Microsoft announce that the next release of Dynamics AX will be generally available in the first quarter of 2016.
It will be a cloud-based service and so will simply be known as Dynamics AX with no version or year attached to it. There are no details yet, but apparently we can expect “a new, simple and transparent subscription pricing model”.
Read the full announcement here: http://bit.ly/1Ih0pSB.
The November 2015 Hosting and Cloud Service Provider newsletter is out. There are just two topics of licensing interest:
December 2015 sees a new format SPUR, and note that, due to recent edits, you should replace the preview version published in November with the final version available on 1 December 2015.
Secondly, Provisioning System will no longer be available through SPLA from 1 March 2016, and the use rights will be removed from the December 2015 SPUR.
Sign up for this free monthly newsletter here: http://bit.ly/1iVEvxV.
There are some changes to Visual Studio licensing for November 2015 – let’s take a look!
Firstly, Microsoft’s Brian Harry confirms that Visual Studio Online is now Visual Studio Team Services. Hurrah! I’ve long wanted this to happen so that this hosted service more closely matches its on-premises cousin’s name – Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.
This page is a useful resource on Visual Studio Team Services pricing (http://bit.ly/1PNQbks) with the following points of interest:
Secondly, Visual Studio Cloud Subscriptions are now available enabling you to buy either monthly or annual subscriptions to Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise. Monthly subscriptions are $45/$250 and the annual ones $539/$2,999, and this page is useful for the details (http://bit.ly/1R6emKm). It’s also worth knowing the following:
Brian Harry’s blog post is here (http://bit.ly/1NcIRg2) with a complete list of what’s new technically for Visual Studio and its friends in November 2015.
You asked, we listened. It’s been on our radar for a while, and we’re really pleased to announce the first in a series of online training courses.
Training is what we do best, but the trouble is, all of you lovely people are scattered around the world … and so the very best way for us to reach you is online. But we’re trainers – we won’t just talk at you, we want you to learn, and our online training sessions have been designed to be exactly that. Training sessions, not presentations.
Our first Licensing School Online module is long overdue: Preparation for the Microsoft SAM MCP Exam 70-673. As anybody who’s taken it will tell you, it’s a tricky old exam to pass, and so this 2.5 hour online training session on Wednesday 9th December is well worth attending if you need to get this certification. You will receive a workbook to download and complete, a cheat sheet, as well as 14 days of unlimited support from the trainer via email, to assist you with your exam preparation.
Since it’s our first online training course, we’re offering this session at a special promotional price of $99 + VAT (20%) per person. You can find out more and register here: http://bit.ly/1HjZCoY, but in the meantime, let us know what online training you’d like to see from us, and look out for other new modules in the coming months!
The 74-678 Microsoft Licensing exam can be taken as an online proctored exam which means that you don’t have to wend your weary way to a test centre.
If you want to check that this method of taking the exam would work for you, then this presentation from the Microsoft Learning team will probably answer all of your questions: http://bit.ly/1HMiwow.
Microsoft announce plans to deliver commercial cloud services from data centres in multiple cities within the UK, with Azure and Office 365 available in late 2016 and Dynamics CRM Online shortly afterwards.
The Microsoft Cloud will also be available in Germany during the second half of 2016 where access to customer data will be controlled by a Data Trustee under German Law.
See the announcement here: http://bit.ly/20UNcuf.
Microsoft remind us that Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) Web Protection Services will end on 31 December 2015.
This article (http://bit.ly/1X0i2wT) confirms that there will be no further updates to this URL filtering/categorisation service beyond this date but that the gateway product itself, Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, will remain under extended support until 14 April 2020.
The article also has a link if you’re interested in how to move from TMG to newer solutions.
A Server and Cloud Enrolment requires commitment across your installed base of a particular product – SQL Server for example. If you haven’t got SA to renew, then you need to buy licences with Software Assurance for all of your servers – which can, of course, be expensive.
An alternative is to buy Subscription licences. But, do you get the same SA benefits for those Subscription licences as you do for the L&SA purchases? You do, and there’s new confirmation in the November 2015 Product Terms document – see page 31 for example.
Microsoft announce new ways for customers to acquire Office 365, Power BI and CRM Online.
Firstly, there will be a CRM Online Professional Add-on to Office 365 E3, E5 and Business Premium, which will cost $50 per user per month.
Then we can also expect to see a new, low-cost Employee Self-Service licence for CRM Online.
You can find the announcement, along with information on the new features of CRM 2016, here: http://bit.ly/1GTderi.
There’s a new publication from Licensing School!
If you want to know how the Azure Services are licensed and purchased through the EA, SCE and MPSA then this is a must-have booklet.
It’s available on all Amazon sites in Kindle format now, and as a printed book on the UK site – expect to see it in other geographies later in the week. http://bit.ly/LessonsInLicensing.