OutsideView has evolved to become available in a number of ‘flavors.’ 
Which one best suits your needs?

Here is a quick overview of the variations available, to help you decide.

Desktop (Per-Seat) Mode
This is also sometimes called the “Per-Seat” model.  This form of OutsideView is simplest to install, but least easy to modify or maintain.  It is best suited to smaller organizations or extremely stable environments.  Desktop OutsideView is installed individually on each PC, configured individually, and maintained individually. For small or stable companies, this is OK – for larger or more volatile companies this can be pretty labor-intensive. 

Enterprise (Centralized administration) Mode
The Enterprise mode of implementation uses centralized resources to simplify life for administrators, support staff and end-users in large, complex or volatile OutsideView environments by letting some administrator perform centralized setup and maintenance of OutsideView.  These centralized activities involve:

• License pool(s) so individual end-users automatically obtain a serialized license. 
• The LicenseView utility to facilitate license management, track licenses in use, or when they were most recently used, and by whom. 
• Application software version(s)
• User Profile(s), which permits automated end-user installation, one-time creation or maintenance of configuration files that are then automatically distributed to all profile members, assignment of user and groups into various profiles with various permissions.

The Enterprise installation process is quite simple.  First, the Enterprise installation process creates the central resources; license pools, profiles, etc.  During the Enterprise installation, the administrator defines the user installation ONCE (per profile), creating a silent install script which can be used over and over again to automate end-user installation. There is also a Supervisor mode that can be used at any time to create, modify or maintain configuration files, profile membership or user permissions.  Once they have been created, those files are automatically distributed to all members of the profile.   

Enterprise licensing can be one of two forms; Per-Seat or Concurrent. 

Per-Seat licenses are automatically checked out of a license pool by a client machine only once, the first time a PC runs OutsideView.  The client machine holds that serialized license persistently until and unless released through the LicenseView utility.  Per-Seat license are less expensive and typical of stable user environments.

Concurrent licenses are automatically checked out of a license pool by a client machine and then automatically returned to the pool upon exit of OutsideView by the user.  Concurrent license are required for Windows Terminal Server or Citrix environments.  Concurrent license are more expensive than Per-seat licenses, but preferred in volatile environments, or anytime you want to a true concurrent usage model where the limit on user activity is not the number of installed users but only the number simultaneously active.

Finally, all forms of OutsideView can, with purchase of security add-ons, provide SSL encrypted communications. 

For more information, or if you are still uncertain which licensing model is best for you, please contact Crystal Point’s technical support group at 426-806-1143 or support@crystalpoint.com