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How We License

VSNi provides annually renewable software licenses, our entitlement types being Concurrent and Node-Locked. We also offer bespoke solutions.

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Like many software companies, VSNi uses licensing to provide customers with access to our software products. Customers pay in advance for a license which allows an agreed number of concurrent ‘use instances’ for the software for a set time, normally 12 months. If the license is renewed and paid for before expiry it will simply roll on for a further 12 months. If payment isn’t received before expiry, access stops until the license is renewed.

There are a few differences in the way each license type (concurrent / node-locked) provides customers with access to our software. This section of the website is here to help you understand how each license type works so you can be sure each product will work for you. Of course, we can always be contacted at info@vsni.co.uk if you need further help or guidance.

A node-locked licence “locks” your software to a single device. If you need to port your software to another device the licence can be deactivated and moved to another device by emailing support@vsni.co.uk. A node-locked licence only requires Internet access to activate your licence – afterwards you may run the software without an Internet connection.

Where customers want more than one user to have access to our software, they need to purchase and install multiple licenses.

Concurrent licensing enables customers to offer access to a wider community of users on a first come, first served basis. So, a license may grant one user access, or give access to multiple users.

You can install the software on as many devices as you like across your network and purchase a licence “count” i.e. an entitlement to a set number of licences. Whenever a user runs the software our cloud-based licence server will “check out” their licence so that it becomes unavailable for use on other devices.

Larger organisations may have very specific requirements and require a more bespoke solution. For some complex installations, we can offer enterprise ‘on-premises’ licensing. This allows organisations to host their own licensing server and avoid the requirement for internet access. Being a bespoke solution, this option is charged at a premium and is only available for larger organisations – contact us at info@vsni.co.uk for further details.

Pricing

VSNi is a commercial organisation, and we charge what we believe is a competitive fee for users to access and use our software. Licenses are normally issued on a 12-month basis. During that 12-month period users may take advantage of our customer support (unless their license version excludes this service) and any software updates are made available free-of-charge. VSNi always requests that licenses are paid for in advance and license activation occurs when payment is received.

Each software product has a base single-user commercial price, although this may vary depending upon the type of access a customer requires for the product (e.g., node-locked, floating or cloud-based). In our bid to support not-for-profit and educational establishments, discounts are applied for organisations purchasing in these sectors.

We also provide volume discounts to all customers based on the number of users within an organisation that organisation wishes to give access to. Larger enterprise-wide or campus-wide agreements are also available on a bespoke basis.

Due to the complexity of potential use-cases, VSNi does not publish its prices online. However, we are always happy to provide a quotation for your specific requirements. If you’d like a quotation on any of our products, please complete the online quote request form below and we’ll be in touch very soon.

Licensing Terminology

We appreciate that there is wide lexicon of terminology involved in software licensing. Some terminology may be familiar, some may not. To avoid any confusion here’s a summary of VSNi’s key licensing terminology to help.

Run

The time period that a process remains in the running state.

Multi-processor

More than one processor in a host system running our products.

Single-user licence

An RLM licence which allows one named user to access their VSNi software on any device.

RLM server

The Reprise Licence Manager server which manages user access to VSNi software.

User

Someone logged-in and authenticated by the licensing service as being able to use the software.

Enterprise licence

A single licence which manages access to VSNi software for any number of users at a single organisation.

Campus licence

Provides high volumes of simultaneous user access to VSNi software across a single university campus.

Multi-terminal

Multi-terminal or multi-seat computer is a particular configuration that allows a computer to be used by several people simultaneously.

Cloud installation

An installation of software and associated licensing service in a cloud environment rather than on a physical machine or server.

Process

An application binary executable that has been successfully loaded by the operating system, Linux, Windows, or macOS, and placed into the running state.

Parallel processing

This is the breaking down of tasks that can be run simultaneously on different processors. In ASReml-SA the tasks are parts of the algorithm that are calculated in parallel.

Flexnet licence

A floating Genstat licence that is installed on an On-Premises Flexnet Server system. Each Genstat installation requires a licence file that points to the On-Premises Flexnet Server system.

Site reference

A code assigned by VSNi to uniquely identify the physical location of an organisation purchasing VSNi software. VSNi will ask you to provide this when you want to download a software upgrade.

