Dell Kace offers software licensing help to Windows 8 adopters

Dell Kace is to release another version of its flagship K1000 Management Appliance that aims to make it easier for organisations to ensure compliance with software licensing rules.

The K1000 allows companies to keep track of the software, hardware and networking configurations across their IT estate, while the new release bolsters the appliance's software asset management (SAM) capabilities.

This is through the introduction of a Software Titling Engine, which is a piece of technology that automates the reporting of software audit findings, and the integration of the appliance with Dell's Application Catalog.

The latter is essentially a web-based database that connects to the K1000 and tracks software version changes across Windows and Apple applications to ensure compliance.

In summary, the product's aim is to make it cheaper and faster for businesses to respond to software audit requests, and assess the software needs of users during Windows XP upgrades, virtualisation projects and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) deployments.

For instance, the product can help IT admins work out what software needs to and can be be carried over when a company decides to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 and 8.

Speaking to IT Pro, Ken Drachnik, director of product marketing at Dell, said all these scenarios could cause issues for companies that are ordered to carry out a software audit by a vendor or anti-piracy body.

"It's not a matter of if you get audited, but when, because they are becoming more and more frequent," he said.

"Also, there are big rewards out there [from the likes of the Business Software Alliance] for turning in your boss or your company for using software that's not properly licensed.

"With this product, they will already have the information they need, rather than have to drop everything and pull people off other projects to deal with this in an emergency," he added.

It is not just the threat of falling foul of whistleblowers that businesses have to be wary of, but the growing complexity of software licensing rules.

"With the rise of virtualisation, I can have software running on one server, and can then replicate that as a backup system and I've suddenly duplicated all my software licenses on another server," he explained.

"With BYOD, I've seen it described as bring you own infection because people are bringing in mobile devices and having software that may or may not be clean."

The next version of the K1000 will go on general release on 5 August.