Adobe ConnectTag: Adobe Connect
At RealEyes we’ve found it is absolutely crucial that Adobe Connect buyers understand the available licensing structure or have a resource on hand that can be used to answer questions that may come up. In some cases, we’ve found that the licensing parameters were never properly explained in pre-purchase discussions, and the resulting deployment may not be as beneficial to the end user as they initially thought. Because there is no documentation available that goes in-depth about the licensing models (how they work, limitations, advantages, etc.), please consider this post as a reference point.
What we will not cover in this post however is pricing. Since the pricing is dependent on which vertical you fall into (Commercial, Education, Government, Non-Profit, etc.). Pricing is something that should be discussed with your vendor. Please feel free to contact us if you have question about pricing.
First and foremost, it is important to point out that Connect is available in a few different flavors:
- On-Premise (Enterprise) – This deployment is typically hosted on your server(s), and behind your firewall. Since it is a server platform product, it is subject to perpetual licensing. This means that the server software itself and all licensing must be purchased initially, but thereafter (year 2, year 3, etc.) only the Maintenance & Support is required to be purchased annually. M&S is required at time of purchase, and is normally 20% of the total Connect product purchase. In some cases, special exceptions and/or agreements, contracts, etc. have been established and agreed upon by the end user(s) and Adobe, so they may differ. Please visit the Adobe Platinum Maintenance & Support homepage for further details. Please also note that On-Premise deployments can also be a Managed Service offering; meaning that the deployment is an On-Premise installation that is managed by another company. Adobe Systems; as well as other 3rd party companies have various managed service offerings.
- Hosted (SaaS) – This works is also known and referred to as a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. In this case, your Adobe Connect deployment is hosted on Adobe’s reserved server clusters. That being said, you are behind Adobe’s firewalls. In some cases, having your account Hosted may or may not be the best solution. It is always best to first check with your IT Dept., Systems Admin, etc. to see what may or may not be a requirement. Since there may be several compliance regulations that your institution may need to adhere to, or if you may need full integration with other pre-existing server based products, Adobe’s servers may be able to suffice, but those kinds of questions cannot be answered here and now, as the scenarios tend to vary greatly. Hosted account purchases through resellers typically include baseline standard Adobe Connect Help and Support.
Next, are the available Modules for Connect and their correlating licensing models.
Training Module
- Concurrent Learner – These licenses are indicative of the Training Module within Connect, and therefore will enable it. With this licensing model, it enables Connect to deploy Curriculums and/or Courses on the system. Any enrolled users will have their results tracked via the lightweight LMS that Connect offers. The concurrency portion translates to having the ability to have up to the total amount of licenses purchased online at any given time having their results tracked systematically. For instance, if you purchase 100 Concurrent Learner licenses, you have the ability to have up to, but no more than, 100 enrollees online concurrently having their results tracked. Unlimited Curriculums and/or Courses can be created, and you can enroll an unlimited amount of users, but you are capped at how many concurrent licenses you have. So if you have 1,000 enrollees and only 100 licenses, only 100 enrollees can be tracked at any given time, and the remaining enrollees will have their results tracked once the first enrollees have completed the training and logged out of the system.
Meeting Module
- Concurrent User: These licenses are indicative of the Meeting Module within Connect, and therefore will enable it. With this licensing, the total number of licenses you purchase will be the total number of users that can be online in a live meeting at any given time, either hosting or attending a meeting. These licenses do not have to be assigned or applied to named individuals, they can be generalized. However, the concurrency principal described above is still relevant in this case. This model works as a “licensing pool” per se.
- Named Host: These licenses are also indicative of the Meeting Module within Connect, and therefore will enable it. With this licensing, a Named Host can host a Connect Meeting at any given time of up to 100 attendees. The licensing model itself refers to a named, specific user (cannot be a general login) that is in the Meeting Hosts System Group. For instance, if you purchase 15 Named Host licenses, you have the ability to place up to 15 people in the Meeting Hosts System Group. Each of the people in that group can have up to 100 attendees (internal users and/or external users, etc.) in any Meeting Room that they’ve created. This licensing model is best used for frequent usage in Meeting Rooms, or also very adequate for webinars that will not exceed 100 attendees. This is currently the most popular licensing model.
