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Confused about Companion Device Licensing? Softchoice can help.

May 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Windows team at Microsoft made a subtle but impactful announcement on April 18th that took some time to acquire traction in the blogosphere. The announcement: The introduction of the Companion Device License (CDL). 

Microsoft subject matter experts at Softchoice are preparing a variety of resources and information for you on this new development to help shed light on what this means. We’ll be digesting what the impact of the CDL will be and how you & your organizations can make preparations in future blog posts.

In the meantime, here’s our review of the basics…

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Filed Under: Licensing, Pricing

SQL EAP Licensing changes now in effect (long term benefits still remain)

April 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Customers who Signed By to April 1st Saw Advantages in EAP Agreement Terms

In a recent survey conducted by Softchoice in March, nearly 70% of customers surveyed had either never heard of an EAP Agreement (Enrollment Application Platform Agreement) or expressed specific interest in learning more. Surprisingly, only 15% of customers were currently leveraging EAP advantages in their organization.

As of April 1st, significant changes took effect with regards to the minimum number of processors required for an initial EAP and not everyone took advantage.

Prior to April 1st, Microsoft outlined a 6 processor requirement to enroll in an EAP and after April 1st, the new EAP requires a 50 core minimum (12.5 processors at an average of 4 cores per processor). This change effectively doubles the amount of processors running SQL needed to get into the enrollment.

If your organization was one of the many who took advantage of an EAP before the licensing changes of SQL 2012 took effect on April 1st, well done!  The decision will yield benefits for years to come.  But what if you didn’t act in time?  SQL 2012 packs many reasons why customers should look to switch or upgrade.  The EAP is still the best purchasing vehicle for customer running SQL and should be investigated in most circumstances.

Although we’ve outlined the benefits of an EAP several times with content provided in our SQL 2012 Licensing Field Guide and via our blog in postings like this, here’s a quick recap on how working with an EAP through Softchoice can help you navigate the SQL licensing waters.

What is it? [Read more...]

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Softchoice’s SQL 2012 Field Guide Now Available!

April 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last month Softchoice surveyed our broad base of Microsoft customers to find out more about their interest and readiness to begin a migration to SQL 2012. As a thank you for their participation, we offered them an advance peek at our Softchoice exclusive SQL 2012 Licensing Field Guide. Now available for wide release, we’re posting the Field Guide as a free download to all of our Softchoice followers.

Our ebook includes insight on:

  • Industry trends: What’s affecting our IT environments?
  • Reasons to migrate to SQL 2012: Key benefits for your business
  • What’s new with SQL 2012 Licensing Models & Pricing Changes
  • How Softchoice can help you evaluate your adoption strategy with our SQL TechCheck

Download your complimentary field guide today for key insights into how to best prepare for a migration to SQL 2012.

Filed Under: Business Solutions, Licensing, Pricing, Product Roadmaps Tagged With: , , , ,

All About the Core – Key SQL 2012 Update for SPLA Partners

January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

There’s significant buzz about the updates and changes afoot for SQL 2012, but what does it mean for our SPLA partners?

In general, the key takeaways from this product update include:

  • Replacement of Processor License with Core Licenses
  • Retirement of the Datacenter edition and the Workgroup edition
  • Retirement of SQL Enterprise SAL
  • Introduction of the new Business Intelligence SAL
  • SQL Web remaining with SPLA/Removed for other Microsoft vol. licensing programs

So what does all that mean to you?  Beginning in spring when SQL 2012 launches (or whenever you choose to deploy) you’ll be paying for the power that you need instead of the physical processors.  In addition, SQL Enterprise will offer unlimited virtualization rights. Given how pricey the Datacenter SKU has historically been, this could mean cost savings for service providers that were previously licensing Datacenter.

The new way of licensing SQL 2012 is a bit interesting.  Instead of licensing by the physical processor you will need to license by the core.  The cores will be approximately ¼ of the costs of SQL 2008R2 processor license.  However, there’s a 4 core minimum in order to report this SKU.  In other words, if you have a machine with two cores, you still need to report four cores! 

Here are some simple guidelines:

  1. Count the number of cores on the server
  2. Minimum four core licenses are required per physical processor
  3. Purchase the appropriate number of core licenses for the future
  4. Licenses are sold in packs – each pack includes two core packs. 

The transition process is a bit cloudy, (no pun intended).   One of the key benefits of SPLA is the ability to use the latest version and downgrade to previous SKU. This is an option within the parameters of specific dates:

  • Spring 2012: General availability for SQL 2012
  • January 2013:  SQL 2012 will be available on the SPUR and on the pricelists. There will be two SKUs for each product (1 for SQL 2008R2 and 1 for SQL 2012)
  • Spring 2012 – January 2013: SQL 2008R2 and SQL 2012 will be on the pricelist.  This means if you are not ready to move to 2012, you can continue to license 200R2 in the same fashion you’re doing it today (per physical CPU).  Once you migrate to 2012, you need to adhere to the 2012 use rights and report 2012 SKU.

More information on this coming soon!  Look for another blog post on SQL 2012 as more information becomes available.  If you have a volume licensing agreement, check out the other blogs on this at http://blogs.softchoice.com/microsoftnavigator/2011/11/04/sql-2012-denali-microsoft-outlines-upcoming-licensing-changes/

Filed Under: Licensing, Pricing, SPLA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

System Center 2012 – New Changes for SPLA Partners

January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Recent changes to Microsoft System Center means good news for our SPLA Partners. Microsoft announced a simplified licensing structure that provides more flexibility, particularly for  those with highly virtualized environments.

What’s new?  On the server front, there are now only two editions each with the same feature functionality; Standard and Datacenter.  Pricing has yet to be announced, but rest assured Datacenter will cost a bit more than standard.  Standard will only allow the management of 1 OSE per processor vs. Datacenter which will allow unlimited OSEs (as long as each physical processor is reported).  This is a processor based licensing structure, and all SAL licenses for the server components will be removed for the new model.

There are 3 SKUs for Subscriber Access Licenses (SAL); System Center Configuration Manager (includes virtual machine manager), System Center Client Manger Suite (includes Service Manager, Operations Manager, Data Protection Manager, and Orchestrator), and System Center Endpoint Protection 2012.

More information to come as we get closer to general availability (mid-year 2012).  

For additional information and training support, view:

More to Come!

Filed Under: Licensing, Pricing, SPLA Tagged With: , , ,

How To License SharePoint 2010 Under SPLA

June 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

What products are available and how in the world do you license it? Below is a breakdown on how service providers can utilize SharePoint via the SPLA program.  As always, please follow the SPUR for further clarity and information.  One rule of thumb, if you license SharePoint, you must license Windows and SQL!

SharePoint Foundation

SharePoint Foundation is a free downloadable product but important steps for Service Providers must be followed!   Service providers who are interested in hosting SharePoint Foundation 2010 have to download the bits from a special site and accept the EULA amendment that allows commercial hosting and requires them to report usage if asked by Microsoft. [Read more...]

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