Licensing a boon for big business

Big businesses are seeing the benefits of licensing, as more than 23 per cent of all software sales last year came through corporate licensing schemes, such as Microsoft Select and Lotus Passport, according to a Romtec report.

Only 52 per cent of licences came through traditional shrink-wrapped software - the rest was made up of multi-licence packs.

Shaun Frohlich, managing director of Epsom reseller Bytes Computers, said: 'Software licensing is only a couple of years old, and already most large end-users have cottoned on to the fact that they can garner large discounts. And more importantly, they can gain control of the whole purchasing logistics.' But according to Frohlich, the benefits of volume licensing have yet to make the same impact on medium-sized businesses.

In a game of catch-up with Microsoft, Novell is in the throes of moving towards a volume-licensing model and hopes that 35 per cent of its software will be sold in this way this year.

Licensing comprised just four per cent of Novell's sales two years ago. But the pressure is on for Corel, which has yet to come up with a successful licensing scheme for Word-perfect, its recent acquisition.