New System Center 2012 R2 Licensing Guide from Microsoft. Three key takeaways: nothing has changed from System Center 2012 licensing (hurrah! but it IS good to have an up-to-date guide), you will need SA on your 2012 licences to move to 2012 R2 (as we’ve come to expect), Azure is called out for public cloud licensing (confirmation that each Azure instance is considered to be one virtual OSE): http://bit.ly/17GwiSB
Changes for SMB Customers Buying Office 365
Again, that very useful Office 365 Microsoft webcast has provided most of the information for this post. View it at http://bit.ly/15elDBr where the SMB-related information starts at 31:28. However, don’t rush off – I’ve summarised the main points here so feel free just to read on.
In summary, there are three key things happening for SMB customers who buy or have bought Office 365. These will be implemented between July and September 2013 so let’s see what’s happening month by month.
July 2013: Easy switching of Office 365 plans
July gave customers who have purchased their Office 365 licences through MOSA the opportunity to switch EASILY between plans. Customers have been able to switch plans in the past but it involved purchasing a new subscription and then cancelling the old one. Now there’s the “Switch plans wizard” which makes a number of upgrades simple to implement. Essentially, the wizard allows customers to switch plans in two key scenarios. Firstly, they can switch between plans in the same service family; for example customers currently subscribed to Office 365 Small Business can move to Office 365 Small Business Premium. Then, secondly, they can move from a standalone plan to an Enterprise plan; for example, from Exchange Online Plan 1 to Office 365 Plan E1. Outside of these scenarios (perhaps moving to a different service family) customers will need to switch manually (without using the wizard), although word has it that more switches will be added to the wizard as 2013 moves on.
I thought these resources were also useful:
Switch plans wizard announcement on Office 365 Technology blog at: http://bit.ly/14LI7Uv
Can I switch to a different Office 365 plan or subscription? FAQ page at: http://bit.ly/13vfRLH
August 2013: Dynamic PINs
August is all about the new Dynamic PIN functionality, and Office 365 M SKUs with this new functionality appeared on the August price lists for the Open, Open Value and Open Value Subscription programs. This new functionality helps customers who order multiple seats (you’d think that would be most customers!), and the example used in the webcast is a good one focussing as it does on a customer who wants to buy 87 seats for the M plan. Previously, the M SKUs within the Volume Licensing programs were associated with a certain number of seats which customers had to combine to end up with the required number. So, our customer wanting his 87 seats would have had to have purchased 1 x 50 seat SKU, 1 x 25 seat SKU, 2 x 5 seat SKUs and 2 x 1 seat SKUs. Now I like all things mathematical but even I can see this is a bit tedious for normal people. So the new and improved way of doing things is to purchase a single subscription which has a single key; that key is linked to the amount of seats ordered and will activate that precise number of seats. Lovely!
September 2013: More enterprise offerings in Open
And what can we look forward to in September? Well, this is the month that some of the most popular Office 365 offerings get added to the Open, Open Value and Open Value Subscription price lists. It won’t just be the M plan anymore, all of the following will be available too:
- Office 365 ProPlus
- Office 365 Plan E1
- Office 365 Plan E3
- Exchange Online Plan 1
- Exchange Online Protection
Office 365 resources and FAQ
Do you need some Office 365 Add-on resources? Microsoft have published a customer-ready deck and an FAQ – get them here: http://bit.ly/14YHxXG
Windows 8.1 availabile 18th October 2013
Microsoft’s Brad Anderson confirms that as well as Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2, and Windows Intune will be available for eligible customers to download on 18 October, 2013 and will be on the November price list: http://bit.ly/1bxXLbZ
Office Mobile for Android phones
Office Mobile for Android phones is now available for UK Office 365 subscribers here: bit.ly/1250Zkv. There’s a good post on the Office 365 blog here: bit.ly/15EC7No.
