FREE SAM SERVICE SET TO IGNITE SOCIAL COMPUTING ALTERNATIVE AMONGST IT COMMUNITIES

- New service fires free broadside at "paid for" discovery tools.

- IT community to collaborate on communal executable database.

In a bid to challenge the prevailing culture of "paid for" discovery tools used internally, a new SAM (Software Asset Management) service is being offered free to IT users in organisations of up to 300 desktops. By taking a shared community approach, it is hoped that users will enjoy the highest levels of file recognition available, without the traditional cost or resource implications normally incurred in ensuring license compliance.

The service, to be launched by leading SAM group Liken (www.liken.co.uk) will enable users to identify software and other configuration items on their network. In return, participating user organisations must commit to contributing identification data on installed applications to an on-line community; therein helping other community members at large.

Subscribers use the free audit scanning software, provided as part of the service, to gather data and submit it to Liken for processing. Once complete, they will receive reports that display what applications they have installed against Liken's own extensive database together with a list of unknown executables. Subscribers will also receive a utility that clocks which files are installed when installing applications.

Community members will also be able to share ideas and information on a new web portal aimed at creating a communal SAM knowledge base. Should they wish individually to add other standard reports, maintain a license repository, apply change control strategies, assess risk management implications or conduct configuration management exercises etc., Liken can provide these on a paid subscription basis along with a fully managed and hosted SAM service backed by comprehensive SLA guarantees.

Says James Rowlands, Liken's MD, "The service is aimed at creating a self- supporting community consisting of SMEs, medium sized businesses and corporates who know that using SAM discovery tools internally is a pain. They want out of the internal resource squeeze and are frustrated at having to keep pace with an enormous and ever increasing list of unknown executable files.

"Commercially, the idea is akin to the example of ‘real player’ on the media side. And in a similar fashion we are on hand, in a transparent manner, to provide other paying subscribers sophisticated hosted services when they feel these are appropriate."