The year was 2008, the stock market crashed, the world was crazy, but there’s a silver lining to every sticky situation. In 2008 my son, SPLA Man Junior, was born. It was also the year SPLA started to change. Acquisitions were happening, data centers began to scale and expand into different regions, hosters were signing multiple agreements in multiple countries, AWS and Azure were getting started, and the world became right again. Nowadays, SPLA Man Junior is catching on real quick that he wants nothing to do with SPLA (smart boy). The world is once again in turmoil, and now SPLA organizations face another challenge that could jeopardize their business. Where they signed, the SPLA agreement mattered.
Don’t be Joe
Let me provide an example, Joe Hosting is located in the Netherlands but has a small datacenter located in the USA. Joe decided to sign his SPLA agreement in the USA. Not a bad idea; after 2008, the US dollar fell dramatically compared to other regions. The problem with Joe is the small datacenter in the US is not his primary business. As part of SPLA, you should sign your primary business, not where you have a small data center. Unfortunately for Joe, he is out of compliance. The big bad wolf can come knocking, force to sign a new agreement in the country he should have signed years ago, thus increasing his costs, and perhaps add a licensing compliant audit on top of it. Good ol’ Joe is stuck.
The good news? SPLA Man is here. If you find yourself in a pickle like Joe, all is not lost. Any time there’s a dilemma, there could be an opportunity. Maybe now is a good time to look at your datacenter licensing, what areas of your business can be optimized, what licensing can be removed, what technology can be deployed, and finally, be on a transformation road map to success. We can also provide you education regarding your agreement. Our team can certainly assist and offer you options. If you have questions about your SPLA agreement, it’s imperative to understand your potential risk before it becomes a risk. Have a question or want to talk more about your options? Email info@splalicensing.com
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
SPLA Licensing 