The director of Centennial Software products at FrontRange Solutions has highlighted the importance of software asset management (SAM) to businesses in the current economic climate.Matt Fisher told online news resource CRN that IT and finance leaders

The threat of recession is causing many people to reconsider their options in IT, with one technology specialist recommending an investment in software asset management (SAM) to cut down on costs.According to Intelliden, there can be the tendency for

Many businesses are investing in software as a result of the economic downturn, according to one expert. Cynthia Lers, director of investor relations for Sage, said the technological revolution of the past decade showed an increased dependency on cor

Centennial Software owner FrontRange Solutions has announced the release of its newest software license supervising tool.License Manager 3.0 helps organisations automate the licence entitlement management process, allowing full audits of networks and

Recognising the difficult task it was faced with in managing its IT assets, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has selected FrontRange's software asset management (SAM) solution.It is estimated by the team that FrontRange SAM Suite will prov

The Software Industry Research Board has revealed that the channel has a major role in closing the distance between perception and reality of a business' software asset management (SAM) policies.In its white paper the Maturity of SAM Practice in the

Greener IT departments may be the outcome of a change in attitudes over the coming months after fears of the growing threats from the current economic climate.This trend, however, is unintentional as it is not a matter of social conscience but cost-c

FrontRange Solutions, the software specialist behind Centennial Software, has announced the launch of its newest product, SAM Essentials Optimisation Edition.The package aims to assist businesses in sealing an effective and "unique best-practice

FrontRange's Centennial Discovery software asset management (SAM) product has "come to the rescue" for IT individuals having problems with SAM in their company, it has been stated.Industry news specialist Techworld revealed that Centennial

Companies cannot risk their business with pirated software and a lack of compliance during the current financial climate, according to the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast).A survey carried out by the organisation this week found that 43 per c

Privacy International (PI) has spoken out against the recent decision by the government to keep a national database of every phone call, text and email in the country.A spokesman for the organisation noted a level of contradiction by the government,

Lawsuits have been filed by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) after programmes were allegedly sold illegally on an online shopping site.The BSA launched the case on October 27th against nine individuals with courts in the UK and California on beha

Research carried out by one of the UK's largest insurers has found that 20 per cent of respondents know of confidential material going missing from their place of work.The survey by Allianz revealed that nearly one in three employees would risk such

More and more small and medium-sized enterprises in Britain are adopting open source software, according to research made public this week by a technology company.In the survey carried out by the Actuate Corporation, the UK ranked second in the world

It has been revealed by a technology provider that four out of every five Britons do not trust companies with their personal data due to the possibility of a data leak.Research commissioned by Symantec aimed to understand the attitudes both businesse

The confusion and laziness surrounding password protection are two determining factors as to the increased sales and uptake of fingerprint-protected technology, a website has stated. Data was reported from technology company Comet, which stated that

The Open Rights Group (ORG) has highlighted the importance for businesses and public authorities to safeguard the handling of personal data.Becky Hogge, an executive director at the privacy and data protection non-governmental organisation, said that

Taiwan-based laptop and notebook manufacturer Micro-Star International (MSI) has announced the development and release of its latest model, the PR621, which offers improved software inventory features.It is hoped by the company that their new portabl

Stephen Fry, presenter of BBC2's QI, has celebrated the upcoming anniversary of the free software organisation responsible for developing a free software licence for businesses and home users alike.The GNU movement, which was being heralded by the co

IT compliance is a continuous process, which is why automation is so important, according to one expert.Ensuring a firm has proper software compliance is a "continuous journey, not a destination" and needs to encompass the entire organisati

A recent report has outlined the dangers of using instant messaging (IM) in business environments.In research led by IM security firm FaceTime Communications, it was found that over a third of people admitted to sending messages to the wrong people,

Computer manufacturer Toshiba has announced the newest models in its Tecra line of laptops, adding that the product hopes to counter security leaks through improved technology.Toshiba announced that the models, called the A10 and M10, will be aimed a

