Background

Virellio Technologies is a global enterprise operating in a highly regulated, innovation-driven sector. With a complex and expansive virtual computing environment exceeding 100,000 processing cores, the organization required expert support in navigating a high-stakes software licensing transition.

The Challenge

Virellio Technologies intended to exit an enterprise license agreement with Oracle. However, they faced several challenges:

• Uncertainty around how future changes in their IT landscape might trigger retrospective licensing claims from Oracle post-certification.
• The size and complexity of their virtual environment – combined with limited visibility into non-ULA Oracle product usage—introduced significant compliance risk.The client’s virtual infrastructure posed potential licensing challenges due to the complexity of Oracle’s policies on virtualization, while limited visibility into non-ULA Oracle products added further uncertainty around compliance.
• Oracle’s nuanced and evolving interpretation of virtualization licensing rules added further difficulty in establishing a confident and defensible exit position.

The Solution

ITAA was engaged to manage the license agreement exit and mitigate associated risks.
Our approach included:

• Initiating the project well in advance of the ULA certification deadline to allow for comprehensive analysis.
• Conducting multiple system-wide measurements to map both ULA and non-ULA product usage across the environment.
• Identifying governance issues in database configurations that could have led to misinterpretation of licensing requirementsand subsequently inflated license claims.
• Facilitating dialogue with the vendor’s senior stakeholders to clarify how virtualization impacts licensing in complex environments.
• Supporting Virellio Technologies in maintaining a contractual position that licenses are only required where products are actively installed and/or running.
• Establishing an agreement that covered the full virtual estate under a clearly defined licensing model—preserving flexibility for future growth without incurring unexpected obligations.

Conclusion

With ITAA’s guidance, Virellio Technologies was able to:

• Avoid over $500 million USD in potential license exposure.
• Certify its agreement with confidence while ensuring long-term scalability of its virtual infrastructure
• Strengthen its internal licensing position based on contractual clarity rather than policy interpretation.
• Navigate a complex vendor engagement without compromise, positioning the organization for ongoing compliance and strategic control.

*Protecting our clients’ confidence is of the utmost importance at ITAA. While our case studies are based on true projects, we have used fictitious names and removed or changed other identifiable details.