100% independent. Rythium takes no fees, commissions or partnerships from any software or AI vendor. Ever.
Software license cost & compliance advisory

Reduce software costs. By 30% to 100%.

Rythium does two things: defend you against publisher license demands, and negotiate contracts, so you pay less and secure the strongest commercial terms.

Across Oracle, Microsoft, IBM & Red Hat, Broadcom/VMware, and enterprise AI contracts with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google & embedded AI.

Our three practices

Practice 01

Oracle License Management

Advisor on Call, Guaranteed ULA Exits, Java Defense, Audit Defense, and a two-day licensing masterclass.
The practice

Advisor on Call, Guaranteed ULA Exits, Java Defense, Audit Defense, and a two-day licensing masterclass.

Publishers

Oracle

Explore Oracle License Management
Practice 02

AI Procurement Advisory

Enterprise AI contracts negotiated, right-sized and kept consumption-compliant.
The practice

Enterprise AI contracts negotiated, right-sized and kept consumption-compliant.

Publishers

OpenAI · Anthropic · Google · Embedded-AI vendors

Explore AI Procurement Advisory
Practice 03

Software Asset Management

License reviews, audit defense and renewal negotiation across the four riskiest publishers.
The practice

License reviews, audit defense and renewal negotiation across the four riskiest publishers.

Publishers

Oracle · Microsoft · IBM + Red Hat · Broadcom/VMware

Explore SAM
HDFC BankAirtelHondaHCLTechUltraTech CementTata MotorsHero MotoCorpGenpact
260+engagements since 2015: banks, manufacturers, telecoms, insurers & the public sector.
$2Bn+savings achieved
Boubyan BankNSDLCholamandalamMphasisSBM Bank KenyaIFFCO TokioRBL BankThermaxSouth Indian BankOman ReSundaram FinanceAmericana FoodsRoyal SundaramUjjivan Small Finance BankHomeChoiceParksons PackagingAarav Solutions
Practice 01 · Signature Oracle engagements

Oracle License Management

An Oracle expert on call by the hour. A ULA exit we guarantee for three years. A defense that closes Java demands on evidence, not payroll. An audit-defense that reduces your exposure by 30% to 100%. And a two-day masterclass that turns your own team into licensing experts.

01

Java

Java Defense & Cost Reduction, priced on evidence, not payroll.
Java Defense & Cost Reduction

Oracle's Java pricing quotes your whole payroll. We measure where Java actually runs, recommend remediation, provide contractual clarity, and reduce the demand on evidence, or eliminate the need for a deal entirely.

What it covers
  • Usage discovery
  • Exposure assessment
  • Migration strategy
  • Negotiation & closure
Learn more
02

ULA Management

ULA Certification with 3‑Year Audit Shield.
The engagement

ULA certification is the single highest-stakes event in Oracle licensing: one declaration fixes what you own forever. Most advisors help you prepare it and leave. We prepare it, defend it, and then guarantee it for three years.

What it covers
  • Deployment maximization
  • Certification & declaration
  • Clean exit
  • 36 months of cover
Learn more
03

Advisor on Call

20 or 40 advisory hours, half face-to-face, half analysis.
The engagement

A block of 20 or 40 advisory hours with our Managing Partner, a former Oracle Vice-President, for the decisions that can't wait for a full engagement. Every hour in the room is matched by an hour of back-end analysis on your contracts and deployment data.

What it covers
  • ULA decisions
  • Audit letter triage
  • Quote checks & negotiation prep
  • Hours valid for 6 months
Learn more
04

Oracle Licensing Masterclass

Two intensive days, beginner to expert.
The engagement

Two days that take your team from utter beginners to confident Oracle licensing practitioners, taught by a former Oracle VP, on real contracts and real audit cases. Some of the biggest companies across the globe have put their teams through it.

What it covers
  • Metrics, agreements & support rules
  • ULAs, audits, Java & negotiation
  • On-site or virtual
  • Playbooks & templates to keep
Learn more
Sheshagiri Anegondi
Across the table from OracleSheshagiri Anegondi

Managing Partner of Rythium Technologies. A former Oracle Vice-President (1998 to 2015) who now sits on the buyer's side, and author of “Licensing Oracle” (Notion Press, 2021) (ISBN 10: 1639046887).

