Company Releases softANCHOR 5.0 and Brings Polite Software Activation, Open Source License Management, Global Piracy Auditing and License Throttling to Software Developers
Irvine, CA – June 26, 2007 – Uniloc USA Inc., the technology leader in physical device recognition for protecting intellectual property, networks and personal data, today announced its next-generation software copy protection solution with the launch of softANCHOR™ 5.0. Loaded with the industry’s most powerful anti-piracy features to prevent license exploitation; provide a global view of piracy-driven loss; allow license Throttling to raise or lower device activation parameters and provide full-featured open source license management – softANCHOR 5.0 is set to redefine leadership in software copy control.
According to research by IDC and the Business Software Alliance, 35 percent of the software installed in 2006 on personal computers (PCs) worldwide was obtained illegally, amounting to nearly $40 billion in global losses due to software piracy. With software being one of the most valuable technologies of this millenium, powering everything from PCs, servers, appliances and the Internet, it is critical to protect and cultivate its growth. As a result of software becoming such an important tool for both personal and business prosperity, the illegal high-volume copying and distribution – software piracy – persists globally. In the United States alone, one in four software programs is unlicensed.
To address this issue, Uniloc has taken everything software publishers, businesses and consumers hate about copy control and thrown it out the window. Now it is possible to implement and maintain highly secure, fully embedded product activation in house – with the comparable ease and simplicity of a security wrapper. Far from an activation “wrapper”, softANCHOR 5.0 enables developers to quickly and easily implement fully embedded seamless security configurations, allowing an unlimited number of tripwires and validation checkpoints. softANCHOR’s thousands of code variations and obfuscation practices ensure maximum code protection – and the highest hack-resistance available. Unlike other one-solution-fits-all anti-piracy measures, if any one title is ever somehow cracked, that same crack will not apply to any other products.
Included in the softANCHOR 5.0 product suite is the industry’s first global piracy auditing solution, LicenseAUDIT™. With LicenseAUDIT, users are now able to quantify how pervasive their software piracy issues are and adjust licensing strategies on-the-fly to set policies addressing casual sharing, open sharing and piracy. LicenseAUDIT provides real-time statistics about actual license usage with 100 percent accurate results, so that license management decisions are made on fact versus assumptions. The auditing capability can be deployed independent of softANCHOR 5.0 to provide insight and analysis for any software vendor, using existing software builds and existing software copy control products. To act on this information, Uniloc has also introduced ‘Throttling’, giving the ability to increase or decrease software copy parameters to strike a balance between help desk calls and piracy protection, and optimize viral marketing models.
“This technology can help customers stay compliant with licensing terms, without inducing onerous restrictions on IT” said Eric Ogren, president of The Ogren Group.”Giving software vendors the ability to reward organizations with flexible licensing alternatives is an appealing capability in softANCHOR 5.0 for vendors serving small and medium businesses.”
Physical Device Fingerprinting is the core technology behind softANCHOR 5.0 and is based on the fundamental principle that no two digital devices are identical. The process of physical device recognition starts by generating a digital identity for a device, known as its “Physical Device Fingerprint.” A Physical Device Fingerprint is made up of a combination of machine characteristics and properties that are generated using a set of proprietary algorithms. The Uniloc Physical Device Fingerprinting algorithms allow the unique, reproducible identification of a device with an accuracy greater than 3.4 * 10^38, allowing Uniloc to identify devices with more comparable accuracy than human DNA.
“As a leading, third-party provider of electronic license delivery and management services, Intraware is pleased to see Uniloc moving the industry toward Internet-based activation across the board from consumer products to enterprise applications,” said James Brentano, vice president of sales at Intraware, Inc. “Today’s announcement further demonstrates the value of partnerships in advancing our combined solutions for customers.”
The softANCHOR 5.0 Product Suite
softANCHOR 5.0 is copy control by developers for developers that seamlessly integrates the most powerful IP protection into the development process, side-by-side with application code. With only 35 lines of code and simple integration process, softANCHOR takes days, not weeks for market-readiness and with softANCHOR, developers are no longer held hostage by third-party copy control providers as they now have direct access to software copy protection code. This gives publishers the flexibility to easily create, maintain and enforce a full range of rights and licensing models including trial periods and multi-device fair use. The softANCHOR 5.0 suite is a copy protection platform that is further enhanced with the following capabilities:
• LicenseAUDIT real-time global piracy auditing for comprehensive license visibility and actionable data that creates opportunity from piracy
• On-the-fly configurable license rule ‘Throttling’ for providing balance between piracy levels and help desk calls, and optimizing the use of viral marketing tools.
• Open source license management with MyLicenseManager™ (MyLM) for activation reporting and management, including detailed information on successful activations, failed activations, attempted activations, installation target locations, regional Throttling model identification and more.
“Polite software copy protection is critical to maintaining a positive experience for software users,” said Guy Wilnai, senior vice president, worldwide sales & marketing for e-commerce solutions provider, Plimus, Inc. “softANCHOR allows us to deliver user-friendly software activation to our e-commerce customers. This helps to protect the investment they make in the intellectual property that makes up their products. The latest offering by Uniloc provides us with spot-on analysis for license management. In turn, this takes the guesswork out of setting appropriate licensing parameters while promising to turn software pirates into channel partners for Plimus’ customers.”
“In defense of intellectual property and the software user experience, we are dedicated to delivering innovative solutions based on our core technology, Physical Device Fingerprinting. Our intellectual property positions allow us to offer solutions that address the industry’s most pressing concerns, including software piracy and polite software licensing strategies,” said Mike Broderick, CEO of Uniloc USA. “The launch of softANCHOR 5.0 breaks new ground, re-defining ease-of-use for software users and opening new opportunities for developers.”
Pricing and Availability
SoftANCHOR 5.0 with LicenseAUDIT is generally available with pricing based on configuration and environment.
About Uniloc USA
Uniloc USA is the technology leader in electronic physical device recognition for software copy control and information security. The core technology driving Uniloc innovation is Physical Device Fingerprinting, the company’s patented method of uniquely identifying a user device, such as a PC, game console, smart phone or cell phone, by the naturally occurring, inherent physical imperfections of that device, and then incorporating that physical device fingerprint into licenses or access credentials. Uniloc’s technologies can identify devices with more comparable accuracy than human DNA. Uniloc is the inventor and holder of the seminal physical device locking patent (U.S. 5,490,216) and has 15 related patents pending. Uniloc has applied its Physical Device Fingerprinting technical expertise to several vertical markets, including software publishing, government network access control, online banking and trading, and CD/DVD anti-theft. For more detailed information, please visit www.unilocusa.com.
Uniloc, softANCHOR, My License Manager and LicenseAUDIT are trademarks of Uniloc USA Inc. All other brand and product names are, or may be trademarks of their respective owners.
