Licensing

Personal Use licensing
Academic/Nonprofit and Commercial Licensing
Basic Licensing Options
License Documents & Fee Structure
How to Get It!

Personal Use

Personal Use licenses can be readily obtained on-line and at no cost for AB-BLAST 3.0 Personal Edition (“PE”), subject to limitations that include that the PE software may be installed only on computers you personally own and the software may only be used for your personal — e.g., private and non-commercial — purposes. Public and commercial purposes include (but are not restricted to) production of data for publication (including theses) and require a Seat, Laboratory or Site license as provided below.

To obtain a Personal Use license, a valid e-mail address is required with which to receive download instructions and (optionally) any future announcements of important updates and advisories. Personal Use licenses do not come with any other support.

Please read the AB-BLAST Personal Use License agreement to see if it satisfies your needs. If it does, just fill out the Licensing Form.

Academic/Nonprofit and Commercial Use

Any use of AB-BLAST not covered by a Personal Use license generally requires one of the three types of licenses outlined below. Not all users’ needs are expected to be met by the licensing mechanisms described here. Please contact us if you have special needs or if you have any questions about licensing or procurement of related services.

Standard Academic/Nonprofit licenses allow AB-BLAST to be used in offering free, publicly accessible web services, while all other usage must be restricted to the licensee’s internal academic and research purposes which may include that of bona fide collaborators of the licensee working on collaborative projects. With standard Commercial licenses, access is not restricted by the license and usage fees may be assessed at the licensee’s sole discretion.

An Academic/Nonprofit license may be suitable for commercial firms engaged in projects funded entirely by public or other nonprofit sources. Similarly, a “Commercial” license may be suitable for academic/nonprofit institutions engaged in providing computing services in exchange for cost-recovery fees.

Basic Licensing Options

All fee-based licenses for AB-BLAST are issued and priced in units of Seats. As described below, a “Seat” is defined in terms of the computer hardware on which the software is available to execute; the number of users or simultaneously running BLAST jobs is not restricted by these licenses.

All Seat, Laboratory and Site licenses include maintenance, minor upgrades, and support for the duration of the license term. Site licensees receive priority support.

Seat Licensing

A single “Seat” license allows installation and the right-to-use AB-BLAST 3.0 Standard Edition on a single computer system configured with 1 or 2 microprocessor packages (each supporting any number of cores or hyperthreads). Seat licenses must be obtained for specific computing platforms, such as “Linux 2.6 on 64-bit AMD/Intel” or “Mac OS X 10.7 on 64-bit Intel”. One change of computing platform is permitted in any given 12-month period while a Seat license remains active.

Examples: a single-processor (any number of cores) desktop computer would require 1 Seat license; a dual-processor (any number of cores) professional system would require 1 Seat license; a quad-processor (any number of cores) server would require 2 Seat licenses—one for each of its two pairs of microprocessors.

Laboratory Licensing

A single “Laboratory” license provides a bundle of twenty (20) Seat licenses (for 20 to 40 microprocessors) for AB-BLAST 3.0 Standard Edition on computers that are overseen by a single laboratory head or principal investigator. A Laboratory license provides access to AB-BLAST 3.0 Standard Edition for all supported computing platforms.

N.B. For single-investigator needs that extend beyond 20 Seat licenses or for multiple investigators who need more than just a few Seat licenses, a Site license may be far more cost-effective and easier to manage than multiple Seat or Laboratory licenses and provides the best support.

Site Licensing

A “Site” license provides the right-to-use AB-BLAST 3.0 for internal research, development and educational purposes on all computers owned or leased by the licensee, its employees and registered students. Even for moderate-sized installations, a Site license is likely to be very cost effective and far easier to maintain compliance. Furthermore, Site licenses provide access to both AB-BLAST 3.0 Standard Edition and AB-BLAST 3.0 Enterprise Edition for all supported computing platforms. Site licenses also include 50 “Seat” licenses for unrestricted use by third party users, with additional unrestricted Seat licenses available at markedly reduced rates.

License Documents & Fee Structure

Seat, Laboratory and Site license fees are tabulated below. Commercial licensing requires a Site license. All licenses have a minimum 1-year term, for both the initial term and any renewal terms. Prices exclude any relevant taxes or fees for custom modifications.

AB-*BLAST* 3.0 Licensing Documents & Fees
License Type	Academic/Nonprofit	Commercial
Seat	(Download) $320/yr	Not Available
Laboratory	(Download) $1,000/yr	Not Available
Site	(Contact Us) $2,399/yr	(Contact Us) $3,599/yr

How to Get It!

Click the (Download) link associated with the license of interest in the above table to obtain a “boilerplate” copy;
Print and read the agreement;
Fill out the introductory paragraph with the desired Effective Date and your company or institution’s name and address;
Fill in Section 5.1 with the quantity of Seat or Laboratory (“Bundle20”) licenses and the total cost for the Initial Term and the Renewal Term from the table above. (Each Renewal Term is the same price as the Initial Term);
Fill in the right side of the signature page (located on or near page 8), sign and date;
For Seat licenses, fill out both Exhibits A and B;
For Laboratory and Site licenses, fill out Exhibit B;
If you will not be paying the license fee prior to Software Delivery, obtain a Purchase Order from your company or institution for the desired license.
Send the partially completed agreement and Purchase Order to Advanced Biocomputing by any of these methods:
- Scan and mail electronically to
- FAX to the U.S. telephone number provided on the Contact page;
- Postal mail or courier to the address shown on the Contact page.
To ensure a fast response, please alert us with an e-mail message addressed to if you have sent the agreement by any means other than e-mail.
If you wish to skip a potentially time-consuming Purchase Order process and obtain the Software faster, send the partially completed license agreement with your stated intention to pay the license fee in advance once you've received confirmation from us that the agreement has been filled out correctly. Early payment does not invalidate the Free Trial Period included with each license (Section 4.2). To take advantage of the Free Trial Period, simply notify us of your intention to cancel the license prior to expiration of the Free Trial Period and your money will be promptly refunded in full. (See Section 4.1 for complete details). Payment instructions are posted separately for academic and commercial licensees.
Once the license agreement has been completed at Advanced Biocomputing and either a Purchase Order or advance payment has been received, you will be sent a confirmation e-mail message containing a confidential URL with which to download the software.

Please direct Site license inquiries to:

Any changes requested to standard license text may require up-front payment of a substantial, non-refundable fee for legal review.

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