Motor racing venue
Silverstone
has cut software licensing costs by 20% through implementing a
software asset management system.
The IT team at the track realised they needed a way of knowing
how applications were used at different times to make sure all
software was properly licensed.
Silverstone, which uses 115 laptops and desktop computers,
deployed
Centennial Discovery software ahead of the 2008 Grand Prix to
identify all software and hardware assets.
Silverstone IT manager Kevin O'Brien said the priority was to
understand what software assets the organisation had and to
determine how to handle licensing in the future.
The system provides a minimum specification for each PC on the
network, which was used as a guideline by Silverstone for a recent
hardware refresh. "This dramatically reduced the time it took to
decide which PCs on the network needed upgrading or refreshing,
which was hugely more cost-effective than refreshing them all,"
said O'Brien.
He said the changing usage patterns meant that software
licensing was complicated, with multiple suppliers, licensing
schemes, upgrade plans and subscriptions.
O'Brien said many companies tackle the problem of licensing
compliance through buying more licenses than they need.
"[SAM software] removes the guesswork from establishing how many
applications are in use, so we can make sure we are accurately
licensed without spending more than we need to," he said.
The software automates the auditing process and finds all
hardware assets and tracks usage of software. This enables
Silverstone to identify any gaps or overlaps in licensing.