LATEST NEWS: 19770-2 Software Asset Management Tag

The third Working Draft of ‘ISO/IEC 19770-2 SAM Tag’ was released by the 19770-2 Other Working Group on 14 April 2008. This is available for public review until 11 May 2008. The full draft, together with the commenting template and instructions, in available for open distribution so long as it is without modification and without commercial charge. A copy is included in the ‘Downloads’ section of this website. A copy is also available from http://www.agnitioadvisors.com/19770-2-WD3/19770-2-WD3.zip

WORKING GROUP 21 INTRODUCTION

Working Group 21 (WG21) is the working group responsible for Software Asset Management at the ISO/IEC level. It is located within Sub-Committee 7 (SC7) of ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1( ISO/IEC JTC1).

David Bicket (of Deloitte, and also a director of Investors in Software - dbicket@deloitte.com.) is the acting convener of WG21. The British Standards Institution (BSI) provides administrative support for WG21. All members of WG21 are appointed by their respective national standards bodies, with Sweden and the United Kingdom having the most representatives. WG21 actively encourages people to take whatever steps are necessary to become formally involved. The precise way that this needs to happen varies by country, because each national standards body establishes its own policies and procedures for such selections. In the future, it is hoped to provide information on this web site about joining instructions for a number of countries so as to facilitate such participation. It is also possible to become a member of WG21 through a Category A Liaison (at the SC7 level, such as the itSMF) or through Category C Liaisons (at the WG21 level), and such Liaison relationships are currently being discussed with several international organizations.

WG21 normally conducts a physical meeting twice per year. One is in May, and is co-located with the plenary session of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7. All working groups and special working groups have co-located meetings at this time, and the plenary session at the end - where the heads of national delegations each have one vote - decide on the progress or otherwise of various standards proposals. The second physical meeting each year is normally in October. Most of the working groups meet in a common location, but for cost and other reasons they may not all do so.

The ISO/IEC standard number which has been assigned to WG21 for SAM standards is 19770, with the opportunity to have different parts for the standard.

In addition to the payment, the company agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software installed on its computers, acquire any necessary replacement licenses and commit to implementing stronger software license management practices.

In the US, software piracy can result in damages of up to $150,000 for each software title copied. The BSA currently offers up to $1,000,000 in rewards for whistle-blowers who report software piracy.

During May and June, Manchester businesses will be asked to take part in a “software healthcheck” to assess their own status.

The BSA says that companies that take part in the healthceck will not face further investigation, while those that do not participate may find themselves the recipients from an unwelcome visitor.

In the UK, software license enforcement now comes under the remit of Trading Standards, which has the power to raid businesses suspected of committing software piracy.

PointDev claims that Sony BMG had been using the pirated software since 2004.

The Federation is also calling for more sensibility and accountability among purchasers, saying that business applications being sold for a fraction of their retail price should automatically raise suspicion among buyers. The body warned that it is not just private individuals purchasing software from sites such as eBay, but also corporate users - who are potentially putting their organization at a greater risk of fines for piracy or non-compliance.

The BSA claims that up to 52% of all software in use in the Kingdom is illegal. This action is evidence that the BSA is ramping up anti-piracy activities around the world, beyond its traditional hunting grounds of Europe and North America.

Find our more about the event here.

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 .
(more…)

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.

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.