As Bob Dylan says, "Times, They are a Changin"... as it is with the software world.

Recently BVSTools changed our licensing to a subscription or Software as a Server (SaaS) "like" model.  This means that instead of a one time purchase per partition, you now purchase a license key that is good for a  specific number of days (the average and default time is 1 year or 365 days).  Our customers received this newsletter to make them aware of the change.

Why this change?  
We're seeing a lot of customers leasing machines for 2-3 years, or even moving to a cloud hosted IBM i (AS/400).  This new pricing model will even the playing field from those who replace their hardware every 2 years to those who run the same hardware for 5 to even 10 years (yes, we've had customers after 10 years replace their machine and require new license keys!)

This option also allows those requiring a license for HA/DR testing (or actual roll over to an HA/DR partition) for only the time required.  This is instead of purchasing a license key that may never get used.

We also have 3rd party consulting companies that use our software for a short period of time (90-120 days) where they require our utilities.  In these cases they are able to purchase keys for a short period that naturally expire after so many days for only a few dollars.

Finally, this new method stops the abuse of the 30 day temporary keys we've been seeing over the past few years.  The new temporary license keys are good for 10 days.  With this shorter duration we'll be able to tell if it truly is for evaluation or emergency vs. getting the keys to keep the software running for a small project.

How Much Does it Cost?
Most software is less than $1 a day per partition.  

This price, as it did before, includes support and maintenance.  In most cases the license can even be transferred to new hardware.  For example, let's say you purchase a license for a partition and 6 months later your hardware is upgraded, resulting in a serial number and/or model number change.  If the old machine is going out of service, we're more than happy to transfer the remaining days of your old license to your new machine at no charge.

So, feel free to contact us with any questions.  Thanks!

Bradley V. Stone
BVSTools