How we license

Like many software companies, VSNi uses licensing to provide customers with access to its software products. Customers pay in advance for a licence which allows an agreed number of users access to the software for a set time period, normally 12 months, after which access stops until the licence is renewed. 

To provide additional flexibility to our licensing options we have been moving ASReml-SA, ASReml-R and CycDesign to a new licensing service, RLM. In July 2021 with the move of ASReml-SA to the RLM service we completed that process. Only Genstat remains on our original Flex licensing service, and we have no immediate plans to change that.

There are a few differences in the way each licensing service provides customers with access to our software. This section of the website is here to help you understand how each licensing service works so you can be sure each product will work for you. Of course, we can always be contacted at support@vsni.co.uk if you need further help or guidance.

Genstat (on Flex) is an ‘on-premise’ licensing service, where the license for the software sits on the machine with the software. When you purchase a Genstat license it will be on a single-user basis, and usually the license will be ‘node-locked’ i.e., the software can only be used on the machine the license is installed on. It is also possible to have ‘floating’ licenses, where access is more widely offered to a community of potential users on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Where customers want more than one user to have access to Genstat, they need to purchase and install multiple licenses.

Universities often opt for a Genstat campus license. This provides a solution for multiple users to take advantage of a number of licenses, 100 for example, on a ‘first come first served’ basis by accessing the product via the university’s own ‘on-premise’ server.

The latest version of ASReml-SA (4.2), ASReml-R (4) and CycDesign (??) now use the RLM license service. Earlier versions will still be operating on the Flex licensing service as Genstat still does (described above). 

RLM licensing allows for multiple users to concurrently access software under a single license agreement based on the number of users agreed for that license. Additionally, they may access the software from different machines such as PCs, laptops, virtual machines, shared servers etc. which makes utilising the software much more flexible for users. As the RLM license service is cloud-based you’ll need internet access to allow your license to be validated each time you wish to access the software (note that it is possible to go offline for up to 30 days once you have opened a session and validated your license).

Larger organisations with the need to allow many users access to the software may do so through an enterprise licence. Additionally, in some usually more complicated installations, we are able to offer enterprise ‘on-premises’ licensing. This allows organisations to host licensing on their own server and avoid the requirement internet access. Being a bespoke solution, this option is charged at a premium and is only available for larger organisations – contact us at support@vsni.co.uk for further details.

Key Dates

• From 1st July 2021 all new ASReml-SA, ASReml-R and CycDesigN sales are licensed via the RLM service
• From 1st January 2022 all ASReml-SA, ASReml-R and CycDesign license renewals will be licensed via the RLM service
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