New datasheet on SCE
Interesting new Enterprise Agreement Server and Cloud Enrolment (SCE) datasheet available. Three key takeaways: this enrolment replaces ECI and EAP (customers can renew into SCE), four components of SCE available individually or grouped (Core Infrastructure, Application Platform, Developer Platform, Windows Azure), available in Q4 2013. http://bit.ly/14Hdgww
July 2013 PUR updated re licensing options for accessing Project Server 2013. Page 36.
The July 2013 PUR is updated so that a Project Online User SL or a Project Pro for Office 365 User SL are valid licensing options for accessing Project Server 2013. See page 36.
More on the Office 365 Add-ons
I’ve taken all this information from the Microsoft webcast on this topic at http://bit.ly/15elDBr. If you like to learn by watching a video then proceed with all haste to this link. Otherwise read on for the key points which act as a follow on article to my introductory post on this topic.
Program Availability
- The Add-ons will be available through the perpetual EA first, then the program will be extended to the Subscription EA as needed
- There are no changes to the Select Plus program at this point in terms of making these Add-ons available
SKU Notes
- A customer needs either Core CALs or Enterprise CALs as the underlying licences to purchase these Add-ons and in all cases they’ll need to specify whether they are adding to an underlying Device or User CAL. All Add-ons are USLs
- Core CAL customers can choose to add on E1
- Core CAL and Enterprise CAL customers can purchase an E3 or E4 Add-on with or without Office Pro Plus. There is obviously be a price difference, and customers are able to mix the Add-ons within their estate
- Note that because the customer is maintaining their full CAL there is no need for a Bridge CAL which is required in a transition for the components that aren’t covered by the Office 365 plan
Transactional Notes
- The Add-ons are Additional Products in the EA, and by default are co-terminous with the EA
- There is no minimum purchase quantity for the Add-ons, and they may be added by the licence reservation process and then reconciled at the anniversary in the usual way
- The Add-ons are valid until the end of the contract; at renewal the customer can move to a full USL (via transition) or they can continue to use Add-ons at renewal
- Customers may mix models (transition and Add-ons) although it’s not necessarily advisable as it may be confusing to manage…!
- The Add-on is added on for the Primary User of the existing underlying licence and is for a single user if there are multiple people using a device; at no time can you have more Add-ons than underlying licences
- The standard Online Services terms remain in place, such as cancellations being allowed within 30 days
Pricing
- All Add-on prices are monthly prices that take into account the customer’s existing investment. In other words, an E1 Add-on USL to Core CAL is cheaper than the full E1 USL for customers who have not invested in Core CAL
- There are different prices for the different EA Levels, as usual
- Customers can add pricing for the Add-ons at any time and if they want locked pricing they should use a Supplemental CPS, as usual
- The Add-on price is the same for L&SA and SA-only EAs
Rights
- If a customer has, for example, the Enterprise CAL Suite with Office Professional Plus and adds on the E3 Add-on then he retains the rights of the Office Professional Plus licence (perhaps continuing to downgrade to Office 2010) AND receives the rights for Office 365 Pro Plus (such as the multiple install rights)
- However, the customer must make sure that there is always the underlying licensing in place for the base EA; so any new Qualified Devices must be covered with their own licences rather than using the multiple install rights of an Office 365 Pro Plus licence assigned to another device. The additional rights should be used (as usual) for non-qualifying devices such as mobile devices or in BYOD scenarios
Free exams to help with 70-671
If you’re studying for your MCP in Volume Licensing for SMBs – that’s exam 70-671 – then test your knowledge with our four prep tests. They cover the Microsoft products, the licensing programs, SA benefits, and tools and resources. If you passed your exam years ago, have a go too – it’s Friday after all! http://bit.ly/15Q9d2U
WS 2012 R2 Licensing Guide out
There’s a good new Windows Server 2012 R2 Licensing Guide available. Three key takeaways: Windows Server 2012 CALs can be used with Windows Server 2012 R2 (which we’d expect), the price of Datacenter edition has increased (now recommend Datacenter edition for customers who have 13 VMs or more running), and the licensing terms have been expanded for virtualisation in Essentials edition (see the FAQ on page 12). Download the guide here: http://bit.ly/1cPL51I