Microsoft remind us that Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) Web Protection Services will end on 31 December 2015.
This article (http://bit.ly/1X0i2wT) confirms that there will be no further updates to this URL filtering/categorisation service beyond this date but that the gateway product itself, Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, will remain under extended support until 14 April 2020.
The article also has a link if you’re interested in how to move from TMG to newer solutions.
A Server and Cloud Enrolment requires commitment across your installed base of a particular product – SQL Server for example. If you haven’t got SA to renew, then you need to buy licences with Software Assurance for all of your servers – which can, of course, be expensive.
An alternative is to buy Subscription licences. But, do you get the same SA benefits for those Subscription licences as you do for the L&SA purchases? You do, and there’s new confirmation in the November 2015 Product Terms document – see page 31 for example.
Microsoft announce new ways for customers to acquire Office 365, Power BI and CRM Online.
Firstly, there will be a CRM Online Professional Add-on to Office 365 E3, E5 and Business Premium, which will cost $50 per user per month.
Then we can also expect to see a new, low-cost Employee Self-Service licence for CRM Online.
You can find the announcement, along with information on the new features of CRM 2016, here: http://bit.ly/1GTderi.
There’s a new publication from Licensing School!
If you want to know how the Azure Services are licensed and purchased through the EA, SCE and MPSA then this is a must-have booklet.
It’s available on all Amazon sites in Kindle format now, and as a printed book on the UK site – expect to see it in other geographies later in the week. http://bit.ly/LessonsInLicensing.
Usually when Microsoft launch a new flavour of Windows the previous version is available preinstalled on new machines for at least another two years. It’s different with Windows 10!
Windows 7 Professional will be available until 31 October 2016 (4 years after the launch of Windows 8) while Windows 8.1 will also be available until 31 October 2016 but that’s a mere 15 months after the launch of Windows 10.
The end of Windows 8 comes even quicker at 30 June 2016. Microsoft’s Windows lifecycle fact sheet has all the details: http://bit.ly/1MGslQR.
The October 2015 Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter is out.
There are two things of particular note if licensing is your thing; firstly, there’s a recap of the news that Microsoft will soon allow customers to bring their own Windows Server and Windows 10 licences to Azure, and the FAQ is worth a look (http://bit.ly/1jeqDj6).
Then there’s an announcement of a new digital workshop if you want to gain a better understanding of the CSP licensing model which is free for partners to register for (http://bit.ly/1k4TzdG).
Sign up for this free monthly newsletter here: http://bit.ly/1iVEvxV.
From November 1st there are Bridge CALs available for Open Value customers.
When do you need a Bridge CAL? Well, if you’ve got an enterprise wide commitment to Office and a CAL Suite but want to transition to either EMS or Office 365 then you need a way to continue to pay for the on-premises components that haven’t transitioned – and that’s the Bridge CAL. They’ve been available in the Enterprise Agreement for a few years and now Open Value customers are able to buy them too.
See page 14 of the November 2015 Product Terms document.
Azure consumption services were made available through the Open programs from 1 August 2014 where you buy a $100 (or equivalent) token upfront to consume services against.
This Azure in Open FAQ contains some interesting facts:
Find the full FAQ here: http://bit.ly/1HdqBwY.
The Home Use Program marketing site is updated for Office 2016. This is where you’ll find presentations to learn about HUP whether you’re a user, executive or Benefits Administrator, and also where you can download marketing materials such as flyers, newsletters and web banners to help you promote HUP in your organisation.
Find this useful site here – http://bit.ly/1WgyuZi – and choose your language and country at the right hand side.
There’s an updated CRM Server 2015 Licensing Guide for October 2015 with three sections added.
The first is on Licence Mobility with confirmation (as usual) that you need SA on CALs as well as the Server licences to use VL licences on a partner-hosted infrastructure or Azure.
The second section is Azure-specific and states that CRM Online users may also access CRM Server running on Azure.
And finally there’s an Additional Software section which explains that a Marketing Connector and Reporting Extensions are provided as part of a CRM Server licensed solution.
We’ve put all the Microsoft Licensing Guides here: bit.ly/MSlicensingguides