Microsoft is to
streamline and simplify its licensing structure, saving
customers up to 40% of their licensing costs.
Joe Matz, the software company's corporate vice-president for
worldwide licensing and pricing, said the new scheme would start on
1