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Overview of the Changes to the April 2014 Volume Licensing Product Use Rights

Unsurprisingly, it’s SQL Server that grabs the headlines in the April 2014 PUR, so let’s start with a summary of what’s updated for this product:

  • The 2012 Standard, BI and Enterprise editions are all updated to their 2014 equivalents and there are just two changes to the licensing – see the next two bullet points
    • Licensing a passive fail-over server is now an SA benefit. The details are on page 72 and confirm that if you’re licensed with the Server/CAL model you do need SA on your CALs too, and if you’ve moved your licences to a third party shared server under Licence Mobility rights then you don’t get these fail-over server rights
    • There’s a new CAL waiver for batch jobs for the BI edition on page 27, and just for completeness you should note that these rights also apply to the BI 2012 version of the product – see page 27 of the May 2014 Product List
  • There’s a useful new section added for SQL Server 2014 Enterprise edition when it’s licensed with the Server/CAL model. It confirms the following key facts all in one place on page 37:
    • This edition is only available under SA renewal
    • It may only access 20 physical cores
    • Each licence permits the running of SQL in 4 VOSES and licences may be stacked to allow SQL to run in additional VOSES
    • Down-edition rights are to BI, Standard, Workgroup or Small Business editions, and the 20 core limitation is removed when BI is installed
    • Licence Mobility is available with active SA
    • The Power BI for Office 365 USL can’t be used as an alternative to a SQL CAL to access the server

There are a couple of changes to the Windows family, where the licensing rules for Windows client and his first cousin Windows Embedded get ever closer:

  • Firstly, page 10 confirms that if you’ve got active SA on your Windows 8.1 Enterprise/Industry Enterprise licences then you can move both the licence AND the SA to a replacement device
  • The SA benefits for both flavours of Windows are now much more similar and so the sections have been combined in the Software Assurance Appendix on page 73. Notably, Windows Industry Enterprise SA gains VDA rights

There are a couple of other updates:

  • AX 2012 R2 is updated for R3 with the only significant change being that, like SQL 2014, its fail-over server rights move to being an SA benefit – see page 67
  • BizTalk 2013 is updated for R2 so it looks like we can expect to see that product in June then 😉

There’s some clarification added to the Disaster Recovery Rights SA benefit – formerly known as Cold Backup Server Rights:

  • There’s confirmation added on page 68 that a Windows Server licence is not required for the Disaster Recovery server as long as certain (listed) conditions are met
  • And a statement is added on page 69 stipulating that the Disaster Recovery server may not be used as a production server

And finally we say a few goodbyes:

  • Lync Online Plan 3 is at last removed
  • System Center Advisor is also removed as this is no longer an SA benefit, but became a free service way back in January 2013
  • And Data Protection Manager 2010 for System Center Essentials also slips quietly away

Windows Embedded SA now includes VDA Rights

There have been recent changes in the licensing of the Windows Embedded products which bring them much closer to the licensing of “regular” Windows. One of the changes is the increase in SA benefits and if you have SA on a device running Windows 8.1 Industry Enterprise then you now get VDA rights, which means that you no longer need to purchase VDA licences for those devices to access a VDI desktop. There’s an interesting Microsoft article if you want to read more: http://bit.ly/1jgqWkW.

Overview of the Changes to the May 2014 Volume Licensing Product List

SQL Server 2014

  • It’s confirmed on page 27 that the CAL waiver for Batch jobs that was introduced with the SQL 2014 Business Intelligence edition also applies to the 2012 version
  • Customers with SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse Core licences with SA can now step up to SQL Enterprise Core licences – see page 75

AX 2012 R3

  • AX 2012 R3 replaces the R2 version for May 2014
  • There are changes to the wording in the rights allowed with the different levels of CALs, as well as clarification of terms such as “Point of Sale Device” and “Warehouse Device”. Full details are on pages 17/18
  • There’s confirmation added that CALs are not required for external users, but a cautionary note is included stating that external user licences must not be used for business process outsourcing purposes
  • Fail-over server licensing becomes an SA benefit. Although it’s not mentioned in the Product List I thought I’d include the change here – see page 67 of the April Product Use Rights for details

Windows Enterprise Sideloading

  • There are a number of changes to the licensing of Windows Enterprise Sideloading. Read on for the summary, or peruse page 33
  • Enterprise Sideloading is now feature-enabled in both the Pro and Enterprise editions running on domain-joined PCs through any Volume Licensing program
  • Customers with EA, Select Plus, School or EES agreements receive Enterprise Sideloading Rights to enable non domain-joined or RT devices
  • Other customers can acquire Enterprise Sideloading Rights as a single SKU to cover all devices for $100 through Open

