In the past, manufacturers of industrial equipment served their markets by producing machines with specific features for specific purposes. Today, however, manufacturers are increasingly licensing the various functions on standardized IoT devices, single-board computers and controllers. These are now so powerful that they can store entire software packages with all the functions. Manufacturers can offer the complete devices, activate functions directly upon delivery or subsequently and sell them separately, thus offering their customers hardware that meets their needs.

Licensing enables manufacturers to achieve a lean product portfolio and thus save on production costs, reach new target groups and target markets through low-cost entry-level offers and achieve the monetization of software innovations.

Manage authorizations securely

The protection and licensing technology CodeMeter from Wibu-Systems offers manufacturers the option of encrypting their software and activating the functions depending on the purchase. The authorizations, for example the information on the activated functions, are stored in the protection hardware CmDongle or the encrypted activation file CmActLicense. To enable a manufacturer to make subsequent updates, there is the so-called context file, which contains all the necessary information securely stored and can also transport it.

Since SPS IPC Drives 2018, CodeMeter has included push updates that allow the feedback channel as an option. The device generates a context file the first time it is activated. From the new CodeMeter version 6.70, a modified context file is automatically created when each update file is generated. This is the file that the device would send with the next request. Instead of requesting a new context file, the manufacturer can now create further updates based on this modified context file. The process is repeated so that a new modified context file is available for the next update.

This management of the modified files is carried out automatically and transparently for the manufacturer in CodeMeter License Central from version 3.21. CodeMeter License Central is a database-based application for creating, delivering and managing licenses. It can be easily connected to SAP, e-commerce and CRM solutions.

But what happens if an update has not been used on the device? As all updates are differential and build on each other, updates cannot be skipped. But CodeMeter License Central can help here too. All updates that have not yet been confirmed via a receipt are integrated into the current update file. The runtime components on the device automatically check which updates have already been applied and only carry out the steps that are still open.

The versions of CodeMeter and CodeMeter License Central presented at SPS thus offer the manufacturer the option of securely delivering licenses via a push update without a return channel from the device. Possible error states such as "Update forgotten" are automatically corrected. In addition to licenses, keys and certificates can also be delivered, for example for OPC UA.