Name: Shadow Licensing Uncovered: Smart Control for Unmanaged Software
Start: 2026-02-04T10:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-04T17:00:00+00:00
Location: OpenLM

Hosted HyperWorks Units (Altair) license management with OpenLM

Altair’s HyperWorks suite uses a unique, flexible licensing model based on HyperWorks Units (HWU).

Instead of buying fixed seats, you buy a pool of tokens. Different apps (HyperMesh, OptiStruct) “draw down” different amounts of units.

While flexible, this model is notoriously difficult to optimize because stacking and leveling rules make manual calculation impossible. OpenLM automates this completely.

What is Hosted HyperWorks Units (Altair) license manager: An introduction

Hosted HyperWorks Units (HHWU), now often referred to as Hosted Altair Units (HAU), is a cloud-based licensing system managed by Altair that eliminates the need for on-premise license servers. It allows users to draw from a shared pool of license tokens (Altair Units) via the internet, enabling software access from any location without a VPN. Administrators manage entitlements through the Altair One portal, generating authorization codes that users input into the client-side utility (almutil) to validate their machine.

Licensing schemas of Hosted Altair Units (HAU)

The unit pool: Users draw from a central pool. A solver might cost 50 units; a modeler might cost 21.

Leveling vs. stacking: This is critical.

Leveling: If a user runs two instances of the same app, they usually only pay for one.
Stacking: If a user runs different apps, the costs stack.

Without software like OpenLM, you cannot verify if “Leveling” is working correctly, leading to massive over-purchasing of units.

OpenLM’s solution for HyperWorks optimization

OpenLM is one of the few solutions that natively understands the Altair Unit mathematics. We don’t just count users; we calculate Token Consumption.

OpenLM capability	Value for Altair Units
Unit consumption monitoring	Track usage in “Units” rather than just “Licenses.” See exactly how many units are being burned by specific departments or heavy simulation jobs.
Leveling verification	Verify that your “Leveling” benefits are applying correctly. OpenLM detects if a user is accidentally consuming double units for a single leveled workflow.
Peak usage analysis	Altair contracts are based on “Peak Usage.” OpenLM identifies the specific hour of the year that set your peak, allowing you to “shave the peak” and lower renewal costs.
Harvesting idle units	Because units are shared, one idle user holding 50 units blocks everyone else. OpenLM harvests these expensive sessions instantly to refill the pool.