Escrow protection for licensees

Reduce risks when licensing software & technology

Whether your company licenses software or other technology, you rely on your vendor for technical support, functional enhancements, and maintenance. This dependency — especially if it involves software for mission-critical business applications or operations — exposes your company to potential risks.

If your vendor went out of business or otherwise stopped supporting your licensed software or technology, your company could suffer considerable losses in revenue and/or productivity.

In the event of an unforeseen circumstance where your vendor is no longer able to provide support or maintenance, establishing an Iron Mountain escrow account gives you the ability to gain access to the source code and other proprietary information needed to maintain that licensed software or technology.

• You have a safety net. In a worst-case scenario, you could support the software or technology in-house, or hire a consultant to support it for you. Either way, escrow helps you safeguard your business continuity.
• You have control. If you decide to replace that software or technology with another vendor, escrow gives you breathing room to research your options and negotiate favorable licensing terms with that new vendor.
• You have leverage. When a licensee has an escrow agreement, vendors have an added incentive to continue maintenance and support.

Save time and effort with escrow management center

Once you’ve established an escrow account, you want to spend minimal time managing it. Escrow Management Center provides Web-based access to realtime transactions with up-to-date escrow account information, allowing you to:

• View account information across multiple accounts. Account lists, deposit data, beneficiary enrollments, work requests, contact information, etc.
• Conduct escrow transactions. Add, edit, delete company contacts or beneficiaries, request terminations, edit company names, etc.
• Produce reports. Account summaries, deposits, beneficiary data, work requests, contacts and accounts, etc. — you can sort, download, print, and manipulate this data.
• View imaged documents. Agreements, enrollments, amendments, descriptions of deposits, etc.

Key features of iron mountain’s comprehensive escrow services include:

• Dedicated client manager for your account
• Unlimited deposits
• Electronic vaulting
• Secure, real-time online account management with Escrow Management Center
• Secure destruction of materials upon account closure
• Verification of deposit materials*
• Automatic notification of deposits and deposit updates*
• *Separately priced option

Verification: A Fundamental Element of Software Escrow

Although putting software in an escrow account ensures that code will be released if and when a release condition occurs, you have no assurance that the software will be complete, usable, or even readable. Don’t forget the importance of Escrow Verification Services to validate the completeness, accuracy, and functionality of the deposit, and to help ensure that you can read, recreate, and maintain the software upon release.

Comprehensive escrow services that meet your individual needs

Whether your needs today are to safeguard one specific application or to address a more holistic risk management strategy, Iron Mountain provides flexible, comprehensive escrow services governed by an agreement that gives you the optimal level of protection in each unique situation.

Iron Mountain’s comprehensive escrow services include the key features required by all clients desiring escrow protection, but at the same time are flexible enough to accommodate additional requirements for custom and/or individual needs.

A comprehensive service—not a complex set of prepackaged agreements

You need not simply sign a vendor’s standard escrow agreement because you are strapped for time to research escrow options and best practices. Iron Mountain’s escrow professionals will work with you to define the right level of protection for your specific requirements.

The result of our consultative approach is the generation of an agreement that fits your needs today, but underlying that specific agreement is a comprehensive service that can accommodate your needs as you add mission-critical applications and build your corporate risk management strategy well into the future.

Assured privacy and security

You can rest easy knowing that your data is completely protected within Iron Mountain’s secure environment for data transfer, data storage, and account management of escrow deposits. Iron Mountain’s comprehensive security framework includes the following attributes:

• Deposit security. Tracks chain of custody from the time of receipt to the release of the deposit. Vault administrators code and track a physical media deposit upon delivery to a vault. Electronic media deposit are encrypted and transferred to an Iron Mountain vault using secure transfer protocols.
• Storage security. Prevents unauthorized access to physical and electronic vaults. Iron Mountain stores all escrow media and documents in vaults at secure, offsite facilities, which include uninterruptible power supplies, noncombustible construction, gaseous fire protection, and sophisticated access control security systems.
• Facility security. Adheres to stringent physical security practices which restrict access to the vault and the materials.
• Deposit retrieval security. Releases deposit material only after material verification meets its contractual legal requirements. When a depositor does not meet the terms stated in their escrow deposit account agreement, a beneficiary can request a release of the deposit materials. Iron Mountain’s vault administrators do not move the materials from their storage location until they complete a comprehensive internal review and material inventory.

NCC Group Software Resilience has acquired Iron Mountain’s Intellectual Property Management (IPM) business. For more information on the acquisition, please visit our dedicated information hub, or contact Iron Mountain IPM.

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