Microsoft Licensing

Microsoft LICENSING FOR A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

As virtualisation is an important and growing trend, and as many UK organisations are now incorporating virtual solutions within their IT infrastructures, Microsoft has been adapting its licensing models over the last couple of years so that they translate effectively in the new virtualised world.

From a licensing perspective, virtual solutions can be an attractive proposition. In some cases, one licence gives you the right to run one host operating system and unlimited virtual operating systems, so virtualisation can help you to stretch your IT budget that little bit further.

For a better understanding of Microsoft's Server Product Licensing in a virtual environment and advice on how best to remain compliant, contact your Phoenix Account Manager on 0845 265 1265.

Microsoft Open Value Programme

The Open Value programme is for small to medium-sized organisations with at least five desktop PCs to use and manage Microsoft software licences under a single agreement. Open Value offers simplified licence management, better control over the upgrade cycle and more predictable software costs annually.

The Open Value programme offers perpetual licences, which are everlasting and valid if the licensed product is being used in accordance with the licence-agreement requirements. Open Value programme customers own their licences and have perpetual use of the licensed products under their agreements as of the time the licences are acquired.

In addition to the two predefined desktop platforms - Microsoft Professional Desktop Platform and Microsoft Small Business Desktop Platform - the Open Value programme now offers a customised "build your own platform" model that will help give customers the flexibility they want without increasing complexity. Customers can mix and match products from the three desktop platform groups:

• Windows Desktop Operating System Licences
• Microsoft Office System Licences
• Server Client Access Licence (CAL) Suites

Initial order

For most products, customers who choose the non-company-wide option must acquire a minimum of five licence and Software Assurance packs, one processor licence and Software Assurance pack, or one MSDN subscription licence and Software Assurance pack. . For the company-wide option, customers must acquire a minimum of five licence and Software Assurance packs for one of the desktop platform products for all qualifying desktop PCs in their organisations. Customers can order Software Assurance for licences with current or expiring Software Assurance at any time during the Open Value programme agreement. For company-wide product licences, customers may only renew Software Assurance at the start of the agreement. The standardisation on which the company-wide option is based assumes that customers order Software Assurance for the number of qualified desktop PCs at the initiation of their Open Value company-wide agreement, even if the licences are already covered with Software Assurance through another agreement that has not yet expired.

Additional orders

Subsequent orders can be made until three years after the initial agreement and can be as small as one licence and Software Assurance pack. The price protection that comes with the Open Value programme company-wide option means that the price for desktop platform product licence and Software Assurance packs will not change for the term of the agreement. In addition, acquiring additional licences in the second and third years costs less because Software Assurance is prorated annually. Customers can install and use licensed products on additional desktop PCs as soon as needed, but they must place new orders for additional licensed products when installing and using the products.

Microsoft Open Volume

Open Volume is designed for organisations that want to increase their up-front purchase in one or more product pools to gain deeper savings. The Open Volume option uses a system of product pools and points to establish purchase minimums for discounted prices. With Open Volume, software products are grouped into three product pools - applications, systems and servers. You can combine similar Microsoft software products in the product pools to receive volume pricing discounts.

Purchasing requirements:

• Education - minimum initial purchase, Level B - 150 points
• Business Applications - minimum initial purchase, Level C - 500 points
  

Microsoft Campus Agreement Programme

This programme has been replaced by the Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) Programme. For existing customers who signed up to this Programme, the Campus Agreement will run its course and, at renewal, will be replaced with the EES programme for customers with 1000+ Full-time Employees or with the OVS-ES programme for customers with a lesser FTE count.

Microsoft School Agreement Programme

The School Agreement is for K-12 schools and preschools and makes it easy to license all of a school's computers by counting them just once per year. Through a flexible and simple format, it allows you to choose which products you wish to deploy on your PCs, making it easier for you to licence and distribute software with significant cost savings. There are two pricing levels, Level A = 50 - 2499 unit count and Level B = 2500+ unit count.

Subscription licensing offers many benefits, including:

Easy compliance

Because all of your school's computers are covered throughout the subscription term, it's easy to be sure that your school is fully licensed for the products you've selected.

Low administration

Subscription licensing eliminates the need to track licences for the selected products on every computer. This is especially helpful for managing software assets in a decentralised environment.

Stay current on technology

Subscription licensing allows your licensed users to run the most current version of the software products included in your subscription. Plus, your school automatically receives installation media for application and system products that upgrade during your licensed term.

Simple budgeting and purchasing

One annual payment covers all of the products you have selected for the year.

Excellent value

By standardising on a platform of products, you reduce your total cost of software ownership while increasing productivity and access to current technology. Software Assurance Membership - including support resources, tools, and eLearning courses - is included with your licence coverage at no additional charge.

