By John Lipsey

Cloud-based computing has transformed the way people think about purchasing and consuming business software. Like ala carte dining rather than all you can eat, the Cloud has opened up entirely new revenue streams for providers to enable value based on new delivery models such as burst-of-use and pay-per-use, to name a couple. There are many software licensing implications tied to Cloud computing. And they all assume that application producers can track their customers' software usage and enforce it according to the relevant licensing arrangement.

But can they?

According to our 2011 Key Trends in Software Pricing & Licensing Survey, software vendors and intelligent device manufacturers have a ways to go. According to the survey, 47% of application producers say they either do not have technology in place that enables them to know what product, product version or platforms their customers are using – or they simply do not know.