Faster entry into professional license management without sacrificing long-term control

At Hannover Messe 2026, Wibu-Systems will present the commercial availability of CodeMeter Licensing-as-a-Service, extending its licensing and protection platform toward faster deployment models while maintaining architectural continuity with its established enterprise implementations.

Lowering the Barrier to Professional Licensing

Software vendors today face a familiar tension. Markets increasingly expect flexible consumption models — subscriptions, feature tiers, usage-based access — yet implementing a robust licensing infrastructure still requires time, expertise, and architectural commitment.

Wibu-Systems addresses this gap with CodeMeter Licensing-as-a-Service (CmLaaS), a new entry point into its CodeMeter ecosystem designed to allow vendors to begin with ready-to-use licensing models and evolve them over time. Rather than building a custom entitlement system before launch, companies can start with established approaches such as perpetual, subscription, floating, or trial licenses and refine them later as their business model matures.

The emphasis is on removing initial complexity without forcing a later migration.

CmLaaS uses the same backend processes, security concepts, and license container technologies as the broader CodeMeter platform, allowing software vendors to scale into more advanced configurations without rebuilding their infrastructure. The fast start does not come at the expense of architectural consistency.

One Platform, Different Starting Points

With the addition of CmLaaS, the CodeMeter portfolio now supports multiple adoption paths. Organizations can deploy a move-in-ready service or implement fully customized licensing environments using CodeMeter License Central and CodeMeter License Portal, whether hosted or on-premises.

Both approaches remain interoperable. A company can therefore begin with a simplified setup and transition to a tailored configuration as product complexity, customer base, or geographic reach expands.

This flexibility reflects a practical reality. Vendors rarely know their final business model at launch. Industrial, embedded, and globally distributed software products often evolve commercially after deployment. Wibu’s strategy positions licensing as a continuum rather than a one-time architectural decision.

Licensing and Protection as a Unified Strategy

Wibu-Systems continues to pair licensing with application protection through its AxProtector product line. These protection tools secure native and managed code against tampering and reverse engineering while integrating directly with the licensing infrastructure.

Recent updates to AxProtector include interface modernization and further automation aimed at simplifying adoption while preserving the depth of its protection mechanisms.

The combined approach treats monetization and intellectual property protection as coordinated elements of the same lifecycle. Instead of separate technical layers — one handling entitlement and another guarding code — both operate together within the software deployment environment, supporting sustainable business models across industrial and software-driven markets.

From Time-to-Market to Long-Term Architecture

At Hannover Messe 2026, Wibu-Systems will demonstrate how CmLaaS integrates into real operational workflows, from initial license configuration through secure deployment, renewal, and evolution over time.

According to Stefan Bamberg, Director Sales and Key Account Management at Wibu-Systems, Licensing-as-a-Service is designed to make entry into professional monetization and protection as straightforward as possible while preserving strategic flexibility. The objective is to enable vendors to respond to immediate time-to-market pressures without limiting their long-term architectural choices.

Rather than positioning CmLaaS as a lightweight alternative, Wibu frames it as an additional starting point within the same CodeMeter platform architecture.

What This Changes

The expansion of CodeMeter reflects a broader shift in how software is delivered and commercialized. Licensing increasingly operates within the runtime lifecycle, where business model decisions continue after deployment rather than ending at the point of sale.

By allowing vendors to begin quickly and grow into more complex configurations over time, Wibu-Systems aligns licensing infrastructure with the iterative nature of modern software development. Products evolve, markets change, and deployment environments differ across regions. A licensing architecture that supports this progression becomes part of the operational foundation rather than an external administrative layer.

At Hannover Messe, Wibu-Systems is therefore extending its established licensing backbone toward earlier adoption stages, bringing entry-level accessibility and enterprise-grade control into a single, coherent continuum.

If you are attending the Hannover Messe 2026 and would like to schedule a meeting with experts from Wibu-Systems, you can do so by following this link.