Licensing, Maintenance and Subscription
What is the difference between license/maintenance and subscription?
The subscription agreement provides a hosted u.select environment for subscribers. The upgrades, enhancements and technical environment are provided through the agreement. The same access to support and updates is provided by the subscription. redLantern maintains the hardware and provides the technical support for the environment. Updates to u.select can be installed in the hosted environment when available instead of scheduling periodic releases. This will reduce hardware, bandwidth and technical staffing requirements as well as costs.
License/maintenance agreements require the licensee host u.select in the licensee's environment. Access to support and updates is provided by the maintenance. All costs and time related to maintaining the environment are the responsibility of the licensee. Updates to u.select are scheduled, packaged and released periodically by redLantern and are installed at the customer's location based on the licensee's schedule and availability. It is no longer necessary to schedule updates around your IT resources and campus calendar.
Can license/maintenance customers switch to the subscription model?
License/maintenance customers can switch to the hosted environment. The maintenance agreement will be replaced by the subscription agreement. redLantern will perform the data transfer after the customer installs the latest version of u.select. If necessary, the interface to DARwin for u.select must be installed to connect data to the hosted u.select environment.
When must schools move from maintenance to subscription?
redLantern has not determined a sunset date for offering maintenance contracts for u.select. It will not occur before July 1, 2011. The final date will depend on the adoption rate by current licensees.
Subscription Pricing
What are the subscription costs?
Until July 1, 2010 redLantern is offering a discounted price for existing customers. Customers without u.select can purchase a subscription for $6,000. Customers with u.select can convert from maintenance to subscription for the same fee as the current maintenance.
- Individual Institution IE: University of Alabama pays $6,000 annually for software maintenance. The subscription fee would remain $6,000 for years one and two of the subscription agreement as long as the Univ. of Alabama converts from maintenance to subscription prior to July 1, 2010.
- Statewide System IE: The State of Montana pays $28,000 annually for software maintenance. Montana can convert from maintenance to subscription any time between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010 and pay $28,000 each of the first and second years for a subscription.
When will the discounted subscription pricing end?
The discounted pricing will not be offered to new or existing customers for new purchases or conversions made after June 30, 2010. After June 30, 2010 standard pricing for u.select subscriptions will take effect. Standard pricing for u.select will be $9,000 per school per year.
What are the caps on increases per year?
Exact language for terms, conditions and fees will exist in the subscription agreement. Annual subscription fee increases and caps will be described in the agreement. Existing customers will have the same subscription price for the first two years if the licensee switches prior to July 1, 2010.
What are the costs for new feeder schools?
Multiple subscription types are available to accommodate increasing levels of service. The entry subscription is $1,000 per school and grants a presence in u.select for users accounts, course bank, request import and logo. Increased presence and functionality is available for an increased fee. Additional functionality exists for course equivalencies, academic programs and school links. Interface license and maintenance fees are separate from the u.select subscription.
Pricing for Existing Customers
How does the pricing work for existing schools?
Provided they move to the subscription model by June 30th2009, existing u.select schools will pay their current maintenance fee for the first two years without any increase in fees. After the initial term the agreed upon subscription fee will be assessed a % increase based on the operational costs of the service. Any feeder schools added will be charged the appropriate fee of $1,000 and that fee will be added to the agreed upon subscription price. The total annual subscription fee will be assessed the increase for the following year.
What caps will be in place for existing customers that already have budgets maintenance fees for one to two years?
redLantern will work directly with each customer to determine a multi-year price to fit budgets.
What are the costs for existing feeder schools?
Existing feeder schools that remain in a license/maintenance agreement environment will continue to be free of charge. At the point the customer hosting the feeder schools converts to subscription, the appropriate subscription fee will be assessed. redLantern will work to execute a subscription agreement directly with the feeder schools to provide service.
Will there be any consideration for existing feeder schools since budgets have been established already for one to two years?
redLantern will work directly with each customer to determine a subscription fee for existing customers hosting feeder schools.
What about adding new schools in an existing or new state, price, discount?
redLantern will work directly with each customer to determine a subscription price for adding new schools to an existing state contract.
Product Development
Will there be separate versions of the product?
Additional functionality has been added to the 4.2.4 version to support the hosted model. Separate versions will continue until all customers are using the subscription model.
Will enhancements on maintenance version continue?
redLantern will continue to provide upgrades and enhancements to customers continuing with a maintenance agreement. The normal process for requesting, voting and implementing enhancements will continue. Some enhancements will not be made to the distributed version of u.select. Those enhancements will be related but not limited to supporting collection of statistics, centralization of accounts, integrations with third party services for users.
Will there be enhancements that are only available through subscription?
redLantern plans to extend functionality for advanced statistics and third party services only through the hosted environment. Future enhancements will be reviewed for hosted or distributed delivery.
What additional services will be provided in the subscription model?
Plans are to continue to provide additional services to students utilizing the u.select portal so they have a full service site to plan and make decisions regarding their education. Other possible services could include transcript request, IM directly with admissions staff, access to web pages with specific information provided by campus groups, and other educational community functionality.
Plans are to continue to provide additional services to students utilizing the u.select portal so they have a full service site to plan and make decisions regarding their education. Other possible services could include transcript request, IM directly with admissions staff, access to web pages with specific information provided by campus groups, and other educational community functionality.