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OVP, OVPsim and Licensing

As part of the kick-starting of the Open Virtual Platform initiative in March 2008, Imperas made the OVPsim simulator available under Windows XP for free to all users. This allowed OVP to get a lot of feedback from companies, universities, and individuals.

In April 2009, OVP commissioned a survey of its over 1,000 registered users that had downloaded almost 20,000 items, to help guide its future, especially asking questions about how to support Linux etc.

More than half of the respondents indicated that OVPsim was an excellent tool and that it should be maintained and supported - on Windows and Linux. Almost all of the respondents rated the open source nature of the OVP models as an important factor in the OVP interest, adoption, and success.

In May 2009 the OVP licensing of OVPsim changed. OVPsim is now available on Windows and Linux, and is available for free only for non-commercial use. Commercial users can use the free download for evaluation etc., but can only use OVPsim for commercial use by obtaining a commercial use license from Imperas.

The fee that Imperas charge for the commercial use of OVPsim covers maintenance, support and enhancements. This enables OVPsim to evolve, and for OVP to evolve and provide more free open source models to the Virtual Platform community.

Users that downloaded an OVPsim version upto version 20090319.0 can use it under the conditions of the then license (installed as part of the installer) and only need to move to new versions (covered by the new license terms) for updates, new features etc.

To read the OVPsim licensing terms relating to the current downloadable version, please see the section below and the FAQ at the bottom of this page.

To obtain an automatic license key to use OVPsim please visit the licensing key generator page (login required).

Licenses

To read and review the click-through license that you need to accept to unpack and use the downloads, click here.

To read and review the Open Source Apache 2.0 license that is used for the Open Source components of OVP created by Imperas, click here.

Licensing FAQ

Current OVP models are provided as Open Source under Apache 2.0 - is this correct?
Yes, The open source and free nature of the models is a key part of OVP.

In a recent survey of OVP users, over 60% of the respondents valued the open source nature of the OVP models as most important to them. We are committed to developing and providing more models as open source.
OVPsim was originally only available under Windows XP, is OVPsim now available on a Linux host operating system?
Yes, OVPsim is now available on Linux (May 2009).

OVPsim on Linux has the same functionality as OVPsim on Windows XP and is covered by the same licensing terms.
What do you mean by "non-commercial use", "evaluation", etc.?
Non-Commercial Use is defined as usage for personal, home, hobby, academic research, and academic education.

Evaluation is defined as use within a commercial operation for the purposes of evaluating the suitability of the Software. Evaluation does not include any use where the Software is used in Licensee’s development or production processes.

Commercial Use is defined as any use where the Software is used in Licensee's development or production processes.
Why are Imperas charging for OVPsim for commercial use?
After surveying OVP users, more than half responded that OVPsim was a valuable product, that OVPsim should be maintained, supported and upgraded, and that Imperas should charge for its use.
Are Imperas charging for OVPsim on Windows as well as on Linux?
Yes, if OVPsim is valuable to users on Linux, then it is also of value on Windows. Imperas are currently supporting OVPsim users. Charging a small amount enables Imperas to maintain, support, and enhance OVPsim to meet users needs.
How much are Imperas charging commercial users for OVPsim?
OVPsim is $3600 for a single user, annual time based license, with a minimum order of $20,000 for 6 licenses.

Non-Commercial usage of OVPsim is free of charges.
Does the free OVPsim licenses require a license key? How do I get my license key?
Yes, all users of OVPsim require a license key.

Automatically generated license keys for 90 day periods are available to users registered on the OVP website, www.OVPworld.org. The license generation process is automated, so that anyone can easily get their license.

To obtain a license key to use OVPsim please visit the licensing key generator page (login required).
Can I get a license for longer than 90 days?
Please email ovpsim@imperas.com if you are interested in a longer term license, for example for academic use.
Where do I get a commercial version of OVPsim?
Please email ovpsim@imperas.com for a commercial version of OVPsim.
When I am done evaluating OVPsim, and want to start to use it for commercial purposes, what do I do?
When you start to use OVPsim commercially you need to contact Imperas, inform them, and request a commercial license. Please email ovpsim@imperas.com for more details.

The terms of the click through OVPsim license specify that evaluation is OK, but commercial use requires a commercial license.

If you violate the terms of the click through license agreement, or do not inform Imperas of your change of usage, or you do not provide enough information to ascertain your intended usage of OVPsim, then we reserve the right to disable your access to OVPworld.org, and stop providing you with license keys - until the situation is resolved.

Please just keep us informed of your usage.


Obtaining a license key

OVPsim requires a license key to run. This can be obtained by visiting the Obtaining an OVPsim License Key page

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