With the release of Maximo Asset Management 7.6.1., token licensing became available as a fixed-term license control method for customers.
TIP #55 September 2020:Is IBM's token licensing for Maximo suitable for your organsation? Read more about these specific licensing conditions here.
Whether Maximo or Maximo industry solutions have been purchased with or without Maximo add-ons, token licensing is possible and enables a more flexible way of licensing.
These tokens can float across users and the entire Maximo product suite, removing the need for a specific product license or user allocation. The token can be repeatedly exchanged by the server for a mix of software licenses. Each time a user logs into the Maximo system, depending on their user configuration, the tokens can be utilised. When a user logs out, the tokens are returned to the pool and become available for other users.
Customers are able to purchase the total number of tokens that are needed based on their predicted usage of the tokens. IBM License Key Server is being used to store and manage the license keys for your tokens.
Take into account the following topics when considering to switch to token licensing for Maximo:
Sizing (before you decide to switch to tokens)
When you migrate from an old metric to tokens, a significant change takes place in switching from traditional license metrics (Authorized User and Server) to a token metric. Sizing will probably be executed by IBM Techline together with the customer and results in a baseline quantity of tokens available for your organisation. Then, a conversion rate will be used by IBM on the old metric and quantities, which eventually leads to the total number of tokens. This process may lack some transparency and is like an educated guess. Softline Solutions recommends to carefully manage this conversion process before any decision is made. After this sizing process, a token price can still be negotiated with IBM.
Be aware of the fact that perpetual or non-token licenses cannot be mixed with token licenses on the same server.
Measurement (after you have decided to switch to tokens)
Softline Solutions advises customers to monitor and measure the Maximo token consumption on a frequent basis, so that sizing for future token quantities can be well prepared and seasonal fluctuations will be visible.
The implementation of the IBM License Key Server (LKS) will take lead time and must be done immediately. This needs continuous effort and attention, and is not a one-off exercise. How many and when tokens are consumed and released varies according to the installed version of Maximo and whether you have multiple Maximo environments. A request is sent from the Maximo server to the License Key Server whenever a token is consumed or released.