Tag: Microsoft Software Assurance

Microsoft Dropping Support for Medium and Small Businesses
Tim HegedusMicrosoft, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Unified Support, Uncategorized

Microsoft will no longer offer direct support for medium and small businesses with Software Assurance spends below $250,000 per year Larger organizations who have a Software Assurance spend of $250,000 or more annually will be compelled to go to Unified Support. Smaller organizations will have to make do with partner support, unless they forego support altogether. “Sometime in 2023” (that’s a direct quote from Microsoft), incident-based support will be replaced with as-needed support. Microsoft will also offer credits toward Unified […]

Microsoft licensing lessons learned – Mobility, BYOD and Desktop Virtualization?
Tim HegedusBYOD, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, VirtualizationLeave a Comment on Microsoft licensing lessons learned – Mobility, BYOD and Desktop Virtualization?

Neither BYOD and/or desktop virtualization are inherently bad. If the funding is there for the correct licensing and the benefits of improved security and device and account management are realized, these approaches can be quite favorable to you. Server virtualization is the generally accepted standard, the dominant model if you will. Today’s servers are far too massive, far too dense for single applications and perhaps more importantly, far too massive and dense for licensing. Microsoft has moved towards its Core […]

The limitations of License Mobility
Tim HegedusMicrosoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, SQLLeave a Comment on The limitations of License Mobility

Microsoft’s Product Use Rights state very clearly that you may not reassign licenses on a short-term basis (within 90 days of the last assignment). However, licenses can be reassigned sooner if the licensed device or server is retired due to a permanent hardware failure. That’s a constraining and very strict rule that talks about when the 90-day time frame is set aside and it talks specifically about hardware failure. Given the strictness of that rule, without License Mobility you could […]

Microsoft Audits – What is worth fighting for?
Tim HegedusMicrosoft, Microsoft Audit, Software audit, software licenseLeave a Comment on Microsoft Audits – What is worth fighting for?

Most common questions we get during a Microsoft Audit: What are the primary points to negotiate with the supplier or their agent when an audit notice is received? What are the points to fight for? What are the points that are most important?   There are many, many moving parts involved in a Microsoft audit because of the many and varied products, license metrics, volume license programs, and Software Assurance considerations. There is a central set of principles in responding to […]

What is License Mobility – Microsoft’s “reassignment rule”
Tim HegedusMicrosoft, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Software AssuranceLeave a Comment on What is License Mobility – Microsoft’s “reassignment rule”

License Mobility refers to the ability to move virtual instances from host to host and between server farms without the constraints of Microsoft’s license reassignment rule. Microsoft restricts reassigning a license from one server to another or from one device to another more frequently than every 90 days (This is often referred to as Microsoft’s “reassignment rule”). License Mobility is a Software Assurance benefit.

Software assurance versus premier support
Tim HegedusMicrosoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, software licenseLeave a Comment on Software assurance versus premier support

Software Assurance is not support.  Support for software that has been legitimately licensed is a licensing right. You are entitled to support by virtue of purchasing the license. Having said that, there is a connection between Software Assurance and support and it comes from the amount of Software Assurance spend. For each $20,000 in Software Assurance spent for the Server pool which includes Windows Server, SQL Server, CALs, etc., a single support incident is granted (yes, just one).  For the […]

How Microsoft Enterprise Agreements affect SQL upgrades
Tim HegedusMicrosoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Software Assurance, SQLLeave a Comment on How Microsoft Enterprise Agreements affect SQL upgrades

Microsoft offers a trade-in program for the SQL server 2012 licenses. The trade-in takes effect at the renewal of Software Assurance. So that means re-upping, re-enlisting for another term of Software Assurance, which makes this trade-in something less than free. This is not a scenario that never ends. The qualification of licenses ends on April 1, 2015.

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