Note: Named Host and Concurrent User cannot co-exist on any Connect deployment, as they are both representative of the Meeting Module
Content Module
- Content Publish: Also known as Author licenses. These licenses are indicative of Content Module within Connect, and therefore will enable it. This will give anyone placed in the Authors System Group the ability to publish Content to Adobe Connect for on-demand access. For instance, if you purchase 15 Content Publish licenses, you have the ability to place up to 15 people in the Authors System Group.
Note: Content Publish licenses are not applicable in On-Premise Connect deployments, as the Content Module is automatically enabled because the Content will be directly published to your server*
Available add-on Modules for Adobe Connect.
- Seminar Rooms: Typically used for webinars, large meetings, etc. A Seminar Room compared to a Meeting Room is like an auditorium compared to a classroom. Seminar Rooms are meant to handle a higher amount of connections. They are priced on a per seat basis. For Hosted deployments, there is a minimum of 200 seats, and a maximum of 1,500 seats. Further, a 30 Day Seminar Room can also be purchased and added for a “one off” event(s), and will be valid for 30 days after implementation. The same seating rules (200 minimum, 1,500 maximum) apply for 30 Day Seminar Rooms.
For On-Premise deployments, it is a minimum of 200 seats as well, and there is no set maximum. It is very important to note that the maximum amount of connections into one Adobe Connect Server is 500. If a higher number is needed, an additional Connect Server (or servers, depending on the account’s capabilities, additional licensing, etc.) is recommended for load balancing.
- Events Module: Also known as Adobe Connect for webinars. The Events Module will give the ability to create custom landing pages tied to any Meeting Rooms, Seminar Rooms, or Virtual Classrooms. When enabled and configured, the Events Module will automatically register and track all attendees that register for the event itself, and report the data into Connect. The data can then be downloaded for future follow-ups, etc.
- WebCast: This is another available licensing model/add-on that is for large events (up to 80,000 attendees). Purchasing and enabling this add-on is also for “one off” event(s), and has set pricing for all verticals. WebCast has the ability to manage all facets of large events, from registration, to post-event follow up and all tracking capability. For further information and pricing, please contact your reseller directly.
Feel free to check out the Adobe Connect 8 FAQ’s homepage, it is a great resource when you have questions about Connect.
If you have immediate questions contact us directly.
The other day a call came in from from a customer who had questions about Adobe Flash Media Server and if it would be the right software for their situation. After listening to their questions and exactly what their requirements were, I moved on from there.
As a product specialists, solutions engineers, developers, and trainers, the team here wear multiple hats. So in this case, I put on my solutions engineer hat, and began assessing their needs case.
Their initial inquiry was about streaming Flash based content within their Intranet. The customer was searching for a way to package internal asset videos and SCORM based training content together into one piece that could be uploaded to their proprietary Learning Management System (LMS). He had mentioned that they also had full motion videos, and that they too would like to be able to bring those recordings into the training piece. He asked about Adobe Captivate initially.
Seems easy enough, right? Give them Captivate.
Not so fast.
This Flash based content was quite complex and not as efficient as it could be. I recognized this as something I could use to minimize the clutter, and streamline the content from start to finish. The quick and easy route to a solution would have been to use Captivate and a couple other software applications. This would have worked, but it wasn’t the best solution. I’m a firm believer that less is more when it comes to software applications. The goal was to make it easier for end users to navigate and comprehend, as well as easier to manage for the content creators.
The solution actually turned out to be pretty simple – I had gathered all of the necessary information, the keywords of SCORM and LMS were a big help, from him and I decided that Adobe Presenter would be a better solution because of its simplicity. LIke any good customer, he questioned the solution & I explained it this way:
- Presenter has the ability to import the internal asset videos (already in .flv format).
- The full motion videos were already in .swf format, and Adobe Presenter can import those, as well.
- Presenter is a SCORM compliant eLearning content authoring tool, so you can leverage its quiz functionality to build the quiz, as well as deploy it to any LMS that utilizes SCORM as its reporting engine.
In the end, this was the solution that the customer ended up using. He appreciated the simplicity factor. And since he had really only been tasked with this project as a result of an employee leaving the company the simplicity was important to him since this wasn’t his primary role. A big win for the customer.
The point of this post is to emphasize just how important it really is to listen to all of the requirements before making any judgments and beginning to endeavor down that solution’s path. There are always multiple solutions to a problem. We help to determine the best solution.
The team at RealEyes excels at proposing the best solution for the situation. We take great pride in being an Adobe Solution Partner and Adobe Certified Instructors.
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