callas License Server offers an alternative way to license callas products. Rather than authorizing a particular product to run on a specific (real or virtual) computer, it offers the opportunity to get licensing information from a central License Server. Additionally, the License Server offers both process-based and credit-based (time-based) licensing in a much more flexible way than traditional licensing models used by callas products.

callas License Server does not take away anything from alternative license models, it simply offers an alternative. callas License Server is a standalone application without any user interface. It is always run and configured from the command-line or through scripting.

The use of callas License Server makes additional usage models for the callas tools possible:

• It supports "load on demand" or "capacity on demand" models where callas tools are installed and run on new systems as they are needed.
• It supports "peak processing" by using both process-based and credit-based usage models. The combination of the two is ideal for environments where a certain baseline processing power is needed, but occasionally peaks occur that also have to be dealt with quickly.
• It supports "usage-based" payment. After the initial cost of the License Server, credit cartridges can be used to pay only for the time actually being used while processing PDF files.

Read the next article for more information on the different licensing models.