METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONVERTING STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSES FOR USE IN CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20110213719A1
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferris, James Michael, Riveros, Gerry Edward
• Granted Patent: US 10,783,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1073 Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

Abstract

A “Bring Your Own License” (BYOL) service can convert users'"'"' “off-the-shelf” (OTS) software licenses for use in public clouds according to rules provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). The rules provided by an ISV can convert the terms associated with the ISV'"'"'s OTS software licenses (e.g. number of instances, number of users, duration, technical support provided) to terms associated with public clouds (e.g. number of concurrent users, number of virtual machines, number of different clouds, technical support). The BYOL license service can convert the OTS software licenses according to the rules provided by the ISVs.

Claims

1. A method for enabling use of off-the-shelf software in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

receiving, from a software vendor, rules for converting terms of a software license of a software program to terms associated with a cloud;

storing a record of the rules in a computer readable storage medium;

receiving a request to convert a version of the software license for use in the cloud; and

converting the version of the software license to a cloud software license based on the rules stored in the record.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

notifying the software vendor of the cloud software license; and

notifying an originator of the conversion request of the cloud software license.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the record comprises an identification of the software program, an identification of the software vendor, and the rules.

4. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a fee from the software vendor to receive the rules.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

providing an interface to receive the request to convert the version of the software license.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the terms of the software license comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, a number of allowed instances of the software program, and technical support for the software program.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the terms of associated with the cloud comprise at least one of number of concurrent users, number of virtual machines, duration, and technical support in the cloud.

8. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a processing system to perform a method, comprising:

receiving, from a software vendor, rules for converting terms of a software license of a software program to terms associated with a cloud;

storing a record of the rules in a computer readable storage medium;

receiving a request to convert a version of the software license for use in the cloud; and

converting the version of the software license to a cloud software license based on the rules stored in the record.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

notifying the software vendor of the cloud software license; and

notifying an originator of the conversion request of the cloud software license.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the record comprises an identification of the software program, an identification of the software vendor, and the rules.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

receiving a fee from the software vendor to receive the rules.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

providing an interface to receive the request to convert the version of the software license.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the terms of the software license comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, a number of allowed instances of the software program, and technical support for the software program.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the terms of associated with the cloud comprise at least one of number of concurrent users, number of virtual machines, duration, and technical support in the cloud.

15. A system for enabling use of off-the-shelf software in a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a network interface to a software vendor and a user;

a computer readable storage medium; and

a processor communicating with the network interface and executing a conversion module, the conversion module being configured to—

receive, from the software vendor, rules for converting terms of a software license of a software program to terms associated with a cloud;

store a record of the rules in the computer readable storage medium;

receive, from the user, a request to convert a version of the software license for use in the cloud; and

convert the version of the software license to a cloud software license based on the rules stored in the record.

16. The system of claim 15, the conversion module being further configured to—

notify the software vendor of the cloud software license via the network interface; and

notify an originator of the conversion request of the cloud software license via the network interface.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the record comprises an identification of the software program, an identification of the software vendor, and the rules.

18. The system of claim 15, the conversion module being further configured to—

receive a fee from the software vendor to receive the rules.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the terms of the software license comprise at least one of an allowed usage of the software program, an allowed duration of use of the software program, a number of allowed instances of the software program, and technical support for the software program.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the terms of associated with the cloud comprise at least one of number of concurrent users, number of virtual machines, duration, and technical support in the cloud.