Novell To Move License Sales Online

Novell this week will start letting IT departmentselectronically purchase, receive, and manage licenses for its software. Through a partnership with BitSource Inc., a provider of automated license-delivery services, Novell will let IT departments procure licenses for NetWare, BorderManager, GroupWise, and other software online. The process can shorten the time needed to order licenses, simplify license management, and potentially reduce software costs.

The partnership will let IT departments or their resellers place an order for a Novell product with BitSource, which pulls the license from Novell's back-end licensing engine. BitSource then E-mails licensing information to the IT department, along with a URL at which details of the license can be viewed. Information on licenses ordered from and distributed by BitSource is stored on a customer-accessible database.

Novell plans to distribute apps through BitSource, though the companies wouldn't specify when this will become available. The online license-distribution service is available immediately at no charge to members of Novell's Customer Connection licensing program.