Applied Flow Technology (AFT) Case Study 1 Global leader in the pipe flow modeling software market, AFT primarily focuses on developing high quality, fluid flow analysis software. Challenge As a leader in the piping and ducting systems analysis and modeling software, Applied Flow Technology needed to protect its high-value software and maintain a competitive edge. Solution AFT chose to implement HASP HL to ensure license compliance. Results Sentinel HASP allows AFT to deploy their licenses on a key without any inconvenience to their customers. The Back Story Applied Flow Technology (AFT) provides its nearly 1,100 customers in over 50 countries with premier piping and ducting systems analysis and modeling software. The first company to introduce pipe flow analysis software with a graphical interface, AFT supplies the most innovative tools for system engineers. AFT’s products allow clients, such as The Washington Group and NASA, to build models of piping and ducting for water, oil, air, chemicals, etc. The Business Challenge One of the global leaders in pipe-flow analysis software, AFT needed a secure solution to prevent hacking, reverse engineering and improper usage of their innovative engineering tool. After using software-based protection for years, they found it was not providing the standard of security AFT required. AFT’s software licenses were stored on disks, which were subject to corruption. Licenses were sometimes lost in normal use of a computer, leaving customers without access to the necessary software, and burdening AFT’s tech support. The Journey AFT searched for a more robust software rights management solution, and found that hardware protection was better suited for its feature-rich analysis products. AFT chose HASP HL based on its solid reputation as a hardware-based software rights management solution. “We were looking to get away from the current protection that we were using,” said Jeff Olsen, Vice President of Software Architecture at AFT. “HASP was high quality, had a good reputation, and we were able to work with the USB keys directly.” Sentinel HASP Allows Revenues, Not Intellectual Property, to Flow at Applied Flow Technology CASE STUDY
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Applied Flow Technology (AFT) Case Study 1
Global leader in the pipe flow modeling software market, AFT primarily focuses on developing high quality, fluid flow analysis software.
ChallengeAs a leader in the piping and ducting systems analysis and modeling software, Applied Flow Technology needed to protect its high-value software and maintain a competitive edge.
Solution
AFT chose to implement HASP HL to ensure license compliance.
ResultsSentinel HASP allows AFT to deploy their licenses on a key without any inconvenience to their customers.
The Back StoryApplied Flow Technology (AFT) provides its nearly 1,100 customers in over 50 countries with premier piping and ducting systems analysis and modeling software. The first company to introduce pipe flow analysis software with a graphical interface, AFT supplies the most innovative tools for system engineers. AFT’s products allow clients, such as The Washington Group and NASA, to build models of piping and ducting for water, oil, air, chemicals, etc.
The Business ChallengeOne of the global leaders in pipe-flow analysis software, AFT needed a secure solution to prevent hacking, reverse engineering and improper usage of their innovative engineering tool. After using software-based protection for years, they found it was not providing the standard of security AFT required. AFT’s software licenses were stored on disks, which were subject to corruption. Licenses were sometimes lost in normal use of a computer, leaving customers without access to the necessary software, and burdening AFT’s tech support.
The JourneyAFT searched for a more robust software rights management solution, and found that hardware protection was better suited for its feature-rich analysis products. AFT chose HASP HL based on its solid reputation as a hardware-based software rights management solution. “We were looking to get away from the current protection that we were using,” said Jeff Olsen, Vice President of Software Architecture at AFT. “HASP was high quality, had a good reputation, and we were able to work with the USB keys directly.”
Sentinel HASP Allows Revenues, Not Intellectual Property, to Flow at Applied Flow Technology CaSe STudy
Applied Flow Technology (AFT) Case Study 2
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“On the business side, we wanted a solution with a reasonable cost for deployment,” Tom Glassen, Vice President of Operations at AFT. “SafeNet provided initial purchase discounts and allowed us to stage shipments over the year, which helped manage cash flow.”
The BenefitsFor Olsen, having the flexibility to adapt HASP’s features to fit AFT’s software is the most valued aspect of HASP. “I like the flexibility of having different applications and the number of licenses on the key,” said Olsen. “Each AFT application is a feature on the HASP key, and we have multiple sets of multiple products. All the data is encrypted and we can embed version numbers and license numbers, to make sure it’s being used properly.”
“The most obvious benefit is that HASP provides us a means to get away from outdated technology and on to a current USB key, to deploy our licenses,” said Glassen. “Second, is the success of HASP in terms of it working to secure our licenses. It’s worked well and with minimal problems.”
Olsen also finds HASP’s attentive tech support department a huge benefit of using HASP protection. “We needed to know specific behaviors of the keys and were able to talk to HASP support staff,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to call somebody and talk through concerns.”
AFT has seen less demand for tech support since replacing antiquated technology with HASP’s hardware-based protection keys. “We’ve found HASP USB keys to be more robust than our prior software-based protection and licensing,” said Glassen. “The keys plug into the computer and the license is right there. The difference in tech support calls is quite obvious. We have noticeably lower tech support burden on our part.” Because AFT’s tech support department is no longer swamped with calls, AFT needs fewer people working to fix erased licenses, and is free to invest more time improving its software product, leading to future revenue.
“We needed to know specific behaviors of the keys and were able to talk to HASP support staff. It’s nice to be able to call somebody and talk through concerns.” -Jeff Olsen, Vice President of Software architecture at aFT
about Tiltan Systems engineering, Ltd. Founded in 1993, Applied Flow Technology (AFT) has rapidly grown to be a leader in the pipe flow modeling software market. With a primary focus on developing high quality, fluid flow analysis software for Microsoft Windows operating systems, AFT has a comprehensive line of products for the analysis and design of piping and ducting systems. With representatives in twenty four countries and customers in more than sixty, AFT software has helped companies around the world increase their capabilities and extend their business opportunities. For more information, visit: www.AFT.com.
about SafeNet SafeNet has more than 25 years of experience in delivering innovative and reliable software protection, licensing, and management solutions to software and technology vendors worldwide.
Easy to integrate and use, innovative, and feature-focused, the company’s family of Sentinel® solutions are designed to meet the unique license enablement, enforcement, and management requirements of any organization, regardless of size, technical requirements or organizational structure.
Only with SafeNet are clients able to address all of their antipiracy, IP protection, license enablement, and license management challenges while increasing overall profitability, improving internal operations, maintaining competitive positioning, and enhancing relationships with their customers and end users.
With a proven history in adapting to new requirements and introducing new technologies to address evolving market conditions, SafeNet’s more than 25,000 customers around the globe know that by choosing Sentinel, they choose the freedom to evolve how they do business today, tomorrow, and beyond. To learn more, visit: www.safenet-inc.com/sentinel.
The SolutionAFT integrated HASP into its software deployment and saw an immediate rise in customer satisfaction. The company was able to update to the most current technology and make their licenses Vista 64-bit compatible. “Customers are happy because they wanted to move to a USB key,” Olsen explained. “Now users can actually see the key, it’s not on the computer. So, if the hard disk gets wiped, they don’t lose their license.”
