Software license management within a cloud computing environment

A system for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

• a bus;
• a processor coupled to the bus;
• and
• a memory medium coupled to the bus, the memory medium comprising instructions to:
• receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;
• gather information related to the request;
• identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;
• match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;
• conduct an analysis of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations;
• and
• provide output based on the match and the analysis.

A computer program product for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media, to:

• receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;
• gather information related to the request;
• identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;
• match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;
• conduct an analysis of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations;
• and
• provide output based on the match and the analysis.

A method for deploying a system for managing software licenses within a cloud computing environment, comprising:

• deploying a computer infrastructure being operable to:
• receive a request for a cloud service from a requester;
• gather information related to the request;
• identify a set of providers capable of fulfilling the request;
• match the requester with a particular provider of the set of providers based on the information;
• conduct an analysis of a set of current license configurations of the particular provider and the requester to identify a set of potential improvements to the set of current license configurations;
• and
• provide output based on the match and the analysis.