The UK government has proposed its intentions to store every email, text and browsing session in Britain in order to cut down on national crime.However, it has also been noted that the information could be made available to the Post Office, Ofsted, h

Microsoft has reportedly given financial backing to a company that specialises in open source web server software. The Apache organisation that oversees this type of open source development has received funding from the software giant, according to a

Spending on the world’s IT Services market is set to exceed $819 billion (£410 billion) in 2008, according to a new report.Analysts at Gartner have stated that this represents a 9.5 per cent increase from 2007, despite results for the first

An IT security expert at accounting firm Plante & Moran has suggested that the two major issues facing the sector are loss of data and access to data.Raj Patel told online publication NewsFactor that, while there is comprehensive insurance to cov

Raids in Vietnam have discovered pirated software worth almost VND4 billion (£119,000), it has been reported.Government officials from the ministries of public security and culture and police inspectors found the applications at two companies in

A campaign to fight piracy and increase software compliance in the US has been launched by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).BSA claims software piracy is a major problem in the country, which it estimates costs the US economy more than $8 billion

An IT professional has highlighted the important of software asset management for businesses, it has been reported.Darrell Jordan, software asset manager at power firm RWE, told ComputerWeekly.com that he scans the 2,000 plus desktops and servers und

The efforts of the Vietnamese government to curb software piracy in the country have been praised by international experts, it has been reported.During The Cross Cutting Issues of WTO Accession workshop, held in Hanoi last week, US lawyer Thomas J Tr

Anti-piracy measures in Egypt appear to be paying off, as improvements have been reported in the area, it has emerged.Research from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows software piracy rates in the country have fallen by three per cent, fro

Microsoft Gulf and the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry have identified and raided an alleged software pirate, it has been reported.As part of an ongoing operation between the firm, the Kuwait government and the Business Software Alliance (BS

The French government has unveiled a plan to punish individuals who neglect software compliance issues, it has been reported.A 'three strikes' plan, which will disconnect persistent software pirates from their broadband access, has been given the go-

Authorities in the Philippines have declared a series of measures to tackle software piracy in the area, it has been reported.The country's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines

Software compliance is lacking Brunei, according to new research conducted by IDC.The forecasting firm discovered that 67 per cent of software on the country's personal computers is pirated, at a cost of $12 million (£6 million) to the industry,

Yorkshire's The Health Informatics Service has chosen Centennial Software to deliver its software compliance and network inventory needs, it has been reported.The organisation has purchased 6,000 units of Centennial SAM Suite to use for IT services i

Around $350 million (£175 million) could be added to the Kuwaiti economy as the country prepares to tackle software piracy, it has been reported.The Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry has signed a memorandum of understanding with anti-pira

Open source internet browser Mozilla Firefox 3 has broken the record for the most downloads in one day, it has been claimed.Although still to be officially confirmed by Guinness World Records, the firm claims around 8.2 million copies of its latest o

Low-price or free software, such as open source applications, can offer professional packages to small and medium-sized enterprises, an expert has claimed.Speaking to the Aberdeen Press and Journal, Mark Griffiths, managing director of software solut

Becta, the government's IT advisor, has been criticised by the Open Source Consortium (OSC), it has been reported.Describing the move away from proprietary software as a "sham, the OSC has slammed Becta's proposal to create an open source commun

A Microsoft distributor is launching a briefing on software licensing to educate people in other countries about paying for products.The firm, TechDistribution Sdn Bhd, said people in Brunei are not familiar in the process of paying for licensed copi

The people behind a free software scam have been ordered to pay $2.2 million (£1.12 million) to customers in compensation.A firm called Think All Publishing offered free software CDs to customers, which were not free and then charged the softwar

The advantages of software-as-a-service (SaaS) are being utilised by the launch of services such as Google Apps and Microsoft Office Live, reports Mondaq.In a report on the importance of repackaging software, comments from Microsoft boss Bill Gates i

There are to be fewer crackdowns on licensing and forced software audits by software suppliers, according to the head of the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast).John Lovelock, chief executive officer of Fast, commented on the need to collaborate