MICROSOFT SUBSCRIPTION ENROLMENT FOR SCHOOLS PILOT (SESP)

This programme has been replaced by the Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) Programme. For existing customers who signed up to this Programme, the SESP Agreement will run its course and, at renewal, will be replaced with the EES programme for customers with 1000+ Full-time Employees or with the OVS-ES programme for customers with a lesser FTE count.

microsoft Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES)

Microsoft's Enrolment for Education Solutions is an easy, cost-effective offer that provides qualified academic customers a simplified way to acquire Microsoft software and services under a single, subscription enrolment. EES offers benefits such as assured coverage for desktop platform products with one annual count of employees, the ability to easily add additional products in any quantity, self-service tools for simplified asset management, and immediate access to benefits such as product upgrades through Microsoft Software Assurance so you can boost the productivity of your faculty and staff and optimise the return on your technology investments. EES offers participating institutions the benefits of the following:

• Easy Compliance: Through the simplicity and predictability of counting FTE employees just once per year you can be confident you are fully covered for the desktop platform products you've selected regardless of yearly fluctuations in employees or devices.
• Customised Solutions: Easily add additional products either organisation-wide, department-wide, or for individual licences at any time during your subscription term so you can deliver the right mix of technology and services to your faculty, staff, and students.
  • A broad selection of Microsoft software products, such as Microsoft Office Visio drawing and diagramming software, Microsoft Office Project, Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), the Windows Server operating system, and Microsoft Exchange Server are available as Additional Products through EES.
  • Student Licensing options are also available and provide a convenient and cost-effective way for you to license software and services for your students so they may collaborate easily and have access to the software they need.
• Simplified Asset Management: Self-service tools such as the Volume Licensing Service Centre enable you to easily track and manage your software assets and Software Assurance benefits from one convenient, online location.
• Low Administration: Subscription licensing eliminates the need to track licences for the selected desktop platform products on every PC which enables your IT staff to be more productive as they no longer have to track multiple licences across the institution.
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership: Realise the maximum value from your licensing investment with included benefits such as access to current technology, Work at Home Rights for faculty and staff, product evaluation rights, Software Assurance for Microsoft Volume Licensing and Microsoft Live@edu.

Enrolment Features

Easy compliance and administration

When you licence the desktop platform products or any additional products for use on all of the organisation-owned or leased devices within the participating institution, your administrators and users know that the product use is covered. Although you report a faculty/staff FTE employee count when submitting your annual order, all institution-owned or leased devices are licensed to run all products you choose to license institution-wide, during the subscription year. Any new faculty or staff members added to the participating institution are licensed to use the devices running the licensed products.

Your students can also use the licensed product on institution-owned or leased devices located in classrooms or open access labs. To license your students for running products on a device the student either personally owns or is institution-owned and is designated for an individual student's exclusive use, you may enrol in the Student Option (see The Student Option).

Software Assurance

Software Assurance is a comprehensive maintenance offering. It offers a broad range of benefits that help you get the most out of your software licence purchases. These benefits are available throughout the software management life cycle, so you can access them when you need them. Software Assurance benefits contribute to the return on your technology investment by helping you with budget predictability, minimised downtime, and improved productivity. Software Assurance can help you lower the operating expenses for employee development, deployment, and support costs. This programme also offers other advantages, depending on how you activate and use the benefits.

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Programme

A premium Volume Licensing programme aimed at larger organisations which make a strategic choice to deploy Microsoft technology as their enterprise standard.

• Comprehensive benefits through Software Assurance, a maintenance programme that includes new version rights, training, and technical support.
• Three-year term, with three-year renewal option to maintain benefits
• Convenient access to software, worldwide coverage with automatic upgrades
• Annual Payment option

Enrolment for Core Infrastructure

For enterprise customers seeking a well-managed core infrastructure, the Enrolment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) offers an easy and cost-efficient way to license the Windows Server operating system, Microsoft System Centre management and Microsoft Forefront Client Security together in a per-processor licence. The Core Infrastructure Server Suites - available in Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard editions - help customers simplify licensing reduce product acquisition costs, reduce operational costs, manage their core infrastructure more efficiently and enable new business scenarios.

Enrolment for Application Platform

The Enrolment for Application Platform (EAP) is the most flexible and cost-effective way for customers to standardise on the Application Platform. Customers can license any one of following products under the EAP: Microsoft SQL Server data management software, Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (no CALs) and Microsoft Visual Studio development system.

EAP is an enrolment to an EA and gives you a simplified Microsoft Volume Licensing solution that helps accelerate deployment and reduce operational costs by:

• Lowering up-front costs so that you can take advantage of the latest product innovations by deferring the licence cost for units that were not covered by Microsoft Software Assurance at the time you enrol in the programme
• Lowering ongoing costs for new deployments with price savings of up to 40% on new licence costs
• Helps increase IT productivity with Unlimited Problem Resolution Support for eligible customers
• Offering a flexible licensing model - choice of One-Year True-up or Three-Year True-up - to meet your licensing needs

Enterprise Enrolment for Desktop Platform

A premium Volume Licensing programme for large customers with more than 250 PCs who make a strategic choice to deploy Microsoft technology as their enterprise standard.

