In most every case of catastrophic events in recent history, whether it be the fight against the spread of the Ebola virus, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and of course, our current Coronavirus global pandemic, stories of heroism, selflessness and community support have always emerged to shed a glimmer of hope in such desperate circumstances. Today, we recognize the extraordinary efforts of frontline workers who risk their lives on a daily basis, whether they are the healthcare professionals directly dealing with the sickness on such a personal level, first responders, or critical infrastructure workers who keep our communities safe and functional despite the calamities around us.

It is also heartening to see how private industry is stepping up to support the fight against COVID-19. Small and large companies alike have made significant contributions in many critical areas, like testing, treatments, vaccines, protective equipment and sanitizers, ventilators, beds and triage facilities, and medical supplies. Here are just a few examples of such contributions from companies around the world: In the US, Abbott Laboratories obtained emergency FDA authorization for its 5-minute Coronavirus test kit with hopes of manufacturing 50,000 kits per day; Copan Diagnostics, a family-owned company located in the heart of Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region, airlifted 500,000 diagnostic testing swabs to the U.S.; Siemens Healthineers, a unit of the German conglomerate, received FDA clearance for its blood gas analyzer, which helps doctors monitor the conditions of critical COVID-19 patients in ICUs; Apeiron Biologics, a Viennese biotech firm, has begun a trial of its immunotherapy treatment on COVID-19 patients in Austria, Germany and Denmark; the pharmaceutical arm of Fujifilm, the Tokyo-based conglomerate, started phase 3 clinical trials of its flu drug favipiravir on COVID-19 patients in Japan; and Anheuser-Busch, as well as numerous other breweries, is retooling their equipment to make hand sanitizer from surplus alcohol at their facilities around the world. These are just a few examples of the important contributions from the private sector; you can see a more detailed list in this Forbes article.

Here at Wibu-Systems, we are also making a concerted effort to help our customers and non-customers alike to maintain their business sustainability during this global emergency. The pandemic has forced companies to initiate home office work for many, if not most of their employees. In the context of software development, this means that many software vendors and intelligent device manufacturers (our customers) are undergoing a somewhat stressful transformation to a remote, home-based workforce. Wibu-Systems is committed to delivering a key element in this transition in the form of a free license container that lives in the cloud and can hold multiple licenses for all home office workers. This so-called CmCloudContainer is part of the latest evolution of CodeMeter, the technology that safeguards the intellectual property inherent in digital assets and monetizes the technical know-how.

Wibu-Systems has committed to making these CmCloudContainers available for free between April 1 and June 30, 2020. CmCloudContainers have the same license architecture and flexibility as CmDongles and CmActLicenses, making it easy for existing CodeMeter users to migrate to CmCloud. Non-customers can jump right in and start easily employing CmCloudContainers to support their home office users from the get go.

All those who intend to take advantage of this offer just need to have a copy of CodeMeter Runtime 7.0 or newer and a Firm Security Box for Universal Firm Codes, which is essentially the master dongle software publishers use to create their software licenses. The home office workers only need an Internet connection to utilize the license. The entire setup will be taken care of by Wibu-Systems’ team. All interested parties can enroll online at www.wibu.com/coronavirus.

We were very eager to make this personal contribution in these trying times. Our business greatly depends on our ability to innovate, and there is no better time than this to spark new ideas and test them immediately. We were already foreseeing a future based on freedom of mobility and online collaboration fully dependent on advanced software and constant connectivity. In the face of the current challenges, we want to help ISVs all over the globe to provide licenses of their software in the cloud that their customers can use from their home office without any special VPN setup.