IT professionals have revealed their firms have not prepared to ensure compliance with software licence agreements before deploying the product.A new survey by King Research has revealed almost two-thirds of IT executives and managers have not put sy

The software procurement process is complicated, with flexible software licences making it more confusing.A new study by Microsoft has found that 63 per cent of IT executives questioned think the procurement process was complicated and time consuming

Users of SAP software of business objects reporting tools may be forced to pay 22 per cent of the software licence fee for maintenance contracts, according to a source.The company has revealed that the existing 17 per cent of the licence fee rate, co

An expert has revealed that software piracy levels are still higher in the US than in China, despite public perception being otherwise.Sir Hugh Laddie, a lawyer and former high court judge, said a "complete misconception" had occurred about

Open source is entering the mainstream, with more firms choosing to adopt the technology, according to a source.The website PCWelt.de said firms may be adopting the software as it is free, but that they are being adopted "quietly".It mentio

Companies are being warned that using open source software (OSS) could create problems for their firm, according to a law firm.Ward Hadaway, based in the north-east of England, said using OSS could cause trouble for companies as the background behind

Code writers for software firms will see an increase in profits when they sell software on a pay-as-you-go basis, according to a source.Firms which write code for firms like Microsoft and Oracle will see a cash boost when software begins to be sold u

IT managers have reported they are not satisfied with the lack of ability to save money on Microsoft's new software licences, according to a source.InfoWorld reports that IT managers would love the flexibility of being able to reduce prices on the li

Software vendors who are trying to enter into the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market are facing a completely different mindset, according to experts.Companies who are attempting to turn to the subscription licence model, rather than upfront licence

An American man has won a court case regarding software licenses, after it was found he was selling second-hand software on the internet.Timothy Vernor was found to be reselling copies of Autodesk's AutoCAD on eBay from 2005-07, reports Outlaw.com.A

Growing IT companies need to put practices in place to protect information and software licences, according to one source. Bruce Stewart, writing for Computer World, said that most IT departments operate on a command and control mode, with regard to

IBM has reported that more firms are looking to comply with IT-related regulations to avoid penalties.The firm said more companies are opting to keep to regulations when introducing new services or software, reports Inquirer.net.Peter Rajnal, softwar

Microsoft has launched a new campaign to combat software piracy of its products, according to a source.The company has revealed a three-pronged approach to the illegal use of software, which is estimated to have cost them $48 billion (£24 billio

The uptake of open source may increase as news comes that security around the software has improved.An annual report from the US Department of Homeland Security has found a 16 per cent drop in the past two years of security vulnerabilities.The report

Open source has had another victory against the subscription licensing model, as it branches into the education sector.Becta, the government procurement quango, has launched a programme to get schools to adopt open source software, according to The I

Levels of unlicensed software operating in Estonia have hit 51 per cent, according to new research. A report from ETV24/LETA states the survey carried out by IDC and commissioned by the Estonian Association of Business Software found that around 20 p

The Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) is aiming to improve the licensing and cost management process for software users. Fast's chief executive, John Lovelock, states the newly formed Software Industry Research Board (SIRB) is geared towards e

As all companies look to cut their spending ahead of the predicted economic recession, IT departments can look to compliance to cut costs, according to one source.IT managers will be asked to cut the cost of technology, with software application mana

Maintaining the number of virtual servers held by one company is important in reducing an IT company's cost, according to a source.Thousands of pounds could be wasted by letting virtual machines grow exponentially and get out of control, reports Comp

Manchester businesses are being targeted in a six-week long crack down on the use of illegal software.The campaign, launched by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), aims to increase the awareness of the risk to companies and the local economy of own

Emailing archiving, to protect companies in corporate litigation cases, may cause compliance issues for firms, according to one expert.Archiving correspondence is classed as a "key IT responsibility", with Blackberry instant message posts n

The open source industry is worth £30 billion and is becoming the world's largest software business, according to one industry expert.John Powel, the chief executive officer of open source content management firm Alfresco, said the industry shou

