Patent ID: 7603318

Claim:
A computer-implemented method in which at least one computer system executes instructions retrieved from computer storage, the computer-implemented method comprising: at the at least one computer system, receiving, from a customer, order information associated with an order for multiple software licenses; in response to receiving the order information, creating a pool of licenses including the multiple software licenses; providing a notification to the customer that the multiple software licenses can be designated for distribution by multiple licensing server sources; in response to the notification, receiving input from the customer indicating to designate a first portion of the multiple software licenses for distribution by a first licensing server source and to designate a second portion of the multiple software licenses for distribution by a second licensing server source; in response to receiving the input indicating to designate the first portion of the multiple software licenses for distribution by the first licensing server source and to designate the second portion of the multiple software licenses for distribution by the second licensing server, splitting the pool of licenses associated with the order into a first license pool including the first portion of the multiple software licenses and a second license pool including the second portion of the multiple software licenses; and after splitting the pool of licenses: forwarding the first license pool including the first portion of the multiple software licenses over a network to the first licensing server source, the first licensing server source operated by the customer for distributing the first portion of the multiple licenses to clients in a private network that is managed by the customer purchasing the multiple software licenses; and forwarding the second license pool to the second licensing server source, the second license server source distributing licenses in the second license pool from the second licensing server source via communications over a publicly shared communication network, the second licensing server source operated by a vendor that creates the multiple software licenses; subsequent to receiving the input and configuring the first licensing server source to distribute the first portion of the multiple software licenses and configuring the second software licensing server source to distribute the second portion of the multiple software licenses, receiving a reallocation message from the customer purchasing the multiple software licenses, the reallocation message indicating a different allocation of the multiple software licenses than as specified by the input; and in response to receiving the reallocation message, initiating designation of at least one software license that is initially designated for distribution by the first licensing server source for distribution by the second licensing server source instead.