Licensing
Customers license the right to use Cisco intellectual property (software) from Cisco. When you purchase
hardware, you also purchase the software and the license to use it. Hardware arrives with licensed
software. When you need a different feature set, you need to purchase the license for it. Upgrade features
may be licensed separately, and special Cisco IOS features are licensed separately, either on a flat usage
or per-seat basis, depending on the features.