Software piracy rates dropped in Ireland last year by two per cent, according to a new report.The Business Software Alliance (BSA) global PC software piracy study found the rate had dropped to 34 per cent, which is below the European rate of 35 per c

IT managers are finding it difficult to manage IT auditing and compliance among their other duties, according to a new study.The research, carried out by Shavlik Technologies, has found that the main issue for IT professionals was meeting compliance

Microsoft has lodged an appeal against its $1.3 billion (£680 million) fine issued by the anti-trust commission.Jack Evans, a spokesman for the computing giant, confirmed that an appeal had been lodged with the court of first instance in Luxembu

Skype has dropped its appeal against a conviction of failing to comply with a general public license (GPL).The voice over internet protocol (VoIP) operator was in breach of the code as it failed to provide users access to the source code, which is re

Microsoft has increased its anti-piracy efforts lately, now cracking down on illegal copies of Vista.Businesses and consumers may now find themselves in a situation where the screen goes blank and the system closes down, as Microsoft activates a camp

A current law suit may affect the way customers can use software, regarding licensing laws.Blizzard Entertainment, which makes multi-player online games, in particular World of Warcraft, has sued another games maker which offer to play the game for y

Microsoft is to take legal action against eight software dealers across the world due to alleged illegal sales of unlicensed products.Following reports on the anti-piracy hotline, the software giant has taken cases against the US, Canada, Egypt and t

Open source software requires strict governance as it often "flies under the radar" in many IT firms, according to one expert.The software needs to be closely monitored if governance is not in place, to avoid licensing issues by companies,

With the rise in open source software comes increased intellectual property (IP) risks, as developers borrow code from other projects.InfoWorld is warning that developers must make sure the final product complies with the licenses of the donor projec

Microsoft has signed a new license deal with car manufacturers to incorporate its voice-command software into the vehicles.The software giant has signed a worldwide deal with Hyundai and Kia to allow people to use their voice to control music players

The 'seven deadly sins of security' have been highlighted and compliance is fifth on the list, according to security expert.Joshua Corman, principle security strategist for IBM/ISS, said that complying with industry standards for keeping networks sec

Companies are reporting that managing virtualisation is proving difficult for them, according to a new poll.According to NetQoS and Network Instruments, 40 per cent of IT managers at the recent Interop conference cited virtualisation as one of the &q

Adobe has dropped the license fee for its Flash technology, to display video and audio content on the internet.The open screen project will remove the license restrictions on SWF and FLV files, meaning users can build their own Flash player clones, r

Appliance-based remote support is as good as the software-based variety, according to one expert.In the technical support business special tools are needed to manage IT services from afar, which are usual based on software, reports ComputerWorld.Bu J

One expert has warned that it is not easy for some companies to be vigilant on software usage and compliance.WWPI.com has warned that many IT departments are stretched thin with few resources, meaning ensuring software compliance can fall off the rad

The biggest challenge for companies is the "invisible" threats in managing data, according to one expert.Gwen Thomas, president of the Data Governance Institute said that extensive rules regarding data management make it harder than ever fo

Microsoft has hit back at claims that defects in its software led to the recent hacking of 500,000 websites.Last week half a million websites were infiltrated including those run by the UK government and United Nations. The successful attacks were bl

A flaw has been discovered in a tool that is responsible for checking and downloading updates for software and drivers.The defect is located in Hewlett-Packard Software Update tool within the PHeDiag ActiveX component. Flaws could lead to stored inf

The amount spent on security software is set to rise this year by 11.2 per cent, with revenue for the sector reaching over $10.5 billion (£5.3 billion) worldwide.It has also been predicted that this figure will exceed $13.1 billion by 2012, acco

Microsoft has revealed a new web-based software system, which is a data storage and software system rolled into one.The product, called Live Mesh, will move software to an online operation and will aim to merge it with the wide array of services avai

Bill Gates has announced that he "disagrees" with the GNU General Public License, which is a widely used free software license.Microsoft's top boss said that open source creates a license "so that nobody can ever improve the software&q

