This quarter’s refresh of the SPUR gives us some pretty much expected updates for some of Microsoft’s key products and, rather more interestingly, useful clarification on the use of “Data Center Providers”.

So, tackling the mundane first, Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 are replaced with their newer, shinier R2 versions, and CRM Service Provider and Visual Studio with (sure to be) enhanced 2013 flavours. Other than that, Microsoft User Experience Virtualization Hosting for Desktops goes to v2.0 and we lose Microsoft Exchange Hosted Encryption.

And now for the Data Center Providers. This is a posh (OK, official) term for Service Providers who provide software services to another Service Provider. You can imagine that this is typically going to be infrastructure services so that Service Provider A sells SharePoint solutions but doesn’t actually have any hardware as he prefers to partner with Service Provider B to provide that infrastructure. Both Service Providers would use SPLA for their licensing.

There’s a definition of a Data Center Provider on page 5 of the SPUR and a note on how you know if you’re allowed to take a product and host it in another Service Provider’s data centre. This is done by the usual sort of flagging system, so if “Eligible for Software Services on Data Center Providers’ Servers: Yes” appears next to the product then it’s good to go. Actually, you don’t have to work that hard – ALL of the products licensed with the Subscriber Access Licence Model that aren’t Online Services are included – no more, no less. Simples.