Software license management within a cloud computing environment

• US 8,380,837 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Deng, Yu, Hamilton, Rick A. II, Li, Jenny S., Zeng, Liangzhao
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, LIANG CHE A
• Application Number:
  US12/876,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 896 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/202, 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a solution to manage software licenses within a cloud computing environment. Specifically, aspects of the present invention (among other things): determine a requester'"'"'s/customer'"'"'s needs; identify a set (at least one) of providers capable of addressing the requester'"'"'s licensing needs; and match the customer with the most appropriate provider. The embodiments of the present invention will also analyze current licensing configurations/models of the requesters, providers, and software vendors to identify areas of potential improvement. This provides the functionality necessary to adjust software license level in a dynamic fashion so as to best meet the customer'"'"'s needs.

Claims

1. A method for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

receiving a request for a cloud service from a requester;

gathering information related to the request;

identifying a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;

matching the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;

receiving third party input corresponding to trends in current license usage through the cloud computing environment;

analyzing, based on the third party input, a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations; and

providing output based on the matching and the analyzing.

2. The method of claim 1, the gathering comprising accessing a service subscription log and the information comprising a set of current licenses held by the requester.

3. The method of claim 1, the identifying comprising accessing a software license repository.

4. The method of claim 1, the output being provided to the requester and the particular provider.

5. The method of claim 1, the set of potential improvements relating to at least one of the following:

a proposed duration for a new license, a proposed termination of an existing license, or a proposed change to an existing license.

6. A system for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to the bus; and

a memory medium coupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising instructions to;

receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;

gather information related to the request;

identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;

match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;

receive third party input corresponding to trends in current license usage through the cloud computing environment;

conduct an analysis, based on the third party input, of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations; and

provide output based on the match and the analysis.

7. The system of claim 6, the memory medium further comprising instructions to access a service subscription log to gather the information, and the information comprising a set of current licenses held by the requester.

8. The system of claim 6, the memory medium further comprising instructions to access a software license repository to identify the set of providers.

9. The system of claim 6, the output being provided to the requester and the particular provider.

10. The system of claim 6, the set of potential improvements relating to at least one of the following:

a proposed duration for a new license, a proposed termination of an existing license, or a proposed change to an existing license.

11. A computer program product for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media, to:

receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;

gather information related to the request;

identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;

match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;

receive third party input corresponding to trends in current license usage through the cloud computing environment;

conduct an analysis, based on the third party input, of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations; and

provide output based on the match and the analysis.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media to access a service subscription log to gather the information, and the information comprising a set of current licenses held by the requester.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media to access a software license repository to identify the set of providers.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, the output being provided to the requester and the particular provider.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, the set of potential improvements relating to at least one of the following:

a proposed duration for a new license, a proposed termination of an existing license, or a proposed change to an existing license.

16. A method for deploying a system for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

deploying a computer infrastructure being operable to;

receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;

gather information related to the request;

identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;

match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;

receive third party input corresponding to trends in current license usage through the cloud computing environment;

conduct an analysis, based on the third party input, of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations; and

provide output based on the match and the analysis.