EF Johnson’s new perpetual-license model lets repeat customers save on radio software costs

LAS VEGAS—EF Johnson Technologies this week is announcing a new perpetual-license framework that will decouple licenses to the company’s radio software from its hardware units—a strategy that could save long-term public-safety customers significant money, according to EF Johnson Technologies President and CEO John Suzuki.

Under the new perpetual-license policy, current EF Johnson Technologies customers that have paid for licenses to 10 of the most common radio software features will not have to pay for those software features when they buy a new radio from EF Johnson Technologies. The software license for the feature on the older radio will be applied to the new device.

“We’re trying to transform how radios are purchased today in our market space,” Suzuki said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We’re trying to bring a great value proposition to the market that potentially will be replicated by other vendors—it’s a competitive space, and they certainly could do this.

“Ultimately, this could save millions—if not hundreds of millions—of dollars that are spent on software options today by public-safety agencies. This will have a substantial savings end customers over time.”

Suzuki said EF Johnson is adopting this strategy in response to the LMR industry’s practice of charging customers for software options. While this approach makes sense initially—letting vendors recoup their research-and-development costs in the software—LMR manufacturers have continued to assess software-option charges on older software that no longer are considered to be optional by customers, he said.

In particular, Suzuki said he does not understand why manufacturers continue to assess software-option charges for P25 common-air-interface (CAI) and P25 Phase I functionality in public-safety radios.

“Why are they software option?” he said. “Twenty years ago, that made sense, because I may not upgrade to P25. Today, if you’re buying a radio, and you’re public safety, it’s not an option—it’s really a requirement.”

Christian Barker, director of product management/marketing for EF Johnson, echoed this sentiment.

“You scratch your head and ask, ‘Why are customers having to pay for P25 [as a software option], when they’re trying to buy a P25 radio?’” Barker said.

Exactly how much software options cost in modern radios depends largely on the type of device being purchased, Suzuki said. Software options may comprise only 30% of the price of an entry-level radio that has limited functionality, but software options can represent as much as 80% of the cost of a higher-end radio with features such as AES encryption, over-the-air programming (OTAP) and over-the-air rekeying (OTAR).