Keeping up with changes to Microsoft product terms is a full time job! In this article Rich Gibbons provides an update to the key changes for January and February 2017.
Microsoft Product Terms changes – January 2017
System Center Client Management Suite
This license was a bundle which contained the client licenses of four System Center products:
Data Protection Manager
Operations Manager
Service Manager
Orchestrator
And customers who wished to manage clients such as desktops and laptops with any of those products would purchase this bundled license. This license has been removed from the January 2017 Product Terms and instead the 4 components are now licensed separately with individual CMLs (Client Management Licenses) available per User or per OSE (Operating System Environment).
For organisations who want just one or two of the component licenses, this change may be welcomed as the can now purchase just the licenses they require. However, for those who make use of all the bundled components, this will make licensing a little more complicated and also perhaps more expensive.
Product Name Changes
Two products had their names changed in the January 2017 Product Terms:
Operations Management Suite (OMS) is now known as Operations Management and Security
Office 365 Advanced eDiscovery is now known as Office 365 Advanced Compliance
This doesn’t impact features or licensing, it is simply Microsoft aligning some of their naming conventions across their product families.
Microsoft Product Terms changes -February 2017
Product Terms
New license Additions
February 2017 sees three new additions to the Product Terms document:
Windows VDA Per User Add-on (to VDA per device)
This means that organisations licensed with VDA per device licenses now have the option to purchase VDA Per User add-on licenses; something which has been available with Windows 10 volume licenses for some time. This gives them the ability to license Per-User, without altering their base license position.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan 1 Enterprise Edition Add-on
This add-on license allows organisations licensed with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to add-on the functionality of Dynamics 365, without altering their base license position. The following are qualifying licenses for this:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Basic CAL
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales On-premises CAL
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Service On-premises CAL
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional CAL
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan 1 Enterprise Edition From SA
From SA licenses “may be purchased instead of SA for fully paid, perpetual Licenses with active SA”, enabling organisations to move to Microsoft Cloud services whilst having their investment in on-premises SA recognised in the pricing. The following are qualifying licenses for this:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Basic CAL
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales On-premises CAL
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Service On-premises CAL
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional CAL
License Removal
Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise
This Operating System edition was designed for business smartphones and small tablets, and offered via Volume Licensing.
Online Service Terms
There are some important Dynamics 365 clarifications:
External Users using Microsoft Dynamics 365 clients with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Services need an SL to access the Online Service; except for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operation which does not require External Users to have an SL.
Users or devices that do not have Software Assurance on CALs may not access new versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premise Server.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Edition Customers do not have the right to install and use the Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises Server software.
Microsoft drop Pay As You Go Azure via MPSA
Microsoft have announced that from February 1, 2017, Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Azure will no longer be available via the MPSA (Microsoft Products and Services Agreement) to new customers.
Organisations looking to begin purchasing Azure in a PAYG model will now be directed towards the CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) program for their Azure needs; however, those already purchasing in this way via an MPSA agreement will be able to continue to do so.
Please note that PAYG Azure is still available via the Enterprise Agreement (EA) and also via the Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP), the online direct model. This change impacts only the MPSA.
Keep an eye out for future ITAM Review posts and webinars which will look at the CSP program in more depth, to help you understand how and where it may fit in to your IT purchasing strategy.
What is the Microsoft Product Terms document?
Published each month, the Microsoft Product Terms document contains the terms and conditions relating to Microsoft’s Volume Licensing products – things like through which agreements they’re available, how software can be deployed and what can be done with each product. These things used to be covered in two documents – the Product List and the Product Use Rights – but since July 2015, they have been combined into the Product Terms.
Each month the document is updated to reflect the addition of new products, the removal of old products and any changes to use rights for these products. There are two other related documents too:
Online Service Terms (OST)
Service Provider Use Rights (SPUR)
Which perform similar roles specifically for Online Services and SPLA agreements.
These documents can all be downloaded here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Licensing/product-licensing/products.aspx
However, keeping up to date with changes made to these documents can be difficult and, even if you do spot a change, understanding the implications of that change for your environment isn’t always easy.
Here at ITAM Review, we will aim to keep you updated on the main changes each month and give a high level overview of what these may mean for organisations like yours. For more specific advice, please contact me on rich.gibbons@itassetmanagement.net
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