Faculty/Staff Software
Purchasing
Technology Services - PVFA assists faculty, staff, and research groups/institues with the evaluation, licensing, and purchasing of software. To ensure compliance, data security, and fiscal responsibility, our team handles software requests that meet any of the following criteria:
- Bulk Licensing: Requests for more than 5 licenses of a specific software title.
- Multi-User Deployment: Software intended for use by multiple faculty/staff, research or student groups.
- Instructional & Classroom Use: Software required for classrooms, computer labs, or to support student coursework and academic instruction.
Why Route These Purchases Through IT?
By coordinating these larger or shared software acquisitions through our office, we help the university community:
- Secure Volume Discounts: We leverage university-wide purchasing power to get the best possible pricing.
- Ensure Compatibility & Security: We vet software to make sure it integrates safely with campus networks, single sign-on (SSO), and meets institutional accessibility and data privacy standards.
- Manage Lifecycle & Renewals: We help track expiration dates and compliance so your access is never interrupted.
If you need to purchase a standalone license for individual use that does not involve shared data or classroom instruction, please contact the Business Office at pvfabusiness@tamu.edu
Need to make a request?
Submit a ticket to get this process started.
Current Software Available
This software is available through the Software Center (Windows) or Self-Service (macOS)
| Software | Funding Source | License Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ableton | PVFA | 20 floating | Live 11 Perpetual |
| Adobe Creative Cloud | University | Individual | See below for info about GAR's |
| Autodesk | Free (Vendor provided) | 3000 floating | Maya, MotionBuilder |
| Marvelous Designer | PVFA | 10 floating | Marvelous Designer |
| Dragonframe | PVFA | 5 floating | -- |
| Foundry | PVFA | 15 floating | Nuke |
| Maxon ONE | PVFA | 20 floating | Cinema 4d, Redshift, Red Giant and ZBrush, requires assistance from HIVE to use |
| Microsoft 365 | PVFA | Individual | |
| Pixar Renderman | Free (Vendor provided) | 150 | Renderman |
| SideFX Houdini | PVFA | 75 floating | -- |
| Zoom | University | Individual | -- |
A floating license pool is a software licensing model where use is shared among a larger group of users on a network, rather than being locked to specific machines. When a user opens the software, a license is temporarily checked out from the central pool, and once they close the program, that license is automatically returned to the pool for others to use. If there is no available license in the pool the software will NOT open or function.
Adobe
Adobe is funded centrally for all Faculty, Staff and GAT's.
GAR's must be funded by their respective research groups at a cost of $33 per year.
To add these licenses submit a ticket with the NetID's you wish to add and the account number to fund these licenses.
AI Tools
See the guidance on TAMU's website for approved tools, https://www.it.tamu.edu/ai-services/index.html
OnDemand Software
Windows/macOS Software Store
There are many other packages available in the Software Center (Windows) or SelfService (macOS). Applications such as Microsoft Office, Marvelous Designer, Mozilla Firefox, Zoom, Wacom Desktop, VLC, etc are available.
You can simply find the application in the store and click the install button to have that applicaiton queued up to install, these are generally completely silent installations and will not require additional steps from you.
Ondemand Elevation
Faculty and Staff computers have AdminByRequest (Windows) and Privileges (macOS) installed to facilitate privilege elevation to install applications on demand, this is the recommended way to install software if it is not in the Software Stores. More information about this here: AdminByRequest or Privileges service page.
The only restrictions in place is specfic software that has been revoked by policy, more information here: Privilege Elevation Usage Policy