The document describes FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud, a software license optimization solution delivered as a Software as a Service (SaaS). It provides key functionality including application discovery and inventory, license reconciliation between purchases and installations, software license optimization, and dashboards and reporting. Customers benefit from lower upfront costs, faster deployment, reduced software costs through optimization of license usage, and continuous license compliance. The solution is hosted and managed by Flexera Software and includes discovery, inventory, and license management functionality for major software vendors.

1. DATASHEET
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud
Software License Optimization Solution Delivered as Software as a Service
Flexera Software’s market leading software asset
management and Software License Optimization
solution, FlexNet Manager Suite, is available via
a cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery
model. This provides lower upfront costs, faster
deployment and shorter time to value since the
product is installed and managed in the Flexera
Software datacenter on our high availability
platform. There are no scalability or architectural
issues for the customer to consider, and product
upgrades are managed by Flexera Software.
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud’s web-based user
interface provides anytime, anywhere access to
critical license management and Software License
Optimization functionality to allow organizations to
maintain license compliance, improve operational
efficiency and reduce ongoing costs for software.
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud’s Software License
Optimization functionality includes:
• Application Discovery Inventory using an
Inventory Beacon to upload data to the cloud:
– Provides cross-platform (Windows, Linux,
UNIX, and MAC OS) discovery, inventory, and
application usage data collection
– Performs discovery and inventory of virtual
machines on VMware ESX/vSphere and
Microsoft Hyper-V servers, and supports Citrix
XenApp application virtualization environments.
– Leverages existing IT investments via integration
with a multitude of third-party standard
inventory sources including Symantec Altiris,
BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency
Mapping (ADDM), BladeLogic Client
Automation (Marimba), HP Discovery and
Dependency Mapping Inventory (DDMI), IBM
License Metric Tool (ILMT), Microsoft System
Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), and
IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager (BigFix)
– Enables organizations to ‘know what they have’
in their IT environment and consolidate vendors
and applications
• Purchased Versus Installed/Consumed License
Reconciliation:
– Reconciles software purchases against software
installed or used on computers and virtual
machines within an enterprise
– Built-in knowledge base recognizes more than
120,000 application titles and 600,000
software product part numbers (stock keeping
units or SKUs) to determine the license
entitlements for each software purchase, and
links that information to the software installed on
the devices within the target network
– Reconciliation process can provide a baseline
license position for more than 14,000 vendors
– Enables organizations to maintain license
compliance to reduce audit cost and risk
• Software License Optimization:
– Leverages the “product use rights” found in
licensing agreements – such as the right of
second use, multiple use, roaming use, virtual
use, and license mobility – to minimize license
consumption; use rights for key vendors are
encapsulated in the Product Use Rights Library
– Provides Software License Optimization for
major software vendors such as Microsoft,
Adobe, IBM, Oracle, SAP and Symantec
– Enables organizations to reduce license
consumption and lower ongoing costs
for software
• Dashboard and Reporting:
– Provides an intuitive management dashboard
enabling an administrator to understand the
current license position, receive alerts on issues,
and review key events such as data imports
– A compliance overview report summarizes
an organization’s exposure, such as its
financial liability and the number of licenses
in breach per publisher
– Drill downs provide deeper information for
any vendor products and the licenses
attached to those products
Benefits to
Your Organization
• Gain visibility and
control of your
software estate
• Reduce ongoing costs
for software
• Maintain continuous
license compliance
to reduce audit cost
and risk
• Realize lower upfront
costs for your Software
Asset Management and
License Optimization
solution
• Shorten time-to-value
with the Software as a
Service delivery model

2. How it Works
Software license management and optimization are performed by
matching installation and usage data to entitlements.
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud—Software as a Service
Delivery Model
• Installation and usage data can be collected from existing
discovery and inventory tools such as SCCM, Altiris, etc.,
or alternatively customers can use the Inventory Manager
tool provided with FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud. A small
component called the Inventory Beacon is downloaded and
installed on site to perform discovery and inventory tasks
and securely upload the data to the cloud. All discovery and
inventory actions are managed and monitored from the Web
User Interface.
• License entitlement data is provided by purchase orders.
Flexera Software adapters connect to procurement systems to
collect this data for upload via the Inventory Beacon. The data
can also be uploaded as a spreadsheet or text file using the
Web User Interface.
• To report on license consumption, compliance or usage per
department, location, or cost center--organizational data,
including users and enterprise groups (shown as HR data in
the figure), is uploaded to the cloud, again using the Web UI
or the Inventory Beacon to collect and securely package this
data for transmission.
• Once the data is uploaded from the Inventory Beacon
and/or through spreadsheets or text files, license records
will automatically be created in the FlexNet Manager Suite
repository, according to stock keeping unit (SKU) definitions
stored in the built-in SKU Library.
• All management functions and reports are available to
customers from the same Web User Interface.
Figure 1: FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud—Software as a Service Delivery Model
FlexNet Manager Suite
Cloud
Flexera Discovery
and Inventory
Third Party Tools Entitlement and
HR Data
AD
Customer Site
Management
Reporting
Data Collection
Inventory Beacon
• Agent or
agentless
• Oracle
• Virtualization
ILMT HR3rd party
Inventory
(SCCM,
Altiris...)
POs

3. Copyright © 2014 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
FMS-E_DS_Cloud_Mar14
Flexera Software LLC
(Global Headquarters):
+1 800-809-5659
United Kingdom (Europe,
Middle East Headquarters):
+44 870-871-1111
+44 870-873-6300
Australia (Asia,
Pacific Headquarters):
+61 3-9895-2000
Beijing, China:
+86 10-6510-1566
For more office locations visit:
www.flexerasoftware.com
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud Web User Interface
The Web User Interface provides an intuitive management
dashboard and a set of predefined reports. From this screen,
users have the ability to drill down and view the list of
products associated with each publisher and drill down further
to view or manage licenses. The Web User Interface guides
users through license management processes and is oriented
to allow “management by exception”. This minimizes the time
and effort required to perform license management tasks.
• Red cards show publishers where there are one or
more licenses in breach (out of compliance)
• Gray cards show publisher where the organization
is in compliance
• Orange cards indicate that there is a potential issue
that needs to be resolved
Subscription License Model
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud is available as a
1, 3, or 5 year subscription. Subscriptions include software
license, maintenance, backup, disaster recovery and
software updates during the term of the agreement.
FlexNet Manager Suite Cloud includes the
following components:
• FlexNet Manager Platform
• FlexNet Manager for Microsoft
• FlexNet Manager for Adobe
• FlexNet Manager for IBM
• FlexNet Manager for Symantec
• FlexNet Manager for Oracle
• FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications
Learn more about the products included in FlexNet Manager
Suite Cloud and see how your enterprise can achieve
continuous software license compliance, maximized value
and optimized usage with Flexera Software’s Software as
a Service solution by visiting our website:
www.flexerasoftware.com/SLO
ABBYY Software
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
Macromedia
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
Adobe Systems
Total products: 2
Compliant: 2
Unknown: 0
Microsoft
?
Total products: 9
Compliant: 7
Unknown: 1
Altova
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
Oracle
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
IBM
Products in breach
4Liability
$2,300,000
Total products: 10
Compliant: 6
Unknown: 0
O’Reilly Media
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
InstallShield Software
Total products: 1
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
Symantec
Total products: 2
Compliant: 1
Unknown: 0
Publisher Compliance Summary
12 results returned 10 cards per page
Figure 2: Software publisher summary view of license compliance position, license liability exposure and other potential issues