A few months ago, I wrote a post titled Oracle Licensing is Not as Boring as Watching Paint Dry.  In that article, I highlighted a few places that could help you get a better understanding of Oracle’s licensing and subscription policies. In this post, I thought we could spend a little time on Enterprise Agreements and how Oracle Global Licensing Advisory Services (GLAS) can help. 

What is an Oracle Enterprise Agreement?

For Enterprise Agreements, Oracle has a few standard forms, the Unlimited License Agreement (also known as a ULA), the Perpetual Unlimited License Agreement (PULA), and the Pool of Funds (POF). 

So, what are each of these?

  • A ULA is a contractual arrangement where a customer can purchase the right to deploy and use an unlimited number of specified Oracle software products for a specified period of time. 
  • A PULA is similar to a ULA except that there is no specified time period.  A customer has the right to use the Oracle software perpetually, within the terms and conditions of the contract.
  • A POF is a contractual arrangement where a customer provides a one-time payment against which it can deploy specified Oracle programs.  Similar to the ULA, the contract covers a specified time period or until the pool of funds is exhausted.

Why would you want an Enterprise Agreement?

If you are still reading the post, you might be asking yourself “Why would I want an Enterprise Agreement?”.

Well, one of the primary reasons you might want an Enterprise Agreement is because you could save money.  For example, with a ULA or a PULA, the unit cost price goes down when your volume usage goes up (because you can use as much as you want) while the support stream remains flat.  Using more costs nothing more.

Another reason you might want an Enterprise Agreement is to improve budgetary control, and eliminate the time and effort required to negotiate departmental or project-based contracts.  What you will spend on Oracle licenses and subscriptions will be well known.  And this would be true across your whole organization. 

A third reason Enterprise Agreements may be attractive is that they can help improve IT flexibility, compliance and governance as well as help align technology standardization.  How many database licenses did I buy?  How many are we using?  If you had a ULA or a PULA, you would not have to ask these questions. 

How can Oracle GLAS help?

First, no one knows Oracle Licensing and Subscriptions better than GLAS. No one.

Oracle GLAS can support your Enterprise Agreement by helping you with

  • Recommendations on enterprise licensing structures that can help effectively manage your Oracle investment in on-premise and cloud software.  Your data storage requirements are growing at 10% per year, and you want to move more of your processing to the cloud.  Oracle GLAS can help you understand both of these. 
  • Predicted impacts of planned business and IT transformations, including potential corporate actions like Mergers, Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).  You are selling one division and buying another.  How much software will I need?  Oracle GLAS can help. 
  • A better understanding of your total cost of ownership (TCO) and how to align your IT and financial requirements to your cross-product (including On-Premise and Cloud) and cross-platform licensing/subscription strategies.  The answer is not obvious you say…Oracle GLAS can help. 

For these or for any other licensing and subscription questions brought to Global Licensing Advisory Services, your company will receive a written, tailored analysis with specific recommendations on potential avenues to transition into a new Enterprise Agreement.

I hope that you appreciated this article.  Oracle GLAS has significant experience with Oracle licensing and subscriptions, and we want to help you eliminate the guesswork and make smart decisions. 

If you have any questions about Oracle Enterprise Agreements or for more information on Oracle GLAS, please feel free to contact us or visit oracle.com/goto/glas or watch the video Oracle Global Licensing Advisory Services: A Customer Journey