DGAP-News: USU Software AG

New SmartTrack 4.2.5 recycles unused licenses to minimize software spending

Aachen, Germany, December 13, 2017 - Aspera, the leading provider of Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions and services, today released version 4.2.5 of its technology platform SmartTrack. With the new release, the platform's powerful re-harvesting feature is now fully automated and helps CIOs and IT departments to reach their cost reduction goals faster.

Approximately 50% of all requests for client software can be covered with existing licenses, significantly reducing spend for new licenses.

Using SmartTrack's new re-harvesting automation, customers get:

- Increased time savings by avoiding manual work

- Financial savings by recycling licenses instead of buying new ones

- Maximum transparency into their software and license usage

"Easily create your 'License Zombie Free Zone', by implementing an effective 'use-it-or-lose-it policy' supported by a SAM tool," says Jochen Hagenlocher, IT Software Management Lead at Novartis Pharma AG. "Every company can realize considerable savings by eliminating software waste and recycling licenses. It is great to have this feature now available with the latest SmartTrack release."

With SmartTrack, Aspera customers can automate re-harvesting in three steps:

1. Define a time threshold for software usage, so SmartTrack will automatically notify the user of the unused application.

If the user does not need the software, SmartTrack directly notifies the customers' deployment system to remove the installation, and

Frees up the license so it can be used by another user.

"Re-harvesting with SmartTrack means optimally using each individual license instead of buying a new one," says Stephan Pflanzer, Managing Director for Development and Technology at Aspera. "After a simple one-time configuration, the customer has a solution that covers all the requirements of their contracts and company policies. This guarantees a high cost-benefit effect and leads to immediate savings."

Learn more in a FREE webinar
On January 24, 2018, Aspera will host a webinar about the benefits of re-harvesting, and demo the fully automated re-harvesting feature in SmartTrack. Aspera has also refined its Savings Calculator for Software Asset Management enabling users to easily estimate how much they can save with re-harvesting-in addition to six other ways to save with SAM.

Gartner report "Select the right SAM Tool"
According to Gartner, "Software asset management tools have become popular; however, their diverse data requirements make the selection process challenging. By ensuring their SAM tool delivers four primary capabilities, infrastructure and operations leaders will choose the right SAM tool to support their enterprise goals."

Within one of the four capabilities (optimizing software value delivery and information sharing) listed for Base SAM tool requirements, Gartner notes that a minimum requirement is to have "The ability to identify unused or infrequently used software, and to recommend harvesting or eliminating such licenses, thus aiding software acquisition and disposal decisions that reduce costs." ⁽¹⁾

(1) Gartner: Select the Right SAM Tool to Reduce Risks, Optimize Costs and Improve Decision Making, Roger Williams, Victoria Barber, Matt Corsi, 21 August 2017, ID: G00334605.

About Aspera
At Aspera, we simplify the complexity of your software licenses. For nearly two decades, we have helped hundreds of enterprises and over 50 Fortune 500s to assess cost and risk within their IT environments. Our solutions for Software Asset Management track all the big vendors, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to cover every environment from servers and desktops to cloud and mobile. With the largest in-house consultant and service team in the industry, we provide the best strategy for data discovery, easy system integration, and a cost-effective way to purchase, use and optimize licenses.

Aspera is part of USU Software AG (ISIN DE 000A0BVU28), which is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

For more information, please visit https://www.aspera.com/.

Contact

Aspera GmbH
Heike Lorey
International Public Relations
Tel.: +49 (0) 241 963-3261
Fax: +49 (0) 241 963-1229
E-Mail: heike.lorey@aspera.com

USU Software AG
Dr. Thomas Gerick
Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 (0) 71 41 - 48 67 440
Fax: +49 (0) 71 41 - 48 67 300
E-Mail: t.gerick@usu-software.de