There’s an updated (March 2017) Downgrade Rights Volume Licensing Brief from Microsoft. The main update is for Windows Server 2016 with useful tables showing downgrade and down edition rights with the all important reminder of which use rights govern a deployment.
Find this updated Volume Licensing Brief in our Licensing Guides emporium – in the Desktop or Core Infrastructure section: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
Microsoft announce the retirement of multi-year duration options for Online Services purchased through the MPSA.
This means that customers purchasing new licences for Online Services will pay upfront for a maximum of 12 months.
Existing customers aren’t affected if they already have multi-year subscriptions in place.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2o7R1xO.
There’s an updated (March 2017) Premium Assurance datasheet from Microsoft. Premium Assurance allows you to add 6 more years of product support to SQL or Windows Server licences with active SA.
There’s a phased pricing model – the later you purchase Premium Assurance, the more expensive it is. The main adjustment to this datasheet is the inclusion of a TCO example showing that if you want to maintain product support for Windows Server until December 2026 it’s actually more cost effective to start paying in March 2017 rather than March 2020.
Find it here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
There’s an updated (April 2017) Azure Hybrid Use Benefit datasheet from Microsoft, where you’ll find amended pricing information and the latest details on how to activate the benefit.
Find this datasheet in the Core Infrastructure section of our Licensing Guides store: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
There’s a new (April 2017) Azure Hybrid Use Benefit FAQ from Microsoft. It’s a jolly useful document with information on the three ways to use the benefit, the different Marketplace gallery images that are available, and a host of other interesting questions.
Find it in the Core Infrastructure section of our Licensing Guides emporium: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
Microsoft announce some additions to the components of the Office 365 K1 plan. In the coming weeks K1 users can expect to get access to this new set of capabilities: Microsoft StaffHub, OneDrive for Business, Skype for Business presence and instant messaging, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Video, Microsoft PowerApps, and Microsoft Flow.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2odr8zb.
There are some changes to Office 365 E5 components announced by Microsoft. First of all, there’s a new component – Office 365 Advanced Compliance – which is available as a standalone plan or included in Office 365 E5. This now gathers together Office 365 Advanced eDiscovery and Customer Lockbox (previously available as standalone plans) and the brand-new Office 365 Advanced Data Compliance functionality which, as Microsoft puts it: “applies machine learning to help customers find and retain important data while eliminating trivial, redundant and obsolete data that could cause risk if compromised.”
Then there’s the new Office 365 Threat Intelligence functionality, also available as a standalone plan or as a component of Office 365 E5. And what’s this? Well, there’s a dashboard to help customers understand the threat landscape for their organisation, and integration with other Office 365 security features to provide an analysis that includes the top targeted users, malware frequency, as well as security recommendations related to a particular organisation.
Find the Microsoft announcement with plenty of links to other information here: http://bit.ly/2nYhPBe.
Microsoft announce new backup options for Azure Windows Server virtual machines. If you’ve got an on-premises Windows server farm then new Cloud License for On-premises Windows Networks (CLOWN) rights allow you to run a backup of the Azure virtual machine on your own Windows Server hardware.
Find the announcement about these new CLOWN rights here: http://bit.ly/AprilFool2017.
Microsoft announce an updated SAM MCP exam: 70-713 Software Asset Management (SAM) – Core. See the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2njGGAN and find the full exam info page here: http://bit.ly/2njMRVj.
If you want to know when we’re running courses to help you to prepare for and pass this exam then email info@licensingschool.co.uk.
There’s an Azure TCO Calculator from Microsoft in preview so that you can evaluate potential cost savings if you migrate on-premises application workloads to Azure. You specify the details of your existing infrastructure, various cost assumptions you want the tool to work with, and then you’re given a report that shows on-premises v Azure costs breakdown summaries.
Find the tool here: http://bit.ly/2nmH2qS.