BALTIMORE, March 1, 2011 -- SafeNet, a global information security company, announced the general release of Sentinel Cloud Services, the industry’s first and only software licensing and entitlement management solution delivered as a service for cloud services. Sentinel Cloud Services make it quick and easy for SaaS and PaaS vendors to build and manage their service offerings, ensure service agreement compliance, and simplify all of the operational processes associated with cloud service contract provisioning, authorization management, and usage tracking.

“SafeNet Sentinel Cloud Services provides a viable alternative to traditional billing and payments services because of a catalog-driven licensing and entitlement management solution that integrates with back office ERP, accounting and installed base billing solutions, either in the Cloud or on premises,” said Mike West, VP and Distinguished Analyst, Saugatuck Technology.

At the highest level, many software vendors setting up shop in the cloud rely on a staggered two-tiered approach to success -- phase one: offer a single offering and sign-up as many subscribers as possible; phase two: diversify the service catalog, introduce new pricing models, and start charging existing customers a premium for new features and services. Success in phase one and the ability to easily transition to phase two is critically dependent on four competencies:

    * Flexibility – the ability to package and re-package service offerings and pricing models quickly and without having to involve R&D.

    * Control – the ability to control what aspects of a service a specific end user can access, view (without access), trial, or be up-sold;

    * Automation – the ability to integrate all back office systems to create a clean, automated process for receiving orders, provisioning service agreements, license and entitlement management, and ongoing customer management;

    * Measurement – the ability to track and report on service usage at the feature level to fuel billing and subscription management services while also gaining valuable insight into how a service is being used.

“It takes more than a clever application to make it in the cloud,” said Chris Holland, VP Software Rights Management, SafeNet. “Cloud service providers need the ability to control how their services are consumed based on end-user entitlements and they need to be able to do so with minimal R&D involvement and without interrupting the customer on-boarding, fulfillment, and billing processes.”

Built on SafeNet’s more than 25 years of experience in the software licensing and management industry, but architected from the ground up to support all of the unique requirements of cloud service delivery, Sentinel Cloud Services provides software companies with everything they need to achieve maximum profitability in the cloud. Only with Sentinel can software companies successfully package, deliver, and manage cloud-delivered services – providing unified solutions across desktops, mobile devices, embedded systems and any network connected application.

SafeNet Sentinel Software Monetization Solutions

SafeNet leverages more than 25 years of experience in delivering innovative and reliable software licensing and entitlement management solutions to software and technology vendors worldwide. Easy to integrate and use, innovative, and feature-focused, the company’s family of Sentinel® solutions are designed to meet the unique license enablement, enforcement, and management requirements of any organization, regardless of size, technical requirements, or organizational structure.

SafeNet clients are able to address all of their anti-piracy, IP protection, license enablement, and license management challenges while increasing overall profitability, improving internal operations, maintaining competitive positioning, and enhancing relationships with their customers and end users.

About SafeNet, Inc.

Founded in 1983, SafeNet is a global leader in information security. SafeNet protects its customers’ most valuable assets, including identities, transactions, communications, data and software licensing, throughout the data lifecycle. More than 25,000 customers across both commercial enterprises and government agencies and in over 100 countries trust their information security needs to SafeNet.

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Source: SafeNet, Inc.