Software Licensing and Pricing
Virtualization software abstracts physical computing resources so they can be used in more efficient ways. That saves on hardware, management and utility costs. The most common understanding of virtualization today actually assumes the ability to run multiple execution environments of some sort on a single piece of hardware.But what happens when that one "physical" computer is divided up into tens--or perhaps hundreds--of partitions? These "virtual" computers can be created, destroyed and moved around between "real" (physical) computers in seconds.
CA FlexSelect Licensing
CA BrightStor Capacity-Based Licensing
IBM charges on the basis of "processor value units" rather than actual processors for new middleware product licenses. See May 22, 2007 licensing.
This form of charging has been around since MVS days for S/390 software.
See: Microsoft Volume Licensing
On July 12, 2007, Kevin Turner announced that Microsoft had reduced the number of licenses from 107 to 26, effective July 1. Not yet reflected on their websites.
Oracle has two primary pricing models and customers can choose between them based on their specific needs: Oracle Global Pricing and Licensing. Software Investment Guuide updated March 2006 and FAQs updated February 2007.
- Named User Plus is for organizations with discrete and countable user populations. For uncountable populations, processor licensing is required.
- Processor pricing model is based on the number of processors a customer has installed and the number of those processors that the customer has operating.
SAP ???
Mostly tiered pricing. Symantec Licensing.