Wibu Operating Services
Since launching Wibu Operating Services (WOPS), more than 150 clients have already entrusted us to host their CodeMeter License Central. There are many reasons for the success of fully managed application hosting at WIBU-SYSTEMS AG. Here are just a few of them:
Software as a Service
CodeMeter License Central is designed to be user-friendly, but it can require a certain level of expertise that not every company can cover with its own system administrators. Building up the required competencies and systems internally often make little commercial or technical sense; the competition for talent in the labor market has been heating up in recent years. In such case, it is a wise choice to entrust these operations to the experienced people of Wibu-Systems.
In essence, CodeMeter License Central can be operated very effectively in an outsourced, ‘capsule’ form. Handing over the operation to Wibu-Systems can positively impact a company’s competitiveness. They remain the proprietors of their processes and licensing systems, which are connected through their ERP and CRM systems via a secure interface to CodeMeter License Central. Wibu-Systems provides a choice of standard interfaces or web services that can be used to implement custom interfaces. You can call on the support of our Professional Services team to help you design and implement the system that is right for you.
Optimization as the Principle
Since we launched Wibu Operating Services, we have not only won the trust of more and more clients every month, but are always adding the latest technology in the field and recruiting new personnel to maintain a top level of security, availability, and customer service. High availability is not just standard for our network components and services; CodeMeter License Central can now be delivered in a High Availability Package.
We check our processes regularly and keep developing them further, in compliance with ISO 9001:2015 and 27001 standards. This includes the automated functions that would spring into action once an incident is noticed and return the service to normal operations by following a special algorithm we developed in-house. The newest element of this optimization is represented by our security checks, and we are already planning to build in more redundancy in our data center to offer our clients a geo-clustering solution in the near future.
Security as the Minimum Standard
Operating an application through the web is naturally a more complex task for everyone involved. The flood of hacking incidents keeps growing around the world – and not just in simple numbers, but also in the severity of the problem. This puts more pressure on administrative and technical systems. Constant monitoring and super-fast reactions to any incidents 24/7 are the absolute minimum norm nowadays.
Wibu-Systems operates cutting-edge technology for monitoring and managing the hosted systems. Any disruptions and load peaks are recognized instantaneously, and countermeasures are introduced to cushion their impact. This includes an immediate notification for our clients to allow them to take the right measures as well, e.g. letting their service hotlines know that a service might be disrupted.
Even if this is a very rare occurrence indeed, Wibu-Systems ensures that our processes and technology keeps working perfectly when such incidents happen.
Our security checks were revised and optimized completely and carefully last year. We employed the newest technology to scan our client systems for more than 100,000 potential vulnerabilities and removed any problems we identified immediately. The Wibu Operating Services team is trained in IT security and regularly updates and expands its expertise.
These efforts have helped us maintain availability in the last twelve months far above the contractually agreed levels – 99.97 percent over the course of 2018. And, should we ever fail to provide the monthly availability we guaranteed, our clients receive credit in compensation for the time their systems were not up and running.
Your Expectations as the Benchmark
Our clients love Wibu-Systems’ flexibility to accommodate all requirements. This can mean the provision of services outside of regular office hours to keep the effects on normal operations to a minimum. To avoid problems due to demand peaks, additional lines of CodeMeter License Central can be activated as needed. Our clients can switch between our different editions at any time without worrying about their data. They can choose different options for a secure connection to the systems or even combine them as required (https client certificates, IP filtering, basic authentication). When migrating a regular CodeMeter License Central to WOPS, our WOPS team will join the client’s project team to offer functional and organizational support and guarantee that the switch works as smoothly as possible.
As our client, you can choose the right flavor for you from our many editions:
Datacenter Edition
Several clients can share the resources on a shared server. Their installations will, naturally, be kept separate and their data stored in separate databases. This is the best edition for clients who need a maximum of 1,500 license activations or deactivations per month and do not require any web services to connect their systems. Availability is guaranteed at 99.5% per month.
Dedicated Server Edition
This edition gives you direct access to the web services to connect your own systems via a secure connection. As the name implies, a dedicated server is set up to operate your CodeMeter License Central, configured to match your needs and requirements perfectly. This guarantees that performance is not affected by other clients’ installations. 99.5% availability is guaranteed per month.
This is the best edition for all clients who need to activate or deactivate a maximum of 3,000 licenses and access the web services up to 250,000 times per month.
High Performance Edition
Using a Firm Security Box (FSB) is a time and computing-intensive operation and can be a limiting factor for programming licenses. By comparison to the Datacenter and Dedicated Server Editions, the High Performance Edition gives the client not only a dedicated server, but also a dedicated FSB. Availability is again guaranteed at 99.5% per month.
This makes this edition the right choice for scenarios with a maximum of 25,000 license activations or deactivations per month. Access to the web service is limited to a full 250,000 cases per month.
High Availability Package
The High Availability Package includes a set of two or more lines of the High Performance Edition. A special load balancer spreads the load across the lines according to the rules chosen by the client. The data is handled by a MySQL database cluster with several nodes. The nodes of the load balancer and database cluster are automatically switched if any problems occur. Wibu-Systems guarantees availability of 99.9% for this edition, implying downtime of less than 45 minutes per month (excluding scheduled maintenance).
This allows the client a maximum number of 25,000 license activations and deactivations per line, i.e. at least 50,000 activations and 500,000 web service accesses for two lines. The sky is the limit, as more lines can be added as required.
Support Means Partnership
All WOPS clients are given their own service level agreement for their support requests. They can, of course, also use the self-service support portal, which includes a special incident reporting form for Wibu Operating Service incidents. An emergency function is available for more urgent cases. The self-service portal also includes up-to-date information about any disruptions to service, with an immediate notification if full service has been resumed. This makes the management of their tickets and the status of the hosting service transparent for all clients of Wibu Operating Services at the touch of a button.
The WOPS team is always at your service!
KEYnote 37 – Edition Spring 2019