rev. 25-may-2004
EMA and CADfix Software Maintenance and Licensing

EMA Software Maintenance And License Key Renewal

Most EMA software customers purchase one or more perpetual licenses for EMA software.  A perpetual license means that the customer has purchased the right to use the software indefinitely, i.e., it is equivalent to having purchased the number of copies of the software corresponding to the number of licenses purchased.

Typically, EMA fulfills the license purchase by issuing annual license keys which must be re-issued periodically upon expiration.  This is mostly for technical reasons.  The perpetual-license customer still has the right to always have a functioning copy of the software with a current license.

Many customers purchase maintenance for EMA software.  Maintenance consists of unlimited support with the software, plus upgrades as they become available.

Maintenance is separate from license key renewal.  The annual maintenance renewal date usually corresponds to the annual license-key-renewal date; however, this is almost always purely for administrative convenience.  Another reason this is usually the case, is that customers who purchase maintenance usually purchase it simultaneously with the purchase of the software, which means that the maintenance renewal date corresponds to the annual key renewal date by coincidence of having purchased software and maintenance at the same time.

CADfix License Key Renewal and Maintenance Renewal

The software product EMA3D is almost always purchased in a bundle with the product CADfix from Transcendata Europe Ltd.  CADfix serves as a graphical front-end and post-processing visualization tool for EMA3D.  For CADfix, there is another reason that the annual key renewal date corresponds to the annual maintenance renewal date for EMA3D/CADfix.  Transcendata fulfils the license purchase differently for customers on maintenance than for non-maintenance customers.  For maintenance customers, Transcendata issues annual keys that must be re-issued upon expiration.  For non-maintenance customers, the customer has the option of a perpetual license key with no expiration date.

The reason for this is that, while a customer is on maintenance, Transcendata will perform certain services such as a "key-detail change".  A key detail change means changing certain technical details of the license key; for example, moving the software or license server to a different machine would mean changing the machine locking information in the license key.  Re-issuing new keys with new locking information means there are potentially more valid license keys than licenses purchased; however, since the keys have expiration dates, the potential for this is limited no matter how many times a maintenance customer may change machines, since the keys will all expire within a year at the latest.

If a customer does not purchase maintenance, or goes off of maintenance (chooses to not renew), they have the option of either receiving annual keys, or receiving a permanent key with no expiration.

If the non-maintenance customer receives annual keys, they may still have "key-detail changes" performed, such as a machine change, for a nominal fee.

If the non-maintenance customer wishes to be issued a perpetual key with no expiration date, the possibility of future detail changes (such as a machine change) is eliminated.  This is equivalent to having a license key that is permanently locked to a particular computer (either a particular workstation for a standalone key, or a particular license server for a network key).

For this reason, customers without maintenance are recommended to choose to continue to receive annual renewal keys.  Although installing a permanent key may seem more convenient at first, hardware always is eventually replaced or upgraded or moved between departments, and the need to move software or a license server to another machine sooner or later is all but inevitable.  Receiving annual renewal keys preserves the possibility of future key-detail changes to accommodate the need to move software or license servers to new hardware.

For questions or additional information regarding maintenance or license keys for EMA software, please contact EMA using the contact information below.  For questions or information regarding maintenance or license keys for CADfix, please feel free to contact either EMA, or Transcendata Europe Ltd. using the contact information below.

Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc.
7655 W. Mississippi Ave., Suite 300
Lakewood, CO 80226-4332
USA-303-980-0070
info@electromagneticapplications.com
www.electromagneticapplications.com

Transcendata Europe Ltd.
4 Carisbrooke Court, Anderson Road
Buckingwary Business Park
Swavesey
Cambridge
CB4 5UQ
UK
+44 (0) 1954 234300
www.cadfix.com