Software Asset Management (SAM) Blog

Centennial recently launched an initiative called Centennial SAM Academy which is a demonstration of our commitment to help customers to get the most out of their investment in Centennial technology for specific solutions in this case Software Asset Management.

Technology has a role to play in a SAM solution but any customer expecting technology to deliver them SAM will be disappointed. SAM is about technology, people and procesess. We now have technology in market that will automate a lot of the tasks required to understand an organization’s software compliance position and to manage software compliance as part of a SAM solution but without sound processes to complement the technology there is a risk our customers will believe our technology has not delivered.

Centennial SAM Academy should help customers understand what processes they should adopt to ensure success with a Centennial based SAM solution and what SAM Partner services may be required to achieve success.

Centennial SAM Academy is a set of courses aimed at building a customers knowledge of SAM in general but also to give specific guidance using Centennial products in a SAM or compliance project.

The cornerstone of the Centennial SAM Academy is Centennial SAM Essentials .
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In an obvious move to promote adoption of Windows Vista, Microsoft has announced price cuts on the operating system to coincide with the release of the first service pack.

With 2008 expected to see more organizations (as opposed to home users) adopting Vista, software and network managers face the challenge of upgrading the IT estate with minimal disruption and unexpected expenditure. In this type of exercise, the role of both IT Asset Management and Software Asset Management is vital, helping the business understand exactly what is already on the network and what needs to be done to successfully complete the upgrade.

With upwards of 70% of IT projects running over time and/or over budget, getting a Vista migration wrong could be a costly and painful mistake.

For more information on upgrading to Vista, Centennial has prepared some simple advice, available here.

Corel, Quark, and Quest Software have become the latest software vendors to join the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the software industry’s piracy and compliance watchdog.

The BSA has been increasingly active on vendors’ behalves in recent months, pursuing numerous legal cases for software piracy. The BSA targets both suppliers of pirated software and also private organizations that misuse software through under-licensing. The watchdog carries out raids across the globe on behalf of members.

The UK’s National Consumer Council (NCC) has accused Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe, Apple and other software vendors of forcing customers to sign unfair license agreements. The NCC has cited 17 of the world’s leading software suppliers as having bad practices - effectively meaning that users end up with little legal rights and often don’t know the terms of conditions of the license until they have actually installed the software.

The NCC has asked the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to launch an investigation.

Of 25 software products tested, 14 failed to mention on the packaging that users must accept a license agreement when installing the software. Only four of those that did provided a link to a copy of the agreement.