Microsoft announce plans to deliver commercial cloud services from data centres in multiple cities within the UK, with Azure and Office 365 available in late 2016 and Dynamics CRM Online shortly afterwards.
The Microsoft Cloud will also be available in Germany during the second half of 2016 where access to customer data will be controlled by a Data Trustee under German Law.
See the announcement here: http://bit.ly/20UNcuf.
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.
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.
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.
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
The MPSA Licensing Manual is updated for some of the key changes that have happened recently.
This August 2015 document includes text on page 4 that confirms that there are no minimums when purchasing Azure consumption services through the MPSA, and there’s an extremely useful paragraph at the top of page 6 that details how the new multi-year duration options work.
Essentially, certain Online Services are available to order up to the second or third Purchasing Account Anniversary and subsequent orders of the same service need to align to the original multi-year order, but are eligible for best price protection too.
Get the document here: http://bit.ly/1QfuR3U.
If you want to share Office applications from the cloud then there’s a good article from Microsoft that explains how you need to license this scenario.
Essentially you need an Office 365 ProPlus subscription and an Azure RemoteApp USL – note that a traditional Office Professional Plus 2016 licence isn’t an option.
The article also covers notions such as shared computer activation, Visio and Project, and an overview of how you get started with Office 365 and Azure RemoteApp. It’s definitely worth a read – find it here: http://bit.ly/1MpF6lB.
The Microsoft Azure Cost Estimator tool is updated for July 2015. This is a nice tool for helping you to estimate the cost of running an environment in Microsoft Azure. You can scan your on-premises environment to create an estimate or create a completely customised scenario.
Download the tool here: http://bit.ly/1MjzWs5.
The License Verification Form is used to record which server application licences with SA have been assigned to Azure virtual machines or to Service Provider’s shared hardware.
The latest form is dated June 2015 and has been updated for Skype for Business: http://bit.ly/1E6vPsV.
If you want to learn more about the whole licence verification process then this customer guide is a useful resource: http://bit.ly/1o9hNAQ.
Customers can now buy Azure consumption services through the MPSA paying for what they use quarterly in arrears, rather than making an upfront monetary commitment as EA customers do.
Later in the year, on 1st September, customers will also be able to buy the Enterprise Cloud Suite (currently only available through the EA) and to purchase certain Online Services subscriptions in one, two or three year durations – all with price protection.
Get the background in this Microsoft blog post: http://bit.ly/1V2eThL.