Other Additions

  • Project Lite arrives – this is a cloud offering designed for project team members to do things such as updating tasks and entering timesheet information as an alternative to the full-blown (and more expensive) Project Online
  • The CRM Online Enterprise USLs are added although there is a note stating that availability will be later in May/June. These USLs add Dynamics Marketing (formerly MarketingPilot) and Unified Service Desk (an application for call centres) to the functionality accessed through the CRM Online Professional USLs
  • Standalone Dynamics Marketing USLs are also added with the same note regarding availability

Changes to Windows Sideloading Licensing

Enterprise Sideloading is the process of installing Windows Apps directly to a device without going through the Windows Store. You can imagine that this is ideal for organisations that want to build their own custom line of business apps and then distribute them directly to their devices since it would make no sense to make those apps publicly available through the Windows Store.

Devices must be enabled for Enterprise Sideloading, and this functionality has historically been enabled as a feature for domain-joined PCs running Windows Enterprise edition. Other devices, either running different editions of Windows or not joined to the domain, could be enabled for Sideloading via a product key. These product keys were available in packs of 10 or 100 keys, or were an SA benefit for certain customers.

However, there are some changes which are effective from 1 May 2014 – here’s the summary:

  • Domain joined devices running Windows 8.1 Pro or Enterprise edition (including Industry edition), in any Volume Licensing program, are feature-enabled for Windows Enterprise Sideloading
  • Windows RT 8.1 or Pro/Enterprise devices that are not domain joined still require product keys which are obtained by acquiring Enterprise Sideloading Rights
  • Enterprise Sideloading Rights are granted to all customers who have an Enterprise Agreement or Select Plus agreement, or for academic institutions, an EES or a School agreement
  • For customers without the above agreements, Enterprise Sideloading Rights can be purchased for $100 through the Open program to cover an unlimited number of devices

There’s a presentation from Microsoft you may find useful to peruse (http://bit.ly/1omercG) or refer to the May 2014 Product List on page 33.

Office 365 Personal and Home Editions

Office 365 Personal has arrived. The key facts:

  • One PC or Mac and one tablet may be connected to the service;
  • It includes 60 minutes of Skype calling per month as well as 20 GB of OneDrive storage;
  • Estimated Retail Price is $69.99/year or $6.99/month.

Office 365 Home Premium is still available but is renamed to Office 365 Home and offers installation on up to 5 PCs or Macs and 5 tablets as well as 20 GB of OneDrive storage for each of up to 5 users, with a price tag of $99.99/year or $9.99/month.

Here’s the Office Blog post: http://bit.ly/QVUxKm.

IDC Whitepaper: Key Software Licensing Considerations for Next-generation Enterprise Environments

This is an interesting new whitepaper from IDC which discusses the shift towards what they are calling “the 3rd Platform”. In their words: “The 3rd Platform is the next-generation compute model characterized by a proliferation of always- connected smart mobile devices, coupled with the widespread usage of social networking, and layered over a cloud-based server infrastructure that supports important new workloads such as big data analytics.”

Here’s the summary of their main thoughts:

  • Businesses will transition to the 3rd Platform incrementally, and in that time there will be a complex hybrid mix of on-premises/cloud, perpetual/subscription, and PC/mobile software to manage
  • In the next 3-5 years, software licence spending will shift from capital budgets to operating budgets with an average increase in spend on subscription licences of 35%
  • 62% of organisations plan to use Licence Mobility in order to move applications to cloud infrastructure platforms
  • Software licence complexity will indirectly cost organisations an average of 25% of their software licence budgets by 2015
  • Historically, volume licensing programs were focused mainly on the discounts available; today, customers should look for agreements that allow them to migrate to the 3rd Platform at their own pace without being restricted by inflexible licensing terms or the need to sign multiple agreements

This, of course, all supports Microsoft’s “Cloud First Mobile First” strategy with licensing flexibility being key in offering new solutions to support workloads deployed partially or completely to the cloud, and enabling workers to access their corporate desktops in a variety of different scenarios.

Microsoft give their comments on the report on their Volume Licensing blog (http://bit.ly/1h8SYPw) and also make the (valid) point that the new Server and Cloud Enrolment is an ideal vehicle for licensing a traditional on-premises server farm today and then allowing a seamless transition of required workloads to the cloud tomorrow.

The report, written in a question and answer style, is worth a read in its entirety if you’re new to the 3rd Platform and want some more details: http://bit.ly/1fLH9OW.