Virtual machine (VM)

The emulation of a physical computer created by providing all of the attributes of a specific operating system via a remote server such that to the user it acts like a physical computer.

Trial licence

A licence which provides access to VSNi software for a short period of time, typically 14 but possibly up to 30 days. This is to allow potential customers to assess the suitability of the software to their application and to understand the set-up requirements.

Academic licence (Edu license)

For students and academics, such as university lecturers: a licence which provides access to VSNi software for use in relation to academic studies. These are ‘full version’ licences provided at preferential rates to support teaching in higher education settings.

Sessions

The time period between the startup of the licensed product until it has completed its task and terminated. An enterprise licence user may run two sessions for each license they successfully checkout from the available shared licence. A cloud licence user may run four per shared licence.

Node-locked licence (Genstat only)

A node-locked licence lets you install your software only on a single device. Once the licence is activated your software and licence are locked to that device (but can be deactivated and moved to another device by emailing support@vsni.co.uk with a request).

Cloud licence server

A software licensing service that is hosted in the cloud (such as RLM). Users need Internet access so that the server can verify their licence when they log-in, but this adds flexibility. It allows the user to install and use their softare on multiple devices without the need for multiple licences.

Instance

A single access of the software. The licence may allow for more than one concurrent instance. The same user may access more than one instance concurrently if the software licence allows for this. Equally each instance might be accessed by a single user, allowing multiple users to access the software concurrently.

On-premises licence

A licence service which is hosted on a customer’s own machine or server. No Internet connection is required to use VSNi software (after initial server setup and activation). Where users cannot access the Internet, perhaps due to specific IT protocols within their organisation, then we can provide a bespoke ‘on-premises’ licensing service. This will be for larger installations only and will carry a premium charge.

Container

A container, in this context, is a term used to describe a very specific type of virtual machine. It typically has a single application installation, such as ASReml-SA or ASReml-R, that is made available through its management platform. VSNi currently utilise the Docker Machine to manage our containers. Several service providers such as AWS and Azure offer services to support the deployment of this type of container image.

Concurrent licence (also known as server, group or floating licence)

A concurrent licence is a licence “count” i.e. an entitlement to a set number of licences.  A single-user concurrent licence enables the user to install and use the software on several devices, such as a work laptop, tablet or home PC. A multi-user concurrent licence can be shared across a large user community such as a research laboratory. Whenever a user runs the software our cloud-based licence server will “check out” their licence so that it becomes unavailable for use on other devices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I always need to be connected to the internet to use the software?

Not always. You need to have an internet connection to authenticate the license each time you start a new session, but once authenticated it is possible to go offline (on a physical machine only) with that session for up to 30 days.

For more detail and instructions on how to use offline mode, use the links below.

https://genstat.kb.vsni.co.uk/knowledge-base/genstat-internet/

https://asreml.kb.vsni.co.uk/knowledge-base/use-asreml-r-offline/

We are confident that most of our users will have Internet access. Where users cannot access the Internet, perhaps due to specific IT protocols within their organisation, then we will be able to provide a bespoke ‘on-premises’ licensing service. This will be for larger installations only and will carry a premium charge.

ASReml-SA ‘stand-alone’ operates using our own proprietary system. ASReml-R has the same functionality, but it is optimised to operate within the R environment. More information can be found at this link

https://asreml.kb.vsni.co.uk/knowledge-base/difference-asreml-r-asreml-standalone/

Not all. We no longer support the following version:

  • ASReml-SA v3 and ASReml-R v3 and all earlier versions
  • Genstat v20 and all earlier versions
  • CycDesigN v5 and all earlier versions

In most instances if you download a new version of the software, it will be installed and accessed by the RLM license service. However, Windows will overwrite and REPLACE your existing software, so you must have your activation code ready to access the new software.

Many customers have complex internal networks running several services for multiple business units. This can sometimes be an issue when a single group or user consumes a high number of licenses, particularly for large jobs.

There are 2 main ways to manage this. For those customers running an Enterprise on-premise license, you are able to break down license access via your administrative account. See here for further details https://www.reprisesoftware.com/RLM_License_Administration.pdf – please note this would be down to your internal IT staff to manage.

Another option to consider is spinning up additional server instances to manage specific entitlements for each business unit/group. These can be on-premise or managed via the RLM cloud. Should this be something of interest please contact us to further discuss options.