An Unlimited License Agreement (ULA) is a time agreement for unlimited use of a subset of Oracle products. At the end of the term, the customer can renew the ULA (for the same or different conditions, terms, products or companies); Or declare and certify the use to Oracle (to terminate the ULA). If the customer chooses not to renew, licenses will be assigned based on the customer`s current usage and certified to the ULA on the end date. Although the focus has been on the cloud in recent years, some vendors continue to push for unlimited software licensing agreements for large enterprises. In many ways, the benefits of a customer opting for the cloud or unlimited licensing agreements are aligned. The most important of these benefits is the long-term commitment. Although the ULA is presented as an ”everything you can eat” offer, it is a fact that it does not cover all situations. This means that you can easily be led to a false sense of security and use Oracle software in a way that is not covered by your agreement. This will inevitably result in an unexpected bill at the end of your ULA or, worse, a violation of the deployment terms, which means you`ll be forced to certify sooner than expected.

This can only really be mitigated by careful monitoring of Oracle`s heritage and its future use. Given the apparent simplicity and variety of benefits, what should companies consider before entering into such an agreement? Should there be other concerns? Underutilized software means that the value a company hoped to achieve has not been achieved. Perhaps growth has not been as strong as expected. In this scenario, a company might have been better off buying through a standard deal. Usage can also decrease after a contract expires, which can cause a company to pay the same or more maintenance amount in the future. Let`s get back to this important sentence about support – you pay one-time fixed licensing costs plus fixed continuous support, under a number of main conditions and restrictions. Thus, even after the declaration, your support costs will be set at the amount set at the time of purchase of the ULA – they are NOT affected by the size of the declaration. Typically, Oracle SLAs apply only to Oracle technology products and not to applications.

If you have Oracle licensing experts in-house, you can use an Oracle SAM solution like Certero for Oracle to manage your Oracle investments. However, if you do not have Oracle licensing specialists with the skills and experience required to use such a tool, Certero can provide a managed SAM service. Due to the nature of the agreement, companies often assume that they are free to consume as much Oracle software covered by the ULA as they deem necessary. Because if the licenses are ”unlimited” and the bill is paid, there`s no need to worry, right? The ultimate goal is to ensure that the fees you pay perform well on the products you use. If your Oracle consumption increases during the ULA period (within the ULA settings), the agreement can result in huge cost savings compared to purchasing licenses individually. However, if your consumption decreases, you will almost certainly pay too much for your licenses. It is important to understand your current and expected future use to estimate the cost-benefit ratio of a potential ULA. This article highlights what an ULA is, what you need to consider when buying an ULA, how to manage it for its duration, and how to declare it successfully. If you don`t track your usage throughout the life of the ULA, you can desperately perform an Oracle audit of your own usage before the reporting date: this may mean that you are ”missing” (and therefore not licensed) from the facilities or that you are counting incorrectly.

An Oracle Unlimited License Agreement (ULA) is an agreement in which a company pays a one-time upfront fee to obtain as many licenses as it needs for a specific set of Oracle products over a specified period of time. The limitations of an ULA are governed by the terms of the agreement. Some ULA clauses refer to the product and use, while others refer to your organization or the term ULA. When your ULA term ends, you have two options: you can certify Oracle and declare your usage, or you can extend your ULA by three years (or more). While an Oracle ULA can simplify your licenses, it can also be complicated to negotiate, manage, and declare, which is why oracle ULA version 1 expertise can pay off. Our licensing experts, in collaboration with version 1 control™, can help you with: When you certify, you explain your use of Oracle products and must comply with Oracle`s certification clause in the ULA. Upon receipt, Oracle will use this information to determine the number of software licenses to grant to your organization. Another problem that has crept in in recent years is the use of the cloud. Although it is known at the time of signing the agreement whether the products can be deployed in the public cloud under the agreement, it is not so clear whether this use can be declared at the time of certification. Admittedly, Oracle doesn`t allow this as a standard, which could mean that your use of the cloud isn`t technically licensed at the end of the agreement. Of course, this can be easily solved by paying Oracle again. On the surface, signing an unlimited agreement seems like an easy task.

Take the Oracle ULA, for example. . . .