Book Advisor on Call hours
Practice 02 · AI Procurement Advisory

AI Contracts & Cost Negotiations

Enterprise AI agreements combine the worst of software licensing (opaque pricing, lock-in, usage metering) with brand-new problems like token commits, model deprecation and data rights.

Four patterns that drain your AI budget

  1. 01Premium-by-default

    Every task runs on the priciest model, even ones a model 90% cheaper handles.

  2. 02Unmetered agents

    Agents work for hours on their own, with no spend limit and no one owning the tab.

  3. 03No unit economics

    Spend shows up as one lump sum, never per team or task, so the waste stays hidden.

  4. 04Volume mistaken for value

    Heavy usage gets praised as “adoption”, so teams burn more instead of doing more.

01

Enterprise contract negotiation

Commercial terms for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and other frontier vendors.
What we do

Commercial terms for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and other frontier vendors: pricing benchmarks, discount structures, rate-lock and price-protection clauses, renewal caps.

02

Commit sizing & consumption models

Seat vs. token vs. hybrid: modeling your real usage before you sign.
What we do

Seat vs. token vs. hybrid: modeling your real usage before you sign, so you don't buy a three-year commit for a six-month pilot.

03

Consumption compliance & overage control

Ongoing monitoring of usage against contract commits.
What we do

Ongoing monitoring of usage against contract commits, overage exposure alerts, true-up preparation and chargeback models for internal teams.

04

Embedded-AI license review

Copilot, Einstein, Joule, Firefly, Oracle AI agents.
What we do

Copilot, Einstein, Joule, Firefly, Oracle AI agents: every application vendor is attaching AI SKUs to renewals. We separate what you'll use from what they're bundling.

05

Data rights & risk terms

Training-data carve-outs, IP indemnity, output ownership.
What we do

Training-data carve-outs, IP indemnity, output ownership, model-deprecation and migration clauses, regional data-residency terms, reviewed before signature, not after an incident.

06

Vendor evaluation & TCO benchmarking

Independent, like-for-like comparison of model providers and AI platforms.
What we do

Independent, like-for-like comparison of model providers and AI platforms on cost per outcome, because we don't earn a rupee from any of them.

Explore AI Procurement & Negotiation Services
Practice 03 · Managed SAM & Baselining

Software Asset Management Across All Publishers

We build your Effective License Position, defend it in audits, and use it as leverage at renewal. Publisher by publisher, product by product. Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom/VMware, IBM, Red Hat, Adobe, etc.

Oracle

Database, EBS, Java SE, OCI
Products
  • Database & Middleware
  • E-Business Suite
  • Java SE
  • OCI
Services
  • ULA optimization, certification & renewal
  • Audit defense
  • License reviews & ELP
  • Support cost reduction

Microsoft

SQL Server, Windows Server, Office 365, Copilot
Products
  • SQL Server
  • Windows Server
  • MS Office & Office 365
  • Copilot & embedded AI SKUs
Services
  • License review & ELP
  • EA renewal negotiation
  • Audit / SAM engagement defense
  • Cloud vs on-prem right-sizing

IBM + Red Hat

PVU / VPC metrics, WebSphere, Db2, MQ, RHEL
Products
  • IBM software (PVU / VPC metrics)
  • WebSphere, Db2, MQ
  • RHEL & OpenShift subscriptions
Services
  • ILMT & sub-capacity compliance
  • IBM audit defense
  • ELA / subscription renewal negotiation
  • License reviews

Broadcom / VMware

vSphere, VCF, VVF bundles
Products
  • vSphere / VCF / VVF bundles
  • Subscription core licensing
Services
  • Renewal quote defense & benchmarking
  • Bundle right-sizing vs. core minimums
  • Migration leverage strategy
  • License reviews & audit defense
Explore Managed SAM Services
$0
Received from vendors, ever
Independent, no conflict of interest

Most “licensing partners” are paid by the publisher. We aren't.

Resellers earn margin when you buy more. Publisher partners protect their certification status. Rythium's only revenue is the fee you pay us, so the only outcome we're rewarded for is the one that's good for you.

No vendor moneyNo referral fees, no resale margin, no partner rebates, no co-marketing funds from Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Broadcom or any AI vendor.
No partner badgesWe hold no publisher certifications that could be revoked for advising you too well. Nobody can lean on us to soften a recommendation.
One paying client: youOur advice, benchmarks and negotiation positions are built from your data and your interests, never from a vendor's sales target.