• Comprehensive benefits through Software Assurance, a maintenance programme that includes new version rights, training, and technical support.
• Three-year term, with three-year renewal option to maintain benefits
• Convenient access to software, worldwide coverage with automatic upgrades
• Option to pay annually for Office 2007, Windows Vista, and/or a Core CAL for all client PCs and the rights to run the software for as long as needed (perpetual) or only during the term of the agreement with Microsoft (subscription).
• Microsoft Windows Professional Desktop Operating System Upgrade.
• Cost amortised in annual payments over the three-year term. Price levels based on the number of qualified computers in the enterprise:
  • Level A: 250 - 2,399 computers
  • Level B: 2,400 - 5,999 computers
  • Level C: 6,000 - 14,999 computers
  • Level D: 15,000+ computers

Microsoft Select Licence Programme

The Select Licence Programme is designed for corporate, government and academic organisations that have 250 or more desktop PCs and mixed product and purchasing requirements. Each product offering (Licence, Software Assurance and L&SA) is assigned specific point values to determine price levels. Points are calculated based on three product pools, with a minimum three-year forecast of points to be acquired for each price level: Level A: 1,500 - 11,999 points, Level B: 12,000 - 29,999 points, Level C: 30,000 - 74,999 points, Level D: 75,000+ points.

Benefits of Select Licence

• An incentive-based price structure that helps you get the best price based on your organisation's technology needs and volume of purchase.
  
• An annual payment plan if you add Microsoft Software Assurance at the time of purchase. Software Assurance helps you increase business productivity by ensuring access to the most current Microsoft products and solutions and by maximizing the skills and capabilities of your organisation's IT staff and end users through training and support.
  
• A flexible, pay-as-you-go purchasing model that gives you the freedom to purchase the software licences you need, when you need them, so you can start using the software immediately.
  
• Access to Microsoft Volume Licence Services (MVLS), a password-protected, secure Web site that offers electronic access to purchase history, order confirmations, and other helpful resources that help you manage your licences with ease and confidence.
  
• Instant access to hundreds of software titles through media kits so that you can easily evaluate, deploy, and train employees.
  

Microsoft Select Plus Overview

Based on customer research, Select Plus is designed for large organisations with multiple affiliates that want to purchase software licences and services at any business unit level while still getting the advantages of being a single organisation.

For example, if your company has several affiliates in different locations, Select Plus enables your affiliates to take advantage of price-level adjustments that are based on the actual purchase volume for your entire organisation. The affiliate registration form is just one page, so it is fast and simple to register each affiliate. With Select Plus, your company and its affiliates can purchase software licences any time, easing IT planning and deployment as your business needs change. In addition, the Select Plus agreement never expires.

The top five reasons to choose Select Plus include:

1. Superior value. A single, enterprise-wide contract offers the same pricing level for all business units.
   
2. Excellent benefits. Add Microsoft Software Assurance to your agreement for up to 36 months and receive an annual payment plan.
   
3. Perpetual agreement. Keep renewals at the IT budget level rather than the boardroom level.
   
4. Flexible structure. Purchase the software licences you need, when you need them, so that you can start using the software immediately.
   
5. Better insight. Clearly see your entire licence portfolio so it's easy to support asset management and reporting for all business units.

Compare Select Plus and Select Licence

Review the following feature comparison to help you determine whether Select Plus or Select Licence is right for your business.

Feature	Select Plus	Select Licence
Ordering	Customer ID represents a single business entity	Enrollment number represents one or more businesses; enrollment number expires
Asset Management	All assets across the enterprise are tracked by using a single Customer ID Licences and Software Assurance benefits can be managed across all affiliates under one business entity	All assets are managed under one agreement number
Term	Agreement never expires	Three-year enrollment Three-year Master Agreement
Programme Qualification Per Pool	Qualify with an existing Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Subscription Agreement, or Campus and School Agreement Qualify with a Volume Licensing agreement No minimum entry level	Provide a forecast Qualify with an existing Enterprise Agreement; price level is set and compliance is waived
Purchase Minimum & Compliance	Purchase minimums are waived for customers with an active Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Subscription Agreement, or Campus and School Agreement Compliance: Level A: No purchase minimum for level A, if 500 points are not achieved by the end of the first year the agreement will be placed on hold. The agreement can be reactivated with a 500 point order Level B-D: If minimum is not met, price is lowered by one level	Purchase minimums are waived for customers with an active Enterprise Agreement or Enterprise Subscription Agreement Compliance: 1,500 points per pool over three years Price can be lowered multiple levels in a single compliance check

Licence Mobility through Software Assurance

Licence Mobility through Software Assurance is an exclusive benefit which lets you deploy certain server application licences on-premises or in the cloud in a shared hardware environment with the ability to assign existing licences to an authorised Service Provider. This gives you a deployment choice between on-premises and any authorised Service Provider's shared data centre to help lower cloud infrastructure costs by letting the Service Provider use SA customers' existing licences.

Click here for further information on the benefits of Software Assurance