IBM Updates Software Inventory and Usage Tool
January 10, 2012 Alex Woodie
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Confused about what kind of software you’re running, and exactly how you’re using it? A new release of IBM‘s Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed may help you get a handle on your software inventory and how you use it. Many software companies license their software in a myriad of ways. IBM, for example, offers several ways to license software, including sub-capacity licensing by LPAR or VMware virtual machines, and everybody’s all-time favorite, processor value unit (PVU)-based pricing. Enter Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed, a software application designed to help organizations maintain an up-to-date inventory of installed distributed software and hardware, as well as the software’s use of data. The product monitors the usage of software and usage trends across a range of environments, including IBM i, Linux, Windows, Unix, and z/OS. The software also can produce reports for the purpose of complying with software audits by software companies. It is often used with Tivoli Asset Management for IT, which provides additional capabilities in the area of license management and audit readiness. With the release of Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed version 7.5, IBM has split the software from another related tool, Tivoli Asset Management for IT. Version 7.5 also introduces several other enhancements, including: better maintenance of bundle definitions, which is required for PVU audit readiness; improved reporting; better problem determination; support for IBM Support Assistance Lite; support for WebSphere Application Server version 7 and Tivoli Integrated Portal version 2.2; and support for logical domains, which will improve the work of agents deployed by Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed. IBM is also selling components of Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed version 7.5 with the IBM License Metric Tool version 7.5. This tool is useful for managing IBM-specific licensing schemes, including sub-capacity and PVU pricing. Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed supports all major server platforms with its agents, including IBM POWER, Sun SPARC, Intel X86 and Itanium, and System z. The server component of the software runs on Windows, Linux, AIX, Solaris, and HP-UX. Pricing starts at $2.85 for 10 PVUs. For more information, see www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/asset-discovery-distributed.
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