This March 2023 Outsourcing Software Management Licensing Brief brings together information about changes that happened in October 2019 and October 2022. You’ll find information on using licences with Listed Providers and Authorized Outsourcers, as well as the benefits that enable this: the Flexible Virtualization Benefit, License Mobility through SA, and the Azure Hybrid Benefit. Find this Licensing Brief here: http://bit.ly/3T1nxR7.
Tag Archives: Authorized Outsourcers
Windows 11 licensing for Virtual Desktops
There’s an updated (November 2022) “Windows 11 licensing for Virtual Desktops” Licensing Brief from Microsoft with two main changes.
Firstly, there’s the inclusion of the Flexible Virtualization Benefit showing the additional options customers can now have for using Windows 11 virtual machines with an Authorized Outsourcer’s shared hardware.
Secondly, the Qualifying Operating System requirements are updated, removing the need for one when a user is licensed with a Microsoft 365 licence. Find this updated guide here: http://bit.ly/3gpVmg7.
Flexible Virtualization Benefit Licensing Guide
There’s a brand new (October 2022) Licensing Guide for the new Flexible Virtualization Benefit. This allows customers licensed with Software Assurance or Software Subscriptions to use their licences with Authorized Outsourcers’ shared servers. The guide contains an overview of the benefit itself, a definition of Authorized Outsourcers, and details about using the benefit with SQL Server, Windows Server, and the desktop products. There are also FAQ and Resources sections at the end.
Find this new guide here: https://bit.ly/3T1kDe5.
Flexible Virtualization benefit and Windows Server VM licensing
Microsoft announce that there will be two significant licensing changes coming in October 2022.
Firstly, the outsourcing terms will be expanded via the Flexible Virtualization benefit which will allow customers to use their eligible licences with any Authorized Outsourcer’s shared hardware. Eligible licences are licences purchased through a Volume Licensing agreement with active Software Assurance, or Server Subscriptions purchased through CSP, and Authorized Outsourcers are any partners offering hosted solutions – apart from the Listed Providers (Alibaba, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft).
The second change is an additional licensing option for Windows Server for customers with active SA or Server Subscriptions: rather than being restricted to licensing the whole physical server, these customers will be able to choose to license at the virtual machine level – both in their own data centres or with an Authorized Outsourcer.
For more information, see the partner announcement here: https://bit.ly/3wFgQdw, or the customer announcement here: https://bit.ly/3CF8eaT.