Sun Microsystems is looking to remove the final restrictions on Java to make it completely open-source.If this were possible, Java could then be packaged-up with Linux more ably and distributed alongside the product, reports Yahoo.Rich Sands, group m

The software maintenance market is booming, as a number of vendors announce increases to already steep fees.For example, SAP has announced that it is increasing its software maintenance fees by phasing out its Basic Support offering for new customers

IT professionals are advised to implement a range of measures in order to ensure that they maintain compliance ‘in a virtualised world’.An article on ITBusinessNet explains that those creating virtual environments should understand software

The Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) can provide significant benefits, according to the company's lead marketing manager of hosting solutions.Michael van Dijken told Redmond Developer News that both those providing services to cust

Microsoft and Novell have announced they are to increase their partnership in the open source market in China.The two companies have said businesses in the country are increasingly relying on combinations of software based on Windows and Non-propriet

One software developer has said he believes the current development process is "flawed" and businesses need to change their approach.Mark Pascall, the director of a web design firm 3months, said that building software is not like building a

The research company Forrester has predicted three ways in which the software industry will look in the future.One model, the three-kings approach, has been proposed by the company, whereby a handful of software giants will dominate the industry, wit

Microsoft has launched a downloadable version of its Office suite to give customers more options about how to pay, the company said.Code-named Albany, the subscription service will allow people who have signed up to the "beta" test version

Astea International has announced that revenues grew by 26 per cent over the quarter to the end of December 2007 to $6.8 million (£3.41 million), compared with the same period of 2006.The company's fourth quarter and year-end financial results f

Software industry experts are calling for changes to the latest GPL version 3 license to protect software patents.According to specialists on an open source panel, the license could place many software patents in jeopardy and a better system is neede

This week saw the launch of the Open Source Census, whereby software firm OpenLogic has developed a special license for gathering open-source software (OSS) information around the world. The census will be used to see what OSS products are actually u

Software company Compuware showed higher than expected earnings for the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter. Revenues are expected to be about $337 million (£170 million) while its earnings per share are shown to be at about 23 cents, all of which lifted

Recent license breaches by computer developers trying to copy the Apple experience has left one user explaining why it is so important for Apple to keep its namesake. James Allan Brady of slashgear.com claimed the so-called "user Experience, lev

Psystar has begun marketing an imitation Apple computer that it says will run Mac OS X Leopard and is callied the 'Open Computer: The Smart Alternative to an Apple', according to MacWorld.com.Apple allowed a limited selection of computer manufactures

Virtualisation is set to make the biggest difference to the software licensing industry until 2012, according to Gartner.The Industry View says that before virtualisation it was relatively easy to keep tabs on the number of employees who have access

A US state is paying $921,000 (£585,000) to a software company because it forgot to renew the license to use their product.Seattle company Attachmate, will receive the amount from Montana state which will go towards payment for licenses to allow

The use of Linux is set to grow over the coming years, with revenues of the operating system set to top $49 billion (£25 billion) in the next few years.Spending on the open source operating system reached $21 billion last year and analyst firm I

Open source will be used by most businesses in a few years time, according to a research firm.Gartner has predicted that while companies focus on fashionable new technologies like Software-as-a-Service, open sourcing will gradually take over, reports

Microsoft is liable to pay tax on its licences in India, according to a ruling from a tax authority.The company, which is the largest software provider to the country, now has to pay tax on the licence fee which is charged to the user, reports the Ec

Last year potentially over 127 million records were lost, compared to 2006's figures of 20 million people.The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) documented 446 paper and electornis breaches last year, which could potentially affect 127 million peo

Microsoft has changed its view on open sourcing and is now encouraging use of the software.Previously the computing giant had discouraged the use of Linux and other open source solutions, but has since made moves to "increase the openness"

An industry body is offering people rewards from $500 (£252) to $10,000 for tip-offs relating to software piracy.The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced yesterday that last month it paid out $22,500 in rewards,which