When it comes to software licensing, most of the time we discuss what you can’t do with the licenses. Today I thought I would touch on what you CAN do with Microsoft licenses as it pertains to the SPLA program. Here’s a list of ways you can take advantage of being a Microsoft hosting partner.
Microsoft is making some licensing changes to address an evolving IT landscape. There are now more devices and means for workers to get their job done than ever – from using iPads on the road, to carrying a desktop in your pocket – and it’s making the complicated world of Microsoft licensing even more complicated.
Which is why Microsoft has drawn a line in the sand with a recent update to the definition of what devices you need to pay for in your volume licensing agreement. Until now, it’s never been crystal clear how to handle the machines that had become a daily part of their IT environment, such as tablets and smartphones, from home or the office.
With the update, Microsoft is now giving us a solid answer – and it may have significant impacts on your licensing costs.
I once had a sales leader say to me “where there is change, there is opportunity.” What we”ve found regarding SQL 2012 is there is a lot of confusion around virtualization, how this will affect the datacenter environment, and ultimately how will this affect costs. At the same time, it might mean opportunity!
I wrote in a previous blog post about SQL 2012 in a general sense, and today I would like to review my two reasons on why switching to SQL Enterprise 2012 may be a good move.
Those two things alone “might” be a reason to switch. With unlimited virtualization, you can license every physical core (minimum 4 cores per processor) on the host machine that allow you to spin up as many virtual instances of SQL on that host machine. This is a good move considering the cost of SQL Datacenter 2008R2 was outrageous. The issue now is SQL 2012 is licensed by the core not by the physical processor. For those service providers that built very robust servers with multiple cores this may be a price increase. (Thus, the “might” part in my explanation above in reasons to switch.)
So now that you have unlimited virtualization, what happens if those virtual instances (VM’s) can move from host to host or even across data centers?Theoretically you would need to license those physical hosts right?
To quote ESPN’s Lee Corso… “Not so fast my friend.” [Read more...]
In the last couple of weeks, Microsoft has discreetly made significantly changes both in terms of licensing and pricing that will go into effect on December 1st.
Since Microsoft is not pushing communications of many of these changes directly to end customers, the supporting info is limited and requires walking through MS pricelists, updated Product Use Rights (PUR), and Partner FAQs. Below are some of the highlights coming in December.
I highly recommend you touch base with your Softchoice Account Manager and dedicated Softchoice Microsoft Specialist to better understand how these changes will impact your organization along with developing options to best mitigate additional & unforeseen costs.
All Microsoft Server-CAL Products Affected (Documented in Partner FAQ and will be visible on December price-list available November 1st)
Microsoft believes it is time to take these steps with respect to the user CALs. The market has changed in the last decade and users are working from many different devices today. Here are the three primary drivers of increased value for customers in the user CAL. [Read more...]
Microsoft Lync is a powerful collaborative and communication tool used by both small and enterprise organizations to improve productivity and manage costs.
One of the most interesting aspects of Lync is its ability to introduce a whole new range of ways for people to connect and share using its IM and Presence capabilities. The challenge however, is to ensure that the IM and Presence features are well understood before deployment, so that organizations gain the best business advantage from their Lync deployment.
To learn more about Microsoft Lync and its great collaborative features, register for our upcoming webinar hosted by our team of Microsoft Professionals who will discuss:
- Best practices and recommendations learned from our extensive experience designing and managing hundreds of unified communication implementations
- Answers to common questions around Lync, IM and Presence
- The how-to’s of integrating Lync with legacy PBXs
- The Basics of SIP Trunking –a primer for the future
The webinar will be followed by a Q&A so you will have an opportunity to discuss your unique challenges with our Microsoft experts. Register Now!
Over the past couple of years, we’ve completed many Microsoft Lync deployments for customers all over North America, and in each engagement, we’ve found that a few common questions around Lync, IM and Presence always come up. We thought we’d compile four of the most common questions and answers for you here, to make your Lync deployment easier, so here they are:
Confused about how the new licensing model for Windows Server 2012 works? Rest easy! The Softchoice Microsoft team has identified six key things you need to know regarding the changes, and how they’ll impact you.
Because the general release of Server 2012 is slated for September 2012, we’re encouraging all our customers to reach out to our Microsoft specialists as soon as possible. They’ll provide insight into how Software Assurance can ensure you step up your current editions now – while the opportunity is still available.
Here are the 6 Things You Should Know:
1) Changes to Windows Server Editions
Windows Server 2012 is now only available in two types of editions: Standard and Datacenter. When it comes to determining which edition is best for your enterprise, there’s one key word on everyone’s lips: virtualization.
Both Standard and Datacenter editions provide the same set of features (including high availability features like failover clustering); the only thing that differentiates the editions is the number of Virtual Machines (VMs) being used. If your strategy calls for a highly virtualized environment, Datacenter edition provides you with optimum flexibility since it allows for unlimited virtualization.
If you aren’t ready to heavily virtualize your environment, a Standard edition license entitles you to run up to two VMs on up to two processors.
2) Streamlined Licensing Model for Core Infrastructure
In short, we feel this new model provides an easier assessment and management of your server environment. Here’s why:
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