Ania Levy of Levy LeGette LLC presented at an ITAM Review Oracle Seminar in New York on negotiating Oracle licensing contracts. She discussed a case where her firm renegotiated an Oracle contract for a global financial client, avoiding $150,000+ in penalties from a failed audit in just 6 weeks after the client had been unsuccessful in negotiations for 8 months. Levy explained that establishing the right point of contact, such as moving negotiations to the US, and negotiating with the most senior Oracle sales managers who have authority to approve deals are important strategies for getting a favorable contract terms from Oracle.

1. Platinum Sponsor
Ania Levy, Levy LeGette LLC
Delivering Oracle
Licensing Cost Savings
Through Effective
Contract Negotiations
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015

2. Platinum Sponsor
Negotiating with Oracle: A Dark Art
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015

3. Platinum Sponsor
The case of a Global Financial Enterprise
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• Failed audit
• Huge penalties (£150,000+)
• Oracle were unhelpful and showed aggressive auditing tactics
• Oracle stated that there was “no room for negotiation”
• Client had been in negotiations with Oracle for 8 months
• We concluded the agreement in 6 weeks with no penalties

4. Platinum Sponsor
Establishing a level playing field
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• There is no such thing as a failed audit
• £150,000 fine was not paid out
• We moved the entire process from the UK to the US as the Oracle
contact was extremely unhelpful
• Moving the agreement to the US meant we had a new point of contact
• The UK Oracle contact missed out on his commission!

5. Platinum Sponsor
Lessons Learned
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• Interference with your efforts is as likely to come from your own
executives
• Capitulating in order to settle disputes quickly is the hallmark of your C
Suite - not Oracle’s.
• Insist on dealing only with Oracle’s most senior Sales manager with the
authority to say “Yes!” during negotiations
• A Final Report in the wrong hands could mean something entirely

6. Platinum Sponsor
How can Oracle audit?
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• The Oracle license agreement contains only a single statement relating to
licensing use & restriction:
“Software is considered to be in use when installed and running on a processor”
• Oracle license agreements contain a proliferation of URLs that direct the
licensee to documents seemingly intended to modify that single license use
rule.
• However, the documents contain footers prohibiting the terms to be used to
construe the meaning of the contract.
• This would mean no core-based licensing; no counting of cores; no logging of
VMS or instances in a virtual environment per Oracle’s extra-contractual terms;
and, no maintaining logs for 2 years for on demand inspection by Oracle

7. Platinum Sponsor
The Legal Bits
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• Oracle’s entire license structure is to protect Oracle’s entire software
enterprise from miss-use
• Oracle doesn’t have to grant a license to the customer for each software
or update they provide you. Check your contract!
• Oracle maintains that you keep a log of instances per core and cluster for
their viewing for a 2 year period
• Oracle claims that they have policies and guidelines to help customers
understand their entitlement
• Experience shows that these documents are not fit for purpose
• Oracles licensing metrics are a challenge and poorly communicated

8. Platinum Sponsor
The Golden Rules
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015
• Oracle demands acknowledgement that YOU shall not expect to receive
what was ordered
• YOU must first pay for an order before an invoice is submitted, however
once payment is received there is no window of opportunity to make any
corrections
• Ordering Document (generated and controlled by Oracle) has the final say
• Oracle demands that in exchange for “significant savings” it extends to YOU,
YOU shall in turn permit Oracle to “refer to you as a customer” in any way
• Specified order minimums can range in amounts far beyond YOUR
needs.
• There is no margin of error for unlicensed use of software.

9. Platinum Sponsor
Questions?
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York May 15th 2015