Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are transactions in which the ownership of the companies, business units, or assets are transferred or combined. M&A activities are common and often driven by strategic, financial, or technological reasons, just to name a few.
However, each transaction comes with a challenge. Just take one example: an organization has grown by acquiring other ones, with each acquisition having an existing Solidworks VAR. This way the organization has accumulated five different Solidworks VARs, which is equal to five separate license servers at various locations.
On top of that, each set of licenses for all VARs has Solidworks floating licenses for a variety of engineering software products.
So now comes the typical question: is there any reason why the IT manager cannot consolidate the license servers into one to host all these floating licenses on a single license server for the whole organization?
License Server Consolidation Explained
License server consolidation reduces the number of servers required to manage and distribute software licenses. This process can be achieved by merging multiple servers, upgrading to more efficient servers, or centralizing the server configuration. From an IT management perspective, consolidating license servers offers several benefits:
- Simplification of server management and maintenance.
- Improved server availability and reliability.
- Enhanced server security and compliance.
- Increased scalability and flexibility.
- Optimized server performance and utilization.
Challenges Post-M&A
Post-M&A, companies frequently contend with multiple license servers due to legacy systems, varying licensing models, and a lack of integration planning. The existence of different licensing models and platforms increases operational costs, poses security and compliance risks, limits scalability, and impacts performance. Managing these servers necessitates more resources, increasing the total cost of ownership and potentially leading to redundancies and inconsistencies in license management.
To mitigate these challenges, organizations can consider license server consolidation. A centralized license server, managing all licenses for the organization, offers streamlined management, reduced security risks, increased scalability, and leverages new technologies.
Implementing License Server Consolidation
A centralized license server is a single server that manages and distributes all the licenses for the organization. This option has several benefits, such as:
- Streamlined License Management: A centralized license server simplifies the process of acquiring, allocating, and monitoring licenses. It eliminates the need to maintain and synchronize multiple servers, reducing administrative overhead and complexity. It also enables a unified view of the license inventory and usage across the organization, facilitating optimization and reporting.
- Reduced Complexity: By consolidating license servers, the complexity of the IT infrastructure is reduced. This streamlined environment makes it easier to deploy new software or update existing applications across the organization, thereby increasing operational flexibility.
- Resource Optimization: A consolidated server allows for better utilization of licenses. By pooling licenses, organizations can ensure that available licenses are efficiently used, reducing instances of underutilization or overprovisioning . This maximizes the value derived from software investments and supports cost-effective scaling.
- Increased Scalability and Flexibility: As an organization grows, its licensing needs also change. A consolidated license server can more readily adapt to increased demand by facilitating the addition of more licenses or expanding the license types without the need to configure multiple servers. This scalability supports growth and ensures that licensing infrastructure can keep pace with business development.
Preparing for License Server Consolidation with Open iT
For efficient license server consolidation, professionals must have access to insights of their engineering license portfolio and guidance on its optimization. Open iT empowers you with data delivered in an intuitive and easy way to navigate the platform with quick links to different functionalities. Whether there’s a need for real-time data, historical data, or integration with business intelligence tools, Open iT is equipped to meet these requirements.
Supporting a broad spectrum of license managers, including but not limited to FLEXlm, IBM LUM, LM-X, MathLM, and DSLS, Open iT is proficient in metering all types of licenses, encompassing web-based applications. The accuracy and reliability of Open iT’s reporting have been validated by numerous software vendors for customer pay-per-use or consumption-based agreements, with many clients leveraging Open iT to verify vendor reporting and identify discrepancies. For organizations aiming to gain comprehensive visibility into their engineering license portfolio and streamline their license server infrastructure, Open iT stands as a valuable ally. Contact Open iT to embark on a path towards efficient license server consolidation
