A consultant offered advice Tuesday regarding how Oracle customers can get
the best deal and protect themselves while licensing software from the enterprise
software giant.

Oracle's licensing practices have been maligned as overly confusing
and unfair. But Eliot Arlo Colon, president of Miro Consulting, an independent
firm in Fords, New Jersey, didn't get into specifics about particular policies,
instead organizing a webinar around four categories: compliance, discounts,
ongoing annual support costs and terms and conditions.

"When I look at e-mail subject lines, these are the things we get hit
with," Colon said.

"Compliance is the foundation. Without it, nothing else matters,"
he said, adding that it is "not a gray area. Either you're compliant or
you're not. ... If you consider areas [of use] gray, or your vendor considers
areas gray, you should be concerned."

Companies should self-audit their licenses twice a year, and it should be a
"thorough review," not a couple of mass e-mails, he said: "It's
definitely more of a bear than most people would anticipate."

A third party should review the audit, and the company must possess a "stated
and defendable" position on gray areas, he added. It is also wise to get
assumptions confirmed in writing: "If it's not stated in your agreement
that you have that right, chances are you do not have that right," he said.

Oracle vigorously defends its intellectual property, according to Colon. "You
always have to assume an audit is only 30 days away," he said. "We've
worked with companies that say 'We're a strategic partner, we're in the Oracle
top 50,' and then they're audited."

Colon offered a range of advice concerning license cost. While Oracle and other
vendors tend to offer better deals at certain times of the year, customers shouldn't
be easily tempted by a low price, he said: "Waiting until a vendor's end-of-year,
end-of-quarter may not be in your best interest if it's changing your business
process. ... Everyone wants to get a good deal, but discount isn't the whole
game. It's total cost of ownership."

To that end, organizations should take a close look at their existing annual
support costs, he said: "You may find that your support is a lot better
than you thought, or you might find products that you're supporting and not
using. ... or that Oracle has acquired half the software you've got and now
it can be supported under one envelope."

In fact, enterprises should review their annual support spending at least twice
per year, Colon argued.

IT shops should also seek to rework any complex and ambiguous language in license
contracts; determine how globalization and consolidation has altered their company's
licensing needs; mull the ramifications of licensing among mobile workers; and
ensure they have collected all proofs of purchases for storage in an asset management
repository, Colon said. His company advises enterprise-software customers of
companies including Oracle and Microsoft.

When renewal time comes, companies should weigh whether it makes more sense
to renew the existing pact or formulate a new one, according to Colon. "Businesses
are very dynamic. If you have an agreement signed four years ago, chances are
it doesn't work for you today," he said.

Firms must also ensure they and Oracle are working from the same set of terms
and conditions, Colon warned: "You want to make sure you're protected --
believe me, Oracle is going to make sure they're protected."

IDG News Service

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