New – Software Assurance 24×7 Problem Resolution Support incidents won’t be allocated starting February 1, 2023.
Current – Software Assurance 24×7 Problem Resolution Support incidents can be used or transferred to a Microsoft Support contract before February 1,
For those organizations who still have legacy deployments of Windows Server and/or SQL Server, time is running out. Microsoft has published its schedule for Extended Security Updates or “ESUs”. Products End of Extended Support/ESU Start Date ESU End Date Year 1 ESU End Date Year 2 ESU End Date Year 3 Type of Security Update SQL Server 2008/R2 (Enterprise, Standard, Datacenter, Web, Workgroup)* 7/9/2019 7/14/2020 7/13/2021 7/12/2022 Critical SQL Server 2012 7/12/2022 7/11/2023 7/9/2024 7/8/2025 Critical Windows Server 2008/R2 (Datacenter, […]
By now, the ideas of virtualization, the cloud, and connected applications are mature. While the providers of these solutions try to get you to come to them, there is something holding this endeavor back. Perhaps, it’s security. And we’ve covered that. To recap, many cloud-based services are even more secure than your own set up. They must be. Because beyond the financial harm that could come their way, there is ever present risk to their reputation should their services be […]
While not naming names, it is important to understand how non-Microsoft product support works. Non-Microsoft support can be reactive. That is, if all is going well, no one from the non-Microsoft support will reach out. Non-Microsoft support doesn’t include all products. For example, during our analysis, Miro identified an offering that supported only Azure, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, and Teams. Or, in other words, subscriptions. But what happens when the deployments on-premise or in a hybrid environment go awry? There […]
Since 2011, Microsoft’s pricing for business subscriptions to its line of Microsoft 365 products has been stable. But effective March 1, 2022, that ends. Because effective then, Microsoft is raising its monthly prices: Product Cost Per User per Month Current Planned Microsoft 365 Business Basic $5 $6 Microsoft 365 Business Premium $20 $22 Microsoft 365 E3 $32 $36 Office 365 E1 $8 $10 Office 365 E3 $20 $23 Office 365 E5 $35 $38 One thing that Microsoft is not […]
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 […]
In order to have Windows 10 and the Microsoft Pluton processor, along with update services, Microsoft may compel the licensing of Windows. This is often the last of the three (3) Enterprise components that would comprise a full Enterprise Agreement.