Dear David,
o When exactly does the current 3 year agreement come to an end?
I believe it expires 31st August 2012. Certainly I have an email stating the previous agreement expired on 31st August 2009.
o How many groups have license servers at the moment? I have a feeling it is 2 or 3 ... I have it in my notes but as I am asking other questions it is quicker to ask it again than trawl through my notes.
CMTH runs a license server. I believe there are 3 in total.
o Am I correct in thinking that these are floating licenses in the sense that that matters is how concurrent users there are and that they are not locked to individual seats or users?
Yes.
o How many licenses do people currently have and how many would they like?
CMTH are currently happy with 4 licenses. We are more than happy to contribute these license to a department pool if other groups also contribute a fair number of licenses based upon expected usage.
o Would this arrangement also work for the DTC machines? If so how many licenses would be needed here (an extra 50?)
The Theory and Simulations of Materials CDT provides laptops to the students,which technically belong to the students. I believe that it is tricky/impossible to include such machines in a network license agreement. Instead we reimburse students who purchase a personal (student) edition of Mathematica.
o These licenses ate ~£145/license/year and you have to buy them year on year for 3 years - is this the arrangement?
~£79 for a license server and ~£180 per seat. We buy them each year for 3 years. Best wishes, --James -- James Spencer Computational Science Support Specialist Thomas Young Centre/Condensed Matter Theory Imperial College http://www.cmth.ph.ic.ac.uk/people/j.spencer/