Case studies

Names withheld under NDA; the numbers are real.

Quick view of some case studies
The same straight talk, on camera

Rythium on YouTube

Licensing tactics, audit defense and AI contract breakdowns, in plain language, every week.

Visit the channel

Know us before we work together

What does Rythium do?

Rythium does two things: defend you against publisher license demands, and negotiate contracts, so you pay less and secure the strongest commercial terms. Across Oracle, Microsoft, IBM & Red Hat, Broadcom/VMware, and enterprise AI contracts with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google & embedded AI.

  • We began as India's first independent Oracle license advisory firm, and we continue to be the best globally recognized firm providing clarity on Oracle licensing and reducing Oracle costs. Our customers save 30% to 100% of their Oracle exposure.
  • Later we expanded our service portfolio to cover the other publishers that generate the most audit and spend risk: Microsoft, IBM, Red Hat and Broadcom/VMware, ServiceNow.
  • And since late 2025, we help clients get equitable commercial terms on Generative AI enterprise procurement, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and the many companies that embed GenAI within their applications.
Are you affiliated with Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Broadcom or any AI vendor?

No. Rythium holds no reseller agreements, partner certifications or referral arrangements with any software publisher or AI vendor. Our only revenue is professional fees paid by clients. That independence is the product: it's why our advice can be honest.

What types of companies does Rythium work with?

Our customers span both ends of the spectrum in size and type:

  • Our smallest engagements cover estates with as few as 2 servers and 500 desktops.
  • Our largest engagements cover 20,000+ servers and 260,000+ desktops.
  • Banks, insurance, fintech, telecom, IT/ITES, retail, automotive, EPC, manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality are all represented in our client base.
Should we certify our Oracle ULA or renew it?

It depends on deployment trajectory. If growth in ULA-covered products has flattened, certification usually wins: you keep perpetual rights to everything deployed and stop paying for headroom you won't use. If genuine growth is ahead, a renegotiated ULA can make sense. The mistake is letting Oracle's renewal deadline make the decision for you.

What kind of savings can we expect in Oracle & Microsoft procurement?

On Oracle, our customers get between 30% to 100% reduction in their Oracle exposure or the quoted Oracle prices. On Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, our customers get between 5% to 30% reductions. On Microsoft SQL Server deployments, customers can get between 5% to 50% reductions.

How is buying enterprise AI different from buying traditional software?

Three ways. Pricing is consumption-based and volatile, so commit sizing matters more than discount percentage. The product changes under you: models get deprecated mid-contract, so you need migration and price-protection clauses. And data terms (training rights, output ownership, indemnity) carry risk that never existed in a perpetual license. The negotiation muscles are the same; the contract anatomy is new.

What does the 3-year guarantee on ULA certification actually cover?

There are two things that we guarantee. The first is the certification itself: if Oracle challenges the certification position and demands an audit, we defend it and get you the deployed quantities as your perpetual grant. The second is that we work with you to optimize your post-certification deployments, and if Oracle institutes an audit during the next three years, we defend you. This is possible because we do the certification work thoroughly enough to put our own name on it; the scope and conditions are set out plainly in the engagement letter before we start.

How does the Advisor on Call package work?

You buy a block of 20 or 40 hours. Half are face-to-face advisory sessions with our Managing Partner, a former Oracle Vice-President, and the other half are back-end analysis hours our licensing team spends on your contracts, deployment data and quotes, so every session is grounded in your numbers rather than general opinion. Hours draw down as you use them and stay valid for 6 to 12 months as mutually agreed.

How does Rythium charge?

We have two types of charging mechanisms. Fixed-fee engagements for reviews, audits and ULA certifications, scoped upfront. For negotiations, we charge a percentage of the savings achieved (plus an initial token fee that is adjusted against the final fee). No savings, no fees.

What does Rythium's Java License Assessment cover?

Java deployment discovery across servers and endpoints, classification into Oracle commercial, Oracle non-commercial, OpenJDK and third-party distributions, normalization against your existing Oracle and third-party entitlements, license requirement determination, remediation and rebalancing recommendations, and direct support during any negotiation or audit with Oracle. Start to finish, not just a report.

Got a renewal, an audit letter, or an AI proposal on your desk?

Send it over. A senior advisor, not a sales rep, will tell you within 48 hours whether there's money on the table.

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