TagVault | Revolutionizing Software Asset Management

TagVault.org is a non-profit organization formed under the structure of IEEE-ISTO. It is the registration authority for software identification tags (SWID tags). TagVault is a member-driven organization that provides a forum for sharing information and resources about software tags among software publishers, tool providers and SAM practitioners. TagVault provides a shared library of technical knowledge and software tools including consistent cross-vendor, cross-platform APIs.

Government and Industry Focused Webinar

Lower Costs with Certified Software Identification Tags

Available as a recorded webcast

TagVault.org, a program of IEEE-ISTO and the certification authority for ISO/IEC 19770-2 software identification tags, invites you to a free, government and industry pertinent webinar.

TagVault.org Attending GTRA Council Meeting

TagVault.org will be attending the GTRA Council at Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania from Dec 6th - 8th, 2009. GTRA is focused on helping to make the federal government more focused on government-wide collaboration. This helps governmental organizations implement best-practices more quickly and cost effectively.

The ISO/IEC 19770-2 Standard Published!

After three years of significant effort and peer review, the ISO/IEC 19770-2 standard has been published by ISO. Individuals and organizations can purchase the standard from ISO, ANSI, or your national bodies standards organization.

This standard is the first step in revolutionizing the software asset management market. As software gets more expensive, hardware costs continue to plummet and software audit fines and penalties are rising, software purchasers are realizing that they need to more effectively manage their software assets. The problem is that SAM programs are expensive to implement. One of the reasons for the high cost of SAM programs is due to resource costs involved in manually identifying software inventory, or fixing third party identification libraries that have been unverified and untested. Software identification tags resolve this set of problems and associated costs!

Does Well Engineered Software Deserve a More Systematic Approach to License Management?

In Nov 2009, TickIT published an article penned by Steve Klos on the need for authoritative software identification. TickIT is an organization focused on improving the overall quality of software by application of the framework of the ISO 9001 standard. More information on TickIT can be found at www.tickit.org.

Steve's article focuses on the reasons software developers must be concerned about authoritative software identification once software is purchased and installed at customer sites. The article provides a high level perspective on software asset management and reviews the costs to all SAM eco-system members if software purchasers are unable to properly identify installed software.

Adobe's use of 19770-2 SWID Tags

Adobe posted a blog entry providing details about the use of software identification tags in the Acrobat 9 and CS4 product lines. Adobe, like many software publishers, is working to help its customers accurately identify Adobe software titles installed on a variety of computing devices. Using SWID tags, Adobe provides authoritative information about which product was installed on a device and if that product is part of a suite, or part of a stand-alone installation. This information is provided on a variety of Windows platforms as well as on Macintosh platforms.

For more details on what Adobe is doing, read the blog post.

ISO/IEC 19770-2 Software Identification Tags Are a Reality!

The ISO/IEC 19770-2 standard defining software identification tags received 100% unanimous approval to become a published international standard. There is no longer a reason for software publishers to allow software to be released in a manner that makes it difficult for software purchasing organizations to properly identify what is installed in their environment. The document will go through the final ISO editorial review, but the technical definitions are complete and locked down. The XSD as published on the ISO web site is the final version that will be used for software identification tags that conform to the 19770-2 standard. It is expected that the publication of the standard will occur before the end of 2009.

Tag Creation, Validation and Signing Utility

TagVault.org offers members a tag creation, validation and signing utility. This utility was developed by Third Eye (http://www.thirdeyecss.com/) in conjunction with TagVault.org.

This utility:

SAM Standards Development - Why Does It Take So Long?

ISO standards are developed by volunteers and the structure of the organizations managing standards development is hierarchical and very structured. The individuals who helped with the development of the 19770-2 (SWID tag) standard were volunteers who participated as part of an "other working group" (OWG).

The 19770-2 OWG reports into Working Group 21 (WG21) - the working group tasked with the development of SAM standards. WG21 had its interim meeting in Reading England the week of Oct 26, 2009. It was clear at the interim meeting that the passage of the 19770-2 standard as development of other SAM standards is gaining significant interest from the market. These standards help all member of the SAM eco-system to reduce costs, improve service and make license management processes much more transparent.