Microsoft is beginning the process of contacting NHS Trusts to ascertain the software under use and how much of it has been paid for. If you are an NHS Trust and would like a confidential and entirely independent assessment prior to an engagement with Microsoft, CRC are offering all NHS Trusts the opportunity to complete a Free Microsoft License Snapshot Service .

The benefits for a Trust are:

• High-level overview of Microsoft desktop compliance position
• Ability to immediately identify license harvesting opportunities
• Ability to re-negotiate license agreements on real time data
• Knowledge of compliance position if audited by Microsoft
• Instant visibility of license overspend
Independent expert licensing advice and recommendations (from consultants driven to reduce your software expenditure not increase it)

One of the most challenging tasks is to move beyond discovering installed software to adequately addressing issues to begin reducing costs and harvesting existing licenses.

“More than 50 percent of organisations have been audited by at least one software vendor in the last 12 months”

Gartner 2009

Please contact CRC to discuss further.

FAST has a track record of working with Trading Standards in Cardiff stretching back a couple of years and it keeps that relationship going as well as adding Southampton and the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to the list.

The campaign, ‘Software - Stay Legal’ will educate businesses about how to buy software and remain compliant and builds on a pilot scheme that was run in Cardiff last year.

John Lovelock, chief executive of FAST, said that it wanted to protect the software industry and ensure that only genuine products were being used.

“It has become commonplace for businesses to often unintentionally break piracy laws by not paying attention to software licensing,” he said.

“Businesses will not benefit from cutting corners when it comes to software compliance,” he added “Aside from a hefty fine and possible imprisonment for criminal offences by directors knowingly allowing illegal use, an organisation can lose its reputation if it is exposed for illegal activity.”

Rob Abell at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Trading Standards, said that software piracy impacted liegitmate businesses and, “future investment, innovation and people’s jobs are at stake”.

“We want a level playing field for those businesses that are meeting their legal requirements,” he added.

FAST as well as the Business Software Alliance has had success with educational campaigns that target specific locations and follow up educational work with enforcement.

According to the latest figures put together by IDC on behalf of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) the level of piracy in the UK still stands at 27%, equivalent to £1bn worth of software.

As a consequence of the recession some in the software industry had anticipated an increase in piracy and although that hasn’t happened little inroads appear to have be made in reducing the level of illegal software.

“£1bn is an awful lot of money to lose in a recession, and ultimately this will have an impact on the software industry and the UK economy. This study makes it clear that industry and government’s efforts to reduce software theft in the UK are of vital importance,” said Michala Wardell, chair of the BSA UK Committee.

“As we emerge from the most severe global economic recession in twenty years, we will continue to engage with government, businesses and consumers about the risks of stealing software - and the true impact that software piracy has on the UK’s economy,” she added.

The IDC survey charts piracy rates across 73 countries and the expected recessionary behaviour of more illegal software being used was only seen in 19 countries the other 54 saw a drop in piracy levels.

Overall the global piracy rate increased from 41 to 43% fueled by high piracy rates in China, India and Brazil. For every $100 spent on legitimate software last year an additional $75 was stolen.

Some of the factors that prevented an increase in piracy were highlighted by IDC including the last few years of anti-piracy campaigning having an impact on users and the shift to netbook and laptop sales which often come with bundled legal software.

Robert Holleyman, BSA president and CEO, said that it would continue to take a no-nonsense approach to piracy to protect the creative industries and the wider economy.

“Piracy is limiting IT innovation, job creation, local economic growth and is robbing governments of vital tax revenues,” he said.

In it’s fight against the use of unlicensed software the Business Software Alliance never seems to take much of a breather between cases and it’s latest settlement has landed a London design agency with a £44,000 bill.

The BSA regularly settles with companies caught on the wrong side of the licensing law and Native Design was landed in hot water after using Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Symantec and Autodesk products without proper licenses.

The result is a £24,000 settlement with the BSA and a further £20,000 to get the necessary licenses.

A whistle blower triggered the investigation into Native Design and the BSA continues to encourage people to come forward to point the finger at those using unlicensed software.

Michala Wardell, chair of the BSA UK Member Committee, said that it was upsetting to see a design company, which should be all too aware of the importance of intellectual property, taken other people’s IP for granted.

“Given that more than one in four pieces of software is used illegally in the UK, the BSA has to take a hard line against companies that show a disregard for software licensing laws,” she said.

“This case is particularly disappointing. A design agency’s business is built on Intellectual Property (IP) and yet this company was willing to circumvent other companies’ IP. It should have known better and not put its professional reputation on the line,” she added

The spotlight on unlicensed software has been cast over the education sector with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) settling with a couple of institutions caught on the wrong side of the licensing law.

Norwich-based Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group was hit by a £40,000 for illegal software use and Bickenhall College of Computing also paid out a four figure settlement.

Kingswood Learning and Leisure was caught out using unlicensed copies of Adobe and Microsoft products and the Bickenhall college was also using Adobe and some Autodesk without paying the proper fees.

“Educational establishments have the same responsibilities as any other business to operate legally and have the correct software licenses, setting a good example for others to follow,” said Michala Wardell, chair of the BSA UK Committee.

