Category Archives: Uncategorized

Changes to Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2 Licensing

Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 R2 is removed as a product from the April 2015 Product Use Rights document (see page 5) and the right to install FIM is moved to Windows Server 2012 R2. New text on page 39 of the April 2015 Product List states that customers are allowed to run an instance of FIM for each licensed instance of Windows Server that they have.

Licences for users to access FIM functionality are still required and pages 25/26 of the PUR tell us that a FIM 2010 R2 User CAL is eligible, as is an Enterprise Mobility Suite User SL or a Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium User SL or, for external users, a FIM 2010 R2 External Connector licence. Pages 26/27 state, however, that if a user is only using the FIM synchronisation service then a CAL is not required.

And what about customers who have active SA on FIM 2010 R2? Well, as long as it was active on 1 April 2015 then they’re deemed to have 1 Windows Server Datacenter licence, and you’ll find confirmation of that on page 39 of the Product List.

Skype for Business Online

Lync Online is becoming Skype for Business Online and General Availability is confirmed as 14 April 2015: http://bit.ly/1F5Eawk.

Office 365 and CRM Online – Australia

Microsoft announce that Office 365 and CRM Online are now available from Australian datacentres. Office 365 is also the first cloud productivity service to provide IRAP assurance in Australia – the Australian Government’s Independent Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) for Unclassified Sensitive government data.

Read the announcement here: http://bit.ly/1Dr23Ub.

Visual Studio 2015

Microsoft announce the new line-up for Visual Studio 2015. These are the headlines:

  • Premium and Ultimate editions are replaced with a single, new Enterprise edition
  • Existing Premium and Ultimate with MSDN customers will get a free upgrade to Enterprise
  • The price of Enterprise will be less than today’s Ultimate pricing
  • VL customers will be able to upgrade from Professional to Premium between 1 May and 30 June and then be eligible for Enterprise edition;
  • Release time is summer 2015.

The announcement is here – http://bit.ly/1I6SBXf – and pricing/upgrade information is here – http://bit.ly/1G6vSdl.

Microsoft Band Licensing

APRIL FOOLS POST 2015.

The Microsoft Band was launched to consumers in the US towards the end of last year and in a couple of weeks it will be available in more countries worldwide. Perhaps more interestingly, it’s at this time that businesses will also be able to purchase Bands through their Volume Licensing agreements, making it the first device to be broadly available through all Volume Licensing agreements. So, how on earth do you license a Microsoft Band? Let’s take a look.

There are, as you’d expect, discounts for volume purchases and while there’s no enterprise-wide commitment required in the EA or Open Value agreements, there ARE further discounts available if you do take the Band across the whole organisation. Customers wanting to protect against upgrades to the Band – this is v1 after all – can purchase Hardware Assurance (HA), and in the Open and MPSA programs this is also available in six-monthly payments known as Half Annual Hardware Assurance (HAHA).

Businesses will also be able to deploy sophisticated and customisable dashboards using Microsoft Band Server to keep track of employees’ fitness and even link it to medical benefits. Microsoft Band Server relies on SQL Server and SharePoint Server for its infrastructure but organisations won’t have to license these products as long as all Bands are licensed with a new type of licence – the Wearable Management Licence.

All in all, it’s an exciting time in the world of licensing! If you want to learn more about the scope of Microsoft Band solutions then this is a good site: http://bit.ly/AprilFool2015.

Dynamics GP 2015 Licensing Guide

If you need a good introduction to the slightly surreal world of Dynamics GP 2015 licensing then this December 2014 guide is worth a read.

If you’re new to it all, hold on to your hats as you learn about licensing Solution Functionality with the Starter or Extended Packs, and licensing user access with Concurrent CALs, User CALs or User SALs.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, then head over to our Licensing Guides repository where you’ll find a guide for all Microsoft products – past and present –  https://bit.ly/MSlicensingguides.

Citrix Implementation Guide for Office 365

A useful Implementation Guide from Citrix for Office 365 with XenApp and XenDesktop detailing some best practices as well as a licensing section covering Shared Computer Activation.

Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/1a2dULE.

Updated VLSC User Guide

There’s an updated (February 2015) VLSC User Guide.

There are two main changes: it’s updated with the process for Open customers to activate their Online Services through VLSC (see page 41) and the License Summary section is updated with the expanded Search facilities (see page 22). Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/1GiVbrc.