MEP: Stand Alone Key or AC License-WIBU based?

[Eduardo Bell]

Karl based on your earlier comment, do you know if a stand alone MEP license is possible? Our reseller is sure it cannot and needs to be tied to a particular AC-WIBU key. There is limited access through Teamworks but not the full use from multiple workstations as we really need. THX

"As noted in my original post, but perhaps to be clarified when the press release is made, it requires a separate license which can either be added to an existing WIBU keyplug, or placed on a separate keyplug. " Cheers, Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

My understanding is as indicated in the quote: the MEP license can be added to an existing WIBU key (as an additional license/data entry in the upgrade process) - or can be on a separate key. GS may not have a specific pricing policy for issuing a key just to contain the MEP license. Or, I may have misunderstood what my contacts told me.

Cheers,
Karl

[Erika Epstein]

I believe there is a network version. This way if you buy only one licence. any one person on the network can use it any given time. Multiple licenses, allow more users to simultaneously use MEP.

[Eduardo Bell]

Hey thanks for replying, I hear you.
This is the response I got from our reseller:
I checked with Graphisoft and they say they cannot place the MEP onto a separate key – it has to be tied to an existing ArchiCAD key. I don’t know where you got the other info, but apparently it’s incorrect (at least on a policy basis, even if it’s technically possible).
Not good.
We would prefer to have it as a stand alone, since we have multiple individual full licenses sometimes working from remote locations or on the road and one cannot have full access to MEP features without taking the appropriate WIBU key.
Say I was a Mechanical Engineer and wanted to buy MEP, would I then be forced to buy a full AC license which I know I don't need and will not use? Further thoughts or friends in higher places?

[Eduardo Bell]

Thanks to ya'all for your input, to settle this, here is what seems to be the final word regarding policy:

I am sorry to say that MEP is key specific. They would need to choose what key number to assign the MEP to. G.S.

Reseller asked : One of our clients is interested in purchasing one MEP license for their office. He read (perhaps on ArchiCAD-Talk?) that the license could be put on a separate keyplug (see below) rather than added onto an existing ArchiCAD keyplug. Is this true? If so, how can we order it? If not, can you tell me what I should tell him?

Reseller commented :.....As I said earlier, it may be technically possible to put the MEP license onto a WIBU key without an ArchiCAD license, but there appears not to be available (a sales policy decision rather than a technical limitation).

However, note that MEP is an add-on to ArchiCAD – it does not function by itself. A Mechanical Engineer would need to own ArchiCAD to use it. This may not make business sense for them, but that’s not what Graphisoft is trying to do. They are focusing the MEP add-on for architects who would like to model MEP systems for coordination, visualization and reduction of clashes and conflicts. They have told resellers that the MEP add-on is not intended to be sold to Mechanical Engineers, since it does not offer any analysis tools and does not create standard documentation in the form traditionally done in 2D drawings. Of course, we may find some Mechanical Engineers who are interested, and some may purchase ArchiCAD with the MEP add-on, but that is not its primary market focus.
I wish I could be more helpful, but this is what I understand from what I’ve been told.
By the way, your problem with working in Teamwork is easily resolved by buying an additional MEP license! At $275, if the tool is useful, it’s not very expensive to equip your other ArchiCAD key with this capability. See how it works for you, and keep that in mind.

[Eduardo Bell]

And then regarding the network :

Any ArchiCAD license can be placed on a server and shared using free software available for WIBU keys. Typically, this is done for larger offices, and network licenses are sold in units of 5, 10, and 20 but can be programmed for any desired number. There is no discount for these multiple licenses, the cost is the same as buying the same number of individual ones.

If you wish, you may put one or both of your keys on your server, and run the WIBU keyserver application on the server. Then when you start ArchiCAD, each workstation will look to see if it has a local key attached, and if it doesn’t, it will poll the network to look for a license.

The problem is that the MEP add-on license is grabbed on a first-come, first-served basis, so you can’t control which workstation gets it very easily. The best way to control it is to remove the MEP add-on from the add-ons folder before starting ArchiCAD, if you don’t want to grab the MEP license from the keyserver.

For your office, ..., it probably is simpler just to swap the keys around, and mark the MEP-enabled one in some way so you know which it is. You can unplug the key while the computer is running and move it around, however ArchiCAD will check periodically to see whether the key is there and will quit if it can’t find the key.

[Shaun Coomber]

When ArchiCAD starts it first searches for an AC license and then the MEP add-on will search for its own licence once it's loaded. The two licences are detected separately and can exist on different keys. It is therefore possible to load MEP from a single licence while using a network ArchiCAD licence.

[Erika Epstein]

Thanks Shaun.
Could you now describe the procedure for unloading MEP from one computer on a network so another person can use it from a different computer?

[Shaun Coomber]

Erika,
Is the MEP licence on a network key? If so, the first user (with the MEP add-on loaded) to connect to that key will take the MEP licence. In ArchiCAD 12, the only way to control this is by either putting the MEP licence on a separate key, as mentioned above, or to ensure that the MEP add-on is only loaded by the user wanting to take the licence. This is being reviewed for the next version.

[Erika Epstein]

Shaun,
Suppodinh I am on a network and have been using the single MEP license. Now Laszlo also on my network, wants to use the MEP. How do I unload it from my workstation so he can use it?
Do I have to quite out of archicad or just go to my add-on manager within archicad and unload it?

Thanks,
Erika