She pointed out that the money spent on settling with the BSA could have been spent on other much needed facilities and would join the other recent examples as warnings to those prepared to take risks to cut costs.

“Businesses need to be aware of the threats posed by unlicensed software. The £40,000 settlement from the Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group should be a timely reminder for other businesses to check their licenses are up to date,” she said.

Dave Baldwin, the managing director of Getronics, told CRN that many businesses are worried that by outsourcing, they will be damaging their effectiveness due to the switch which will take place, though this will likely not be the case.

He explained that many also worry about losing control, when in reality the IT department will operate much more effectively if not on par with the system which was previously implemented.

Mr Baldwin added that outsourcers of such things as customer relationship management and software asset management aim to be a simple extension of the consumer’s IT team, making sure they complement any existing infrastructure.

He concluded: “Customers may be nervous about handing a part of their business over to a third party but they can quickly gain tangible efficiencies quickly.”

Before outsourcing anything, a company ought to look at in-house systems’ efficiency first, according to Euan Davis, a leading technology analyst who made his comments to Computing at the recent Forrester IT Forum in Berlin.

Accident claims management and vehicle services provider Accident Exchange Group, which is listed on the LSE and made total sales of £64m in the six months to October 2009, was the subject of a BSA investigation last year.

The company has now agreed to make a payment of £20,000 and purchase legal software to the value of £50,000 without admitting liability.

BSA EMEA compliance marketing director Julian Swan conceded that the settlement was a “hefty cost of any company to bear, particularly in this difficult economic climate.”

He continued: “But as long as unlicensed software accounts for more than one in every four pieces of business software, we will continue to take a hard line. Eventually the message will get through.”

The BSA - which pointed out that alongside legal ramifications and damage to a user’s reputation, unlicensed illegal software also left end-users vulnerable to security threats and data loss - is currently offering rewards of up to £10,000 for those prepared to report illegal usage.

The survey aimed to provide a better understanding of security and regulatory challenges organizations face during their virtualization programs. As you might guess, some organizations are further along in the process of virtualization than others, and their answers reflected this.

Overall, there is a general uncertainty as to how virtualization might affect compliance with well known regulations like SOX, PCI, HIPAA and others. Consequently more than 25% of the respondents mentioned some architecture or timeframe issues during their virtualization program due to compliance concerns.

A surprising 13% even mentioned these concerns as one reason not use virtualization technology in at least one area of their business. In response as to whether server virtualization had a positive impact on the organizations compliance management process a solid 30% confirmed this to be the case. According to the participants, the responsibility to ensure compliance of virtualized environments mainly falls on the Information Security department (73%), followed by Technology Operations (53%) and General Management (46%) (multiple selection possible).

Even with the limited data gathered by this survey it becomes obvious that there is a wide range of views as to how virtualized environments can affect compliance requirements. Considering increasing regulatory requirements and the growing popularity of virtualization, you should do some homework on this topic of virtualization and compliance management for your own organization.

Funding that was made available to Trading Standards by the government to protect copyright is being redirected by local authorities, the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) said. The organisation has raised concerns that the campaign it has been running with local Trading Standards offices to search business premises might be derailed. It had run successful campaigns in Cardiff and East London that were intended to act as a blueprint for future activity across the UK. Under Section 107A in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which came into force in April 2007 Trading Standards are able to enter premises they suspect of holding counterfeit product. Money that had been allocated to the programme, which included £5m set aside by the government in 2007 and a further £7.3m in 2008, has either been cut completely or redirected to other activities.

“We were fully co-operating with Trading Standards so that together we could support the legitimate use of software at work and we were working towards the same ends,” said John Lovelock, chief executive at FAST. He added that it had been “doing some groundbreaking work and exploring new boundaries granted by legislation to protect the software industry in the UK. That opportunity has now gone.” Lovelock said that the problem was the money set aside to implement the recommendations set out in the Gowers Report to protect intellectual property had not been ring-fenced. “So that financial investment is either being axed or redirected to investigate more visible and consumer-oriented activity such as health and safety in kebab shops. This was not the intention of this initiative and it is the equivalent of taking a step back in time of three years,” he said.

According to research that it has undertaken to support a campaign in the capital it is running London-based staff are quite likely to report their bosses for unlicensed software, particularly if they could get extra cash.

The BSA has reacted by increasing the potential reward for whistle blowing from £10,000 to £20,000 until the end of the year.

“Many cash-strapped employees are willing to supplement their earnings in the run up to Christmas by reporting illegal business practices,” said Alyna Cope, spokesperson for the BSA UK Committee.

The BSA is using an advertising and telemarketing campaign to stir up whistle blowers in the capital in the next few weeks.

“We are already investigating several companies in London for using unlicensed software, and they face the prospect of legal proceedings,” Cope added.

“Businesses should think carefully about their software use and avoid wasting money on legal action, financial settlements and the unplanned purchase of legitimate software,” she warned.

The BSA announced settlements with three London firms earlier this month as a prelude to its capital campaign.