Which is the best license for me?

Whether you are an interconnect designer needing occasional use of a field solver for impedance calculation, an OEM designer needing fast and accurate impedance calculation, or a PCB fabricator interested in maximizing yield, Polar has a license option tailored to your requirement. Please read the following notes to find which is the best choice for you.

FlexNet Publisher

Polar software and equipment uses Revenera FlexNet Publisher for license management.

Software Licensing Conditions (applies to all types of license)

Software is licensed to an individual or entity for use under the terms of the license type. The license is non-transferable, and may not be loaned, shared or distributed by the licensee.

The licensee is the individual or organisation to which the license is issued and does not include sub-contractors, subsidiaries, joint ventures or group companies.

Issuing of License Files

License activation files are issued annually and are automatically reissued when your Polarcare or annual license agreement is renewed. If Polarcare has lapsed your license activation file is available at your request.

For further information please refer to the product’s EULA in combination with your quotation and purchase order.

Annual and quarterly subscription

Are ideal if you need a full time solution, but want to keep your options open in the longer term as you may want to increase or decrease your investment in line with business conditions. 3 month subscriptions are especially useful on a project by project basis. Annual subscriptions allow you to budget for your requirements on a regular basis. Both these licenses include technical support and are electronically licensed.

Fixed full license

A full license is ideal if you have long term requirements for one or two key people in your organization. With an active Polarcare maintenance contract you will be entitled to technical support, updates and protection in the event you need to re-host. Polarcare is renewable – see also the supporting Polarcare information.

12 and 24 month pay monthly

12 and 24 month contracts allow you to budget for your Polar software requirements on a planned monthly basis. Available for the full range of Polar software, 12 and 24 month contracts automatically renew at the anniversary. You may decline renewal by giving 60 days' notice prior to the contract anniversary. Payment for 12 and 24 month licenses is monthly in advance by standing order. Both these contracts include Polarcare technical support and are electronically licensed.

** Available in selected territories only – please contact your local Polar office.

Node locked license

The simplest choice gives access to one user on one PC; this license grant is activated with a license file which is locked to the PC's MAC address.  (A node locked license does not permit use by remote access or thin clients. If you wish to operate in either of these situations see below.)

Portable license (annual only)

A portable USB key locked license is ideal if you need to take your Polar software out of the office. This license is popular with PCB fabrication Sales / Application engineers who can use it on the road when meeting clients. Reminder: standard licensing conditions still apply – the product may not be loaned or shared with other individuals or entities.

Floating 1-concurrent user 5-node license "1/5 License" (Formerly 5/1 – renamed Jan 2018 for clarity).

A floating license suits companies and organizations with multiple users who need occasional use and are prepared to share the one concurrent use between a group of up to five nominated users one PC at a time. A 1/5 floating license may be floated to the entity's subsidiary and group companies within the country in which it is licensed; however, each concurrent user license may be shared by up to 5 defined user PCs (nodes) only. Each additional concurrent license allows sharing over an additional 5 nodes. The number of nodes can be increased as a chargeable upgrade.

If you need access through a remote client or thin client environment the "1/5" style license permits this usage under the same 1/5 (1 concurrent user shared across 5 nominated nodes one at a time) access terms. If you wish to use this facility please ask for it to be enabled when your license is issued.

Please note that for thin client / remote access licenses Polarcare is an ongoing requirement

The legacy Enterprise license is withdrawn and replaced by four new wide area network (WAN) license types:

1. Enterprise Country WAN
2. EMMA Enterprise Maintined Multi seat Activation country WAN
3. Enterprise Annual Continental WAN (annual license only)
4. Enterprise Annual Global WAN (annual license only)

Enterprise Country WAN

Each Enterprise Country WAN seat will serve unlimited wide area network node PCs, one PC at a time, within the country where the server is located when connected through a secure network connection. Usage is limited to the employees* of the licensing entity and its subsidiaries.

EMMA Enterprise Country WAN - Flexible economic model for multi seat deployments.

An EMMA style license grant has the same scope of use as the Enterprise country wan described above, Howeve EMMA licenses allow you to change the number of seats activated between 1 and 4 at a significant saving over traditional license models. Their is a single upfront EMMA activation fee which entitles you to discounted annual seat pricing, and the entitlement lasts for as long as you renew at least 1 seat per year.

Enterprise Annual Continental WAN

Each Enterprise Continental WAN seat will serve unlimited wide area network connected PCs, one PC at a time, within the continent where the server is located when connected through a secure network connection. Usage is limited to the employees* of the licensing entity and its subsidiaries.

Enterprise Annual Global WAN

Each Enterprise Global WAN seat will serve unlimited global wide area network PCs, one PC at a time, where the license server is connected through a secure network connection. Usage is limited to the employees* of the licensing entity and its subsidiaries.

* Employees are defined as employees of the entity at the time of the license grant, and those routinely hired post license grant. Employees joining the organisation through merger or acquisition are not covered under this license agreement. Temporary staff and contractors or subcontractors are not covered by this agreement.

Note: WAN is defined as a secure wide area corporate network. This license grant does not permit sharing over the public internet.

Floating licenses

Floating licenses are served from a license server which is typically (though not always) separate from the client software installation. The license server is licensed to the MAC address of the server itself. For 5/1 style licenses the server license activation file will also contain the MAC addresses of the permitted clients.

Triad Enterprise license

For enterprise customers requiring maximum license uptime the triad redundant license option is available.

Polar currently offers support for VMWare and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualised FlexNet license server environments as a chargeable option. Please contact your local office if you wish to run Polar FlexNet license server side software in a virtualised environment. Please note that for virtualised server licenses Polarcare is an ongoing requirement

Enterprise license – information only

Enterprise licenses are floating licenses for use within a business entity without node restrictions. Should you require access from your subsidiary companies Polar may grant concessions on enterprise licenses to permit this – subject to local regulation and export licensing conditions. Please contact your Polar sales office if you are a corporate tools department and require this level of flexibility.