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Licensing

This document describes licensing types for Phonexia product available to our partners and customers. The document does not describe the business conditions of Phonexia licensing.

What is the License?​

The License is a formal agreement regarding "The Product Usage Rights" between Phonexia and a user of any Phonexia technology or Phonexia product. Licenses are issued by the Business Department for all speech technologies and products and may be required in order to use utilities and tools developed by Phonexia or partners.

For technical purposes, the License agreement is represented by the license file, which describes the Phonexia technologies or products allowed to be used with that license file.

License File​

The license file is a plain text file named license.dat by default. It describes all conditions and parameters that maintain the validity of the license itself, like product or technology name, unique license ID, license expiration, number of instances covered for each technology separately, etc.

License file example:

license.dat
# Phonexia license file
# generated 2025-08-26 07:24:37 UTC
SERVER license.phonexia.com/lic
USE_SERVER

PRODUCT Evaluation_VIN5 7438B06C32569432B37702FA1D004EA3 5EC6982A BD3DD96C joe@nomail.com # crc:6 slots:8 until:2025-09-04 12:00:00
PRODUCT PHR-tech 9A83A2062B140253E8EAAFB320B46DA1 0EEDFFF2 38C7E717 joe@nomail.com # crc:103 slots:8 until:2025-09-04 12:00:00
  • The USE_... line determines the licensing type.
    • USE_SERVER – license linked to Phonexia licensing server (known as NET license) (online license)
    • USE_USB – license linked to USB licensing key provided by Phonexia (offline license)
    • USE_HW – license linked to the HW profile of a selected machine (offline license)

Refer to below sections for more details about each license type.

How to use License File​

The default way is to place the license file to the same directory as the product executable. The product will find the license file automatically during its startup and read its content.

License Types​

NET license​

NET license is specified by the USE_SERVER line in license file.

The only requirement of this license is outgoing HTTP Internet connectivity to the address (and port) specified on SERVER... line – by default it's Phonexia license server at license.phonexia.com/lic and port 80. This means that by definition, the license will not work if there is an issue with internet connectivity from the source machine to Phonexia servers, e.g. connection blocked by firewall, routing issues, maintenance of the Phonexia servers, etc.

note

Although we usually achieve 98 % availability, it cannot be guaranteed and SLA cannot be declared. Therefore, we do not provide NET license type for production deployments.

Typical recommended usage:

  • development
  • testing functionality of the software
  • data evaluation

Not recommended for:

  • demonstration purposes (partner to customer) due to its dependency on internet connection – there might be various obstacles in different customer environments (firewalls, air-gapped rooms, etc.)

USB license​

USB license is specified by USE_USB line in the license file (the SERVER line is ignored in this case, no internet connection is required).

This license is bound to a physical USB token delivered by Phonexia. To successfully use the USB license, all of the following conditions must be met:

  • Phonexia software must use a valid license.dat file (usually needs to be present in the directory with Phonexia software).
  • The USB token must be present in the USB port/hub of the machine where Phonexia software runs (in virtual environments, this device must be provisioned to the virtual machine with Phonexia software); disconnecting the USB token may cause the software to crash.
  • USB token must contain a license.dat file in the root of the USB dongle and it has to be accessible in read/write mode.
note

The USB dongle is labeled with a sticker with dongle number for future support. The sticker must not be removed from the USB dongle.

Typical recommended usage:

  • project production stages
  • sharing license between developers
  • demonstration purposes (travelling)

HW license​

HW license is specified by USE_HW line in the license file (the SERVER line is ignored in this case, no internet connection is required).

This license is bound to a "HW profile" of a specific machine (based on OS, CPU, RAM, HDD, ETH). HW profile can be created by using a 'hw-gen' tool downloadable below. file – usually named hw-info.txt – as a hash.

note

Any major change in the HW profile – including OS version change, e.g. after upgrade or patch! – can prevent the license from working and Phonexia support must be contacted (with new HW profile of the changed machine) to generate new license file.

Therefore, make sure to plan for and coordinate your OS patches or infrastructure changes properly, to avoid unwanted service outages due to invalid licenses.

To successfully use the HW license, follow these steps:

  1. Get a machine for processing (64-bit required) and make sure its OS, CPU, HDD and ETH configuration will not change over time (this is especially important in virtual or cloud environments).

  2. Create a TXT file containing the HW profile.

  3. Send the TXT file to your Phonexia business contact.

  4. We will get back to you and send you the license.

Typical recommended usage:

  • software evaluation in isolated environments
  • Proof of Concept project stages
  • demonstration purposes on fixed HW (laptops)
  • production project stages with fixed HW and OS

Limited usage for:

  • dynamic virtualization environment (fixing the HW is required)