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Licensing Options

Overview

Flexcom has very flexible licensing options, to suit various organisational requirements. There are actually 5 different methods by which Flexcom may be licensed from Wood :

•Ownership

•Monthly Rental

•Annual Subscription

•Token-based

•Cloud-based

Flexcom’s user interface does not require any license and so tasks like model building and post-processing can be done without occupying a license seat. The license is only required when performing the numerical simulation. This open system is significantly different to most licensing models on the market and affords great flexibility to the user base. It also accommodates new or junior team members who wish to gain Flexcom experience while not utilising a valuable license seat that could otherwise be used for analysis.

License Models

Ownership

A license is purchased outright by the customer so that the software can be used for an unlimited period. In addition to the initial purchase cost, the customer also pays an annual fee (beginning in Year 2) in order to receive technical support and software upgrades over time. This model is typically favoured by organisations where Flexcom is used extensively and consistently over long periods of time.

Monthly Rental

The customer rents the software on a month-by-month basis. Once the rental period expires, the software ceases to operate. Rental models can be suitable for well-defined projects of fixed scope. There is a breakeven point in terms of project duration beyond which it becomes more economical to opt for full ownership. When upgrading a rental license to full ownership, a significant discount is available based on a percentage of the total rental fees paid during the 12 months preceding the purchase date.

Annual Subscription

This model is conceptually similar to a monthly rental, with two notable exceptions. Firstly, the minimum subscription period is 12 months (as opposed to 1 month) and secondly, the cost of acquiring a license for 12 months via annual subscription is much lower than the cumulative total of 12 individual monthly rentals. This model offers an ideal combination of license flexibility and cost efficiency.

Token-Based

The token-based license represents a ‘pay-per-use’ model. It facilitates organisations who do not have enough workload to warrant a monthly rental license and who only need to use Flexcom on an ad-hoc basis. With this model, users purchase a number of tokens upfront and these tokens are consumed subsequently as simulations are performed. The rate of token consumption is dependent on the type of simulation being performed (e.g. dynamic time domain simulations cost more tokens than static analyses). Token-based licensing is not recommended for significant or prolonged usage of Flexcom, in which case the monthly rental, annual subscription or perpetual options (in ascending order of commitment) become more cost effective. Refer to token-based licenses for further information.

Cloud-Based

A cloud-based license involves the delivery of a software license, plus associated computational power and storage facilities, over the internet to offer a convenient, immediate and scalable means of running Flexcom. This ‘software-as-a-service’ (SaaS) model allows customers to pay for Flexcom exactly when and where required, helping to lower operational costs and spread out capital investments over time. It can appeal to a broad range of customer types:

•Companies who use Flexcom intensively can use cloud computing to supplement their desktop licenses and quickly scale up their computational power to meet busy project workloads and/or short deadlines.

•Companies who tend to rent Flexcom on a project-by-project basis may find the cloud solution a more practical and cost-effective model than the traditional rental models. If software hours can be related to engineering hours based on prior experience, detailed cost estimates can be provided to engineering clients up-front.

•Companies who are gradually phasing out traditional PC/server hardware and migrating all their systems to the cloud.

Refer to Flexcom-on-the-Cloud for further information on the cloud-based license.

Summary

The following table presents a useful summary of the various license models and should assist you in selecting the one which best meets your requirements.