Category Archives: Uncategorized

SQL Server 2022 is generally available

Microsoft announce that SQL Server 2022 is generally available. Volume Licensing customers can download it immediately, and customers purchasing via CSP, OEM, and SPLA will be able to begin purchasing SQL Server 2022 in January 2023. This announcement article (http://bit.ly/3GmU8ww) gives lots of detail on the new features, as well as introducing a new PAYG purchasing model for SQL Server. The new licensing model is enabled by Azure Arc, and allows customers using either Standard or Enterprise edition to pay only when they use SQL Server.

Find out more about how it all works in this article: http://bit.ly/3Arq2UP.

Flexible Virtualization Benefit Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (November 2022) Flexible Virtualization Benefit Licensing Guide. There are some diagrams added, and the requirement for multiple Windows Server Core licenses when a virtual core is mapped to more than one hardware thread, is removed.

Find this updated guide here: http://bit.ly/3hGOJ9l.

Dynamics 365 Business Central On-premises Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (October 2022) Dynamics 365 Business Central On-premises Licensing Guide. On page 6 you’ll find information added about the compatibility of the Dynamics 365 Business Central Device licence, and there are some additional tables added to the Team Members Included Tables list on page 13. Find this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3tl0yoa.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (November 2022) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide. There are just minor adjustments made, with perhaps the most interesting ones being updates for the new Power Pages product.

You can find out more about Power Pages on our blog here: http://bit.ly/3NXO8Mv, and can find the updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3fzGCL5.

General Availability of Virtual Machine Software Reservations

Microsoft announce the General Availability of Virtual Machine Software Reservations. These are the newest members of the Reservations family enabling customers to take advantage of discounts by making a duration-based commitment  (1 or 3 years) when they buy third-party software to run in their virtual machines.

There are a whole host of participating publishers (Canonical, Citrix, and Red Hat to name a few) with a choice of monthly or upfront payment options.

Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/3G33q0M, an article on how to purchase them here: https://bit.ly/3EdLzmh, and specifics on how the discount is applied here: http://bit.ly/3tcTlqe.

General Availability of Microsoft Defender for Business servers

Microsoft announce that Defender for Business servers is now generally available, offering endpoint security for Windows and Linux servers for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s $3 per server instance per month and is available as an Add-on licence to Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Microsoft Defender for Business.

Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/3DW0SPn, and a useful FAQ here: https://bit.ly/3BhF3d3.

Microsoft 365 App

Microsoft introduce the Microsoft 365 App which will replace Office.com (starting in November 2022), as well as the Office mobile app and the Office app for Windows (starting in January 2023). The “traditional” perpetual licences for Office 2021 stay branded as Office at this time.

For more information, take a look at the FAQs here: https://bit.ly/3ThafiM.

Microsoft 365 plan comparison document

There’s an October 2022 version of the popular Microsoft 365 plan comparison document showing you the different components in all of the Enterprise and Frontline Worker plans and the Add-on licences that are available. Find this useful document here: https://bit.ly/2LG4gqi.