CDW License Tracker Adds CA, Network Associates

The tool also includes license purchase history, pricing and expiration dates for Adobe, Microsoft, Symantec and Veritas Software, said Dan Verdeyen, director of application development at CDW, Vernon Hills, Ill.

"It's a value-added service to help customers manage technology within their enterprise," Verdeyen said. "It gives customers a holistic picture of all their software and allows them to marry new licenses with what they have installed. As these things expire, they are aware on a proactive basis, and there are lots of reporting tools."

CA and Network Associates are the first vendors added since CDW developed the tool last year, but the company plans to keep adding to the roster, Verdeyen said. More than 30,000 customers have used the tool, he said.

Software licensing contracts have become more complex and specific among different vendors, and customers requested a program to help them manage the process, Verdeyen said.

"If you look at the six major vendors in our program, all the license agreements are different. You can't buy from one company and expect the others to operate [their licensing agreements] the same way. We have that documentation to supplement the management and reporting," Verdeyen said.

SEA Consultants, a Cambridge, Mass.-based architectural and engineering firm, uses the tracker to upload license data for other applications not purchased through CDW. The tool manages that information, too.

"The benefit to them is they want to see what people are getting [from other sources], and I'm not opposed to that. When CDW starts to sell products that I used to have to buy from a boutique reseller, I see a cost savings," said Bill Corley, IT manager at SEA Consultants. "Pricing is competitive, but CDW also gets it. And I believe in rewarding companies that get it with my business."

The license information is linked back to the databases of CA, Network Associates, Adobe, Microsoft, Symantec and Veritas, Corley said. "So we know the information is up-to-date from our perspective, CDW's perspective and the vendor's perspective," he added.

Before using the tool, SEA Consultants missed the deadline to renew two SQL Server licenses and now may have to replace them with new licenses, Corley said. "So instead of spending $3,600, I may have to spend $13,600. I may be out $10,000," he said. "At the very least, I'm going from what could have been a seamless renewal to having to raise holy heck and plead for an exception. That sort of thing wouldn't happen now."

SEA Consultants has 45 different license agreements for Microsoft products alone, Corley noted. "We might have 10 licenses on one agreement, 31 on another, nine on another. They're all due at different times. It's easy to miss something. This [tracker tool] helps prevent things from slipping through cracks."