Tag Archives: Retirement

Upcoming retirement of Power BI Premium capacity

Microsoft announce that Power BI Premium capacity SKUs (the P-SKUs) will be retired in favour of Fabric capacity. New customers will not be able to purchase the P-SKUs after 1 July, 2024, but existing non-EA customers can renew their existing subscriptions until 1 January, 2025 and then (if required) purchase more capacity until the end of the subscription term, and EA customers can, of course, purchase/renew until the end of the EA term. There are no changes to either Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium Per User licensing.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3vLtBq4.

Retirement of Kaizala

Microsoft announce that Kaizala will retire on 31 August, 2023. Unsurprisingly, the recommendation is for customers to move to Teams and all Kaizala Pro capabilities are already in Teams.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3RaB9YU, with useful links for customers who need to make the Kaizala to Teams transition.

Retirement of SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters

Microsoft announce the retirement of SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. Existing users will be fully supported on the platform through February 2025 with the software maintained through SQL Server cumulative updates until that time.

There’s advice for replacement and migration options for customers here: https://bit.ly/35Xiblt, and you can find the retirement announcement here: https://bit.ly/3sMVUjl.

Volume Licensing for Government brochure

If you want an overview of the Volume Licensing agreements available for government customers then you may find this new overview brochure useful.

It covers the agreements available for all sizes of government customers and is up-to-date with changes such as the retirement of the Open License Program announced recently.

Find this brochure here: https://bit.ly/3p5mlN0.

70-705 Retirement date moved to 31 January 2021

At the end of February 2020 Microsoft announced that a number of certifications would retire at the end of June 2020, the 70-705 exam (Designing and Providing Microsoft Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations) amongst them. However, due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus, this retirement date has been moved to 31 January, 2021.

The original post (https://bit.ly/3a4cxun) explains that while the 70-705 exam is retiring it doesn’t expire as a valid qualification and so it’s worth continuing with plans to take the exam if you’ve been studying for it.

The second post (https://bit.ly/2xg6INe) gives practical guidance on how to schedule an online proctored exam, and what to do if exams are cancelled or you have exam vouchers that will expire in the short term.

Retirement of System Center Global Service Monitor

Microsoft announce the retirement of System Center Global Service Monitor. Currently an SA benefit for System Center customers, this service will retire on 7 November, 2018 and customers are recommended to move to web application monitoring capabilities powered by Azure Application Insights. Current GSM customers will be notified of the retirement, and may migrate tests and alert rules to Azure Application Insights at no cost.

Find the announcement and some FAQs here: http://bit.ly/2JeRh9u.