News Analysis: Microsoft Licensing Update - May/June 2011

June 26, 2011



Keeping Up With The Latest In Microsoft Licensing
Given the vast array of Microsoft products and licensing categories, an organization may often feel overwhelmed by Microsoft's policies.  While there may be some complexity, these series of posts are designed to provide up to date commentary and analysis on new programs as they become available.  Feel free to reach out in the comments section with any questions, comments, and clarifications on the analysis.
Product And Program News
Below are the latest product and program news for the May/June 2011 time period:

  • Partner Addendum Available for License Mobility through Software Assurance. What is it?: Microsoft recently announced a new Software Assurance benefit, license mobility through Software Assurance. SPLA partners are invited to become authorized to offer License Mobility through Software Assurance and take advantage of the opportunities that license mobility can provide to their business. In addition to providing customers more flexibility on how they migrate to and utilize the cloud, the addendum enables customers with Software Assurance on many types of server-side licenses to reassign these licenses to multi-tenant servers at a hoster.  Who’s eligible?: All customers on Software Assurance. When’s it effective?: July 1st, 2011.

    Point of View (POV):     License mobility allows customers and partners to move licenses to the lowest cost computing platform while preserving choice to the consumer.  It also frees the Microsoft partner providing the shared environment from paying Microsoft SPLA licensing fees for those licenses.  Keep in mind products eligible for License Mobility within Server Farms in the Microsoft Product User Rights (PUR) guidelines include products such as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint. However, infrastructure products such as Windows Server would not be part of License Mobility.

Microsoft Promotions Update
Here are the following known promotions:

  • Changes to SPLA Subscriber Access Licenses for Software Assurance. What is it?: Microsoft will be offering new software access licenses (SALs) for Software Assurance (SA) offerings within the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) program. In addition some SAL for SA prices are decreasing.  SALs for SA are available to be assigned to customers who have previously purchased these on-premises CALs and who continue to maintain Software Assurance on those CALs. With SALs for SA, these customers can migrate to the equivalent SPLA service at a discounted rate.  Who’s eligible?: Customers on CALs with Software Assurance (perpetual software licenses) for on-premises use.   When’s it effective?: Effective July 1, 2011.

    (POV):     The move to SALs provides customers with a transition from on-premises to partner led hosting.  Microsoft sees this as a potential opportunity to help customers move to lower cost of computing over time.  Customers who strongly believe in the perpetual license on-premises model will most likely not take up this offer.  However, most newer customers will see this as an opportunity to shift from capex to opex.

The Bottom Line For The Customer - New Promotions Show Shift To Cloud

Recent policy changes and new offerings show a continued shift to providing customers an easy license transition to the cloud and hosting.  With partner led hosting an intermediate step to full cloud deployments, these moves make sense.  Look for more interesting announcements from the WorldWide Partner Conference in July.
Your POV
What do you think of Microsoft's recent promotions?  Are you challenged trying to manage your Microsoft Licenses? Do you find the licensing too simple or too complex?  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) com.
 
Please let us know if you need help with your Microsoft and overall apps strategy and contract negotiations strategy.  Here’s how we can help:

  • Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support
  • Demystifying Microsoft licensing
  • Assessing SaaS and cloud
  • Evaluating Cloud integration strategies
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  • Planning upgrades and migration
  • Performing vendor selection
  • Renegotiating maintenance

Related resources and links

20106006 Software Insider - R "Ray" Wang "News Analysis: Microsoft Licensing Update - May/June 2010"
20100428 Software Insider - R "Ray" Wang "News Analysis: Microsoft Licensing Update – April 2010"
20100222 Monday’s Musings: Why Users Should Preserve Their Third Party Maintenance Rights
20091008 Deal Architect – Vinnie Mirchandani “Third Party Maintenance Is Really 4 Decades Old”

20071120 News Analysis: Too Early to Call the Death of Third Party Maintenance
20090210 Tuesday’s Tip: Software Licensing and Pricing – Do Not Give Away Your Third Party Maintenance And Access Rights
20090709 Tuesday’s Tip: Do Not Bundle Your Support and Maintenance Contracts!
20090622 News Analysis: Infor Flex Reflects Proactive Maintenance Policy
20090516 News Analysis: Rimini Street Launches Third Party Maintenance for SAP
20090504 News Analysis: Oracle Waives Fees On Extended Support Offerings
20080909 Trends: What Customers Want From Maintenance And Support
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20090428 News Analysis: SAP and SUGEN Make Progress on Enterprise Support
20090405 Monday’s Musings: Total Account Value, True Cost of Ownership, And Software Vendor Business Models
20090330 Monday’s Musings: It’s The Relationship, Stupid! (Part 2) – Stop Slashing The Quality Of Support And Maintenance
20090324 Tuesday’s Tips: Five Simple Steps To Reduce Your Software Maintenance Costs
20090223 Monday’s Musings: Five Programs Some Vendors Have Implemented To Help Clients In An Economic Recession
20081012 Monday’s Musings: 5 Steps to Restoring Trust in the Vendor – Customer Relationship
20091012 Research Report: Customer Bill of Rights – Software-as-a Service
20090912 News Analysis: Siemens Cancels SAP Maintenance Contract
20090910 Tuesday’s Tip: Note To Self – Start Renegotiating Your Q4 Software Maintenance Contracts Now!

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