EA Transitions are Removed

With the introduction of Online Services in the EA, customers were able to transition to Online Services from their on-premises licenses.

The term “transition” was a reserved word for situations where a customer, in effect, converted their SA licenses into Online Services USLs.

Customers were initially allowed to use special transition licences mid-way through a year which led to some extraordinarily tricky licensing scenarios, and then From SA USLs were introduced which could only be used at Anniversary, with Add-ons being used mid-way through a year – much simpler!

Transitions are now officially at the end of the line; the term was removed from the EA agreement last year, and now it’s gone from the February 2016 Product Terms too.

Microsoft Volume Licensing Newsletter – January 2016

The Microsoft VL Newsletter for January 2016 is released, with a focus on Windows 10.

There’s a reminder of the Windows 10 offerings available through Volume Licensing programs as well as links to the (very good) Licensing Guide, a useful Deployment Guide, and a Windows SA per User at-a-glance two-pager.

Read the archives and sign up for future issues here: http://bit.ly/1SPW0N8.

SA Roaming Rights

End of life for Roaming Rights!

The February 2016 Product Terms confirms that Roaming Rights are to be retired. These rights are often used to allow the primary user of a device licensed for Windows with SA to access a VDI desktop on a third party-owned device used off the customer’s premises. Page 43 confirms that customers with active SA for Windows Enterprise or VDA retain Roaming Rights until the end of their agreement or 31 January 2017 – whichever one comes later.

Mrs Lime (for those of you who know and love her) will be finding out costs for a Windows SA per User Add-on USL.

Reattaching Software Assurance in an EA

There’s new wording added to the February 2016 Product Terms that allows EA customers to reattach SA to licenses. Yes, really!

If the customer transitioned to an Online Service or purchased a From SA USL instead of renewing their SA, then they can reattach SA to a license at anniversary or renewal without purchasing a new license. They need to order SA for the remainder of the enrolment term, and of course they can’t buy SA for more licenses than they had originally.

Read the full terms on page 72 of the February 2016 Product Terms.

EA Minimum Requirements

Microsoft announce that the minimum requirements for both the subscription and perpetual flavours of the Enterprise Agreement will go from 250 users/devices to 500 from 1st July 2016.

The recommendation for smaller customers is to buy through the MPSA or CSP, but existing customers CAN renew their EA by extending it for an additional 36-month term if they want to – even after 1st July.

Read the full Microsoft blog post here: http://bit.ly/1Klwhfg

Azure Hybrid Use Rights

From 1 February 2016, organisations with Windows Server licenses with SA can make use of the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit.

Called “HUB” for short, this brand new benefit means that you can procure an Azure virtual machine without Windows Server and can then assign an existing Windows Server licence to it.

Even more interestingly, if you have Datacenter licences then they can be assigned to on-premises AND Azure virtual machines, while you need to make the choice of either on-premises OR Azure virtual machines for Standard. A single Processor-based licence will allow you to use Windows Server on up to 16 cores in Azure.

Get the full wording on page 50 of the February 2016 Product Terms.

November 2015 Visual Studio Licensing Guide

There were some changes to Visual Studio licensing in November 2015 and the Licensing Guide is updated to reflect the two main changes: Visual Studio Online is renamed Visual Studio Team Services, and there are now monthly and annual subscriptions available for Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise – the guide does a good job of detailing which MSDN benefits you get with these new subscriptions.

Read our summary of the changes to the licensing here: http://wp.me/p3K5IZ-iF and download the new guide in the Developer Tools section of our Licensing Guides emporium here: http://bit.ly/MSlicensingguides.

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication

There’s now an extra option available for purchasing Azure Multi-Factor Authentication and it’s added to the January 2016 Product Terms document (page 53) as a user-licensed product available through Volume Licensing programs. The other options are to pay for it out of Azure Monetary Commitment on either a consumption basis per 10 authentications or on a per user basis with an unlimited number of authentications allowed per month. This page is a good resource: http://bit.ly/1JUVugq.

Shared Computer Activation for Service Provider’s shared servers

In September 2014, Microsoft introduced Shared Computer Activation (SCA) so that Office 365 ProPlus could be installed on a server and then used by users with shared hardware.

There were restrictions on the server which was used – if it wasn’t a customer-owned server then it had to be a Service Provider server dedicated to the customer’s use, or Windows Azure.

From January 2016 the rules have changed, and now shared Service Provider servers are eligible too – as long as the partner meets the requirements to be an “Authorized SCA Partner”.

You can see this change detailed on page 19 of the January 2016 Online Services Terms document, and a great resource for both customers and partners is the SCA site here: http://bit.ly/23675Q0

Licensing School ONLINE: Latest Courses

Back in November 2015 we announced Licensing School ONLINE where we wanted to run proper training courses online. I say “proper” – our goal was to not just offer you presentations, but rather to run fully interactive training sessions that keep you engaged and interested, and end up being a great learning experience.

We started with our SAM MCP preparation course and the feedback was spontaneously fabulous with attendees giving rave reviews. So, we’ve extended our range of courses to include “Buying and Licensing Azure Services” and an online 74-678 Exam Preparation course. Let me explain how this second one will work!

If you do this course with us in-person then it’s an intensive (and fun!) full day, but we wanted a different approach for an online session. So we’ve split the content into three 2-hour sessions and we’ll be running those sessions at different times. There’s “Microsoft Products and their Licensing”, “The Microsoft Volume Licensing Programs” and “SA, Tools, and Exam Tips”. You can attend whichever sessions you want to – they all stand alone, but you’ll get a discount if you sign up for all 3, of course. The first sessions run in early February 2016 – you can find out the exact dates and times below. Costs are £55/$79 per person per session or £125/$189 for all 3 – simply use the discount code ALLMODULES when you book on the SA session and you’ll be charged just £15/$22 for this module.

 

We’ve got further dates for the SAM MCP 70-673 Exam Preparation course too. This is a 2.5 hour session where you’ll receive a workbook to download and complete, as well as 14 days of unlimited support from the trainer via email to assist you with your exam preparation. The next dates are 21 and 22 January 2016 and it’s £65/$99 per person. Register here: http://bit.ly/70-673LSO.

 

And our third online offering is “Buying and Licensing Azure Services” where we’ll teach you everything you need to know about how these slightly mysterious services are licensed and then acquired through the various licensing programs – all of them being slightly different of course! This is a one hour session and the next dates are at the end of January costing £25/$39 per person. Register here: http://bit.ly/AzureLSO.

 

There will, of course, be further sessions available in the near future. If you’ve got a tricky topic you think would make a good session then email us at info@licensingschool.co.uk and we’ll add it to our list!