What is Client Access License? (CAL)?

07 July 2021
2 minute read
Best practice

What is Client Access License? (CAL)?

07 July 2021
2 minute read

Whiteboard Wednesday Episode 21 :What is client access license? (CAL)?

Whiteboard Wednesday is me, a whiteboard and learning about all things IT Asset Management (ITAM), every Wednesday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKGy2o-eyWI


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What is a Client Access License (CAL)?  

A CAL is license to allow you to access the services from a server. So, let’s say you’ve got a greengrocer and you’ve got some cool piece of software for your greengrocers, you might pay for the server here. Then you might have three users that access this server, and you would buy Client Access License for each one of those three users. If you were to get another member of staff that need access to this server, you’d buy another Client Access License. This could be a person or it could be a device, but it allows you as a licenser to give you access to the services from a server. 

How much value do you need? 

The way this is designed is to scale with the value that you’re getting. If you’re a greengrocer with four staff, you’re going to pay for four CALs to get the service from that server. If you’re an oil company with 100,000 staff, you’re going to pay a lot more Client Access Licenses because you’ll get a lot more value. What the CALs allow you to do as a publisher is scale the price, you’re paying with the value you’re getting. That’s the idea! 

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