Special Report: Just back from IAITAM in Nashville
October 28, 2010
I spent several days last week at the IAITAM (International Association of IT Asset Managers) conference and exhibition in Nashville and wanted to share a few thoughts and observations in the wake of the trip.
First off, this was the largest show ever in the eight years of the conference - with just under 600 in attendance. It was my second year at the show, and I wonder how I ever made it through a year in asset management without it. The learning tracks are great - everything from case studies to best practices to forums on licensing techniques. The exhibition featured over 50 companies offering everything from SAM tools to data destruction to hardware shredding. The crew from IAITAM are all great, and always deliver a quality show, including great food and entertainment. Next year's IAITAM conference returns to Las Vegas, October 12-14, at the Aria Resort and Casino. If you're interested in Software Asset Management, regardless of what tool you're using, mark your calendar today.
My next message featuring ZENworks® Asset Management will be about software recognition, but here's a brief preview. Last year, just after the 2009 IAITAM conference, ISO 19770-2 was published. It's an international standard that defines a format for software identification (SWID) tags to normalize inventory. If broadly adopted, it would level the software inventory playing field and let everyone compute licenses based on common data. It's a great idea, though uptake continues to be very slow.
Most of the major Software Asset Management tool vendors - Aspera, Express Metrix, Flexera, Numara, Sassafras, to name some that come quickly to mind - were exhibiting at the trade show. Symantec (Altiris) and, sadly, Novell were conspicuously absent. I also noted that there are more and more data and hardware disposal vendors showing their wares. (Cloud Blue was the most exciting this year - they displayed one of their machines that chews up disk drives and spits out landfill: fun and noisy!). They're an example of a growing industry based on fear of violating HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, or one of the other regulatory acts.
Virtualization was a major topic. Licensing software in virtualized environments is very interesting, especially since it's so easy to stand up a virtual environment with total disregard to your licensing position. There are also all sorts of complexities at the license agreement level - is virtualization allowed, do you have to license for the "potential to virtualize," etc.
My biggest takeaway, however, was the surprisingly minimal presence of Software Asset Management in the enterprise at this stage of the game. Many speakers took informal "hands-up" polls in sessions as to who had an in-house SAM process and how long it had been up and running. The conference is an extremely focused demographic, so you'd expect a fair percentage to have already jumped on the band wagon. I think there were more than last year, but still the show of hands was small considering -
Hope to see some of you in Las Vegas next year!
I spent several days last week at the IAITAM (International Association of IT Asset Managers) conference and exhibition in Nashville and wanted to share a few thoughts and observations in the wake of the trip.
First off, this was the largest show ever in the eight years of the conference - with just under 600 in attendance. It was my second year at the show, and I wonder how I ever made it through a year in asset management without it. The learning tracks are great - everything from case studies to best practices to forums on licensing techniques. The exhibition featured over 50 companies offering everything from SAM tools to data destruction to hardware shredding. The crew from IAITAM are all great, and always deliver a quality show, including great food and entertainment. Next year's IAITAM conference returns to Las Vegas, October 12-14, at the Aria Resort and Casino. If you're interested in Software Asset Management, regardless of what tool you're using, mark your calendar today.
My next message featuring ZENworks® Asset Management will be about software recognition, but here's a brief preview. Last year, just after the 2009 IAITAM conference, ISO 19770-2 was published. It's an international standard that defines a format for software identification (SWID) tags to normalize inventory. If broadly adopted, it would level the software inventory playing field and let everyone compute licenses based on common data. It's a great idea, though uptake continues to be very slow.
- Software publishers shipping tag files are still limited to Adobe (CS4 and CS5) and Symantec, pretty much the same as last year
- There's some movement with tool vendors - Aspera, CA, Sassafras, and Symantec are offering support; it remains to be seen if this is a competitive advantage
- SAM industry enthusiasm continues strong, especially among those who helped author the standard
- The Air Force and GSA are moving towards requiring tags in new software contracts. I suppose this has the potential to force adoption to happen, though I noted that exceptions may be negotiated on an individual basis.
Most of the major Software Asset Management tool vendors - Aspera, Express Metrix, Flexera, Numara, Sassafras, to name some that come quickly to mind - were exhibiting at the trade show. Symantec (Altiris) and, sadly, Novell were conspicuously absent. I also noted that there are more and more data and hardware disposal vendors showing their wares. (Cloud Blue was the most exciting this year - they displayed one of their machines that chews up disk drives and spits out landfill: fun and noisy!). They're an example of a growing industry based on fear of violating HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, or one of the other regulatory acts.
Virtualization was a major topic. Licensing software in virtualized environments is very interesting, especially since it's so easy to stand up a virtual environment with total disregard to your licensing position. There are also all sorts of complexities at the license agreement level - is virtualization allowed, do you have to license for the "potential to virtualize," etc.
My biggest takeaway, however, was the surprisingly minimal presence of Software Asset Management in the enterprise at this stage of the game. Many speakers took informal "hands-up" polls in sessions as to who had an in-house SAM process and how long it had been up and running. The conference is an extremely focused demographic, so you'd expect a fair percentage to have already jumped on the band wagon. I think there were more than last year, but still the show of hands was small considering -
- the potential for cost savings from smarter, more strategic software purchasing based on analysis of software usage
- the potential for audit liability in an environment where audits are happening more often across the spectrum of publishers. (Apparently, in a down economy, there's good money to be made from stinging your customer…)
Hope to see some of you in Las Vegas next year!
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