Microsoft announce the immediate availability of Server Subscriptions through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. Server Subscriptions are available for Windows Server and SQL Server and are paid upfront for either a 1-year or 3-year term. They give access to the Azure Hybrid Benefit which means that customers may install the products on-premises or use them to license the products within an Azure virtual machine. You should consider them to be best friends with the new Reserved Instances since they now offer the most cost-effective way to license predictable Windows and SQL Server workloads in Azure.

You can find the announcement here (http://bit.ly/2m6NfFj). There’s a whole host of resources on both Server Subscriptions and Reserved Instances here (http://bit.ly/2NIC5n1) where you’ll find a sales sheet, an Operations Guide, overview presentations, and an FAQ.