager

OpenLM can simplify the reporting of complex licenses with multiple toolboxes or products on one server. It covers most of our license server types, but not all. The academic version is reasonably priced (e.g. for educational institutions) giving 90% of the features, however setting it up on-premise was more complex than our original pilot would suggest. We couldn't do without it now.

In large organizations especially with extensive networking among branches, Snow License Manager provides comprehensive information for software application management and acquisition. Users can be given privileges in Snow License Manager commensurate with their job profile. In smaller organizations it could be oversized. Snow License Manager has a stiff learning curve requiring dedicated human resources to grasp, implement and deploy. For small organizations that could be too costly in terms of initial costs and the time the user needs to become proficient

Incentivized

• Peak concurrent license use for any period of time, often less than expected, saves unnecessary over purchase.
• Denials of license, can quickly see where a license is not working, say, after an upgrade.
• Comparison of license utilisation (% when near the limit).
• Quick check of expiring licenses.

• SLM finds installations of software reliably.
• SLM determines the usage of applications, web apps, and the users who employ them.
• SLM Reports help management determine current and future application usage.
• SLM notifies when forbidden programs are installed.
• SLM provides complete license management.

Incentivized

• You can share a link to a dynamic report (e.g. the last 365 days). The URL is very long but it can be used with a 3rd party short URL utility and shared with users.
• Upgrading to the latest version took a long time to troubleshoot, which left a short gap in the saved data.

• Standard applications reports i.e. reports of applications flagged as denied on the allowed list. This would make the reporting and scheduling automated rather then being manual.
• License / Agreement email notification with to users who do not have access to Snow License Manager with predefined text messages i.e. informing users what they need to do as next steps. The text can be updated based on privilege's set up on Snow License Manager e.g. Snow License Manager administrator
• Standard report which returns empty container application records
• schedule email of dashboards
• ability to record application versions greater then 0.x.x in the SRS library. This is critical to tracking of applications where the latest version.
• consistency of labels of columns through the various reports
• The ability to select and move multiple columns at the same time when building or updating a report .
• one report which shows a application, user, computer, if the application requires a license and which users have a valid license for the application.

Incentivized

Snow License Manager is an integrated part of our Licensing Compliance software solution. It does help us manage current license needs and actual license usage, as well as inventory shadow IT usage. The nice side effect of being able to see hardware specifications and keeping track of hardware usage by users is a bonus!

Incentivized

We currently have the on-premise solution, which is very good indeed. If we were starting working with Snow now, we'd probably select the Atlas (SaaS) managed platform. This would reduce/remove work required to keep the Snow servers up-to-date with Windows and software updates.

Incentivized

Never had issues in this area. Always up and running

Incentivized

It took some growing pains and SNOW fixed performance issues for their product, but never had any issue with it

Incentivized

Support for the most part is responsive, but there are times when it takes more time than I would like to resolve. But then, most of the time it is related to growing pains and the fact I do not have a Dev/Test environment to test items and upgrades before going to Production

Incentivized

Love it, and I got to go to Sweden

Incentivized

It went well, we took out time and verified each step as we went

Incentivized

X-Formation, OpenIT, JTB, Sassafras either more expensive for the particular task of managing and monitoring concurrent licenses, or they had a different set of features (such as Sassafras K2/Keyserver also for remote access)

All the top tools out there do the same sort of job, one quarter product A has a new service and within the next 3 quarters the other all have that service, some vendors innovate, other just buy in and integrate (to varying levels of success), and Snow License Manager does a bit of both. One area we did look at was the manpower that comparable business took to run those services and Snow License Manager came out with the smallest overhead, this meant that we could direct more money to the use of the tool, rather than making to tool work.

Incentivized

Not quite sure I understand the deployment question. We deployed company wide

Incentivized

• The academic version has paid for itself handsomely, including our setup costs. The ongoing strategic information saves costs.

• Utilization statistics have helped us to eliminate unused licenses and software.
• The central repository has eliminated the multiple spreadsheets and folders, which also reduced the amount of time our asset manager spends looking up information for others.
• The computer software mapping has helped our staff during computer upgrades. It allows them to see what software is installed on a current workstation without having to go and inspect the old computer itself. They can now look up the software that needs to be added to the new workstation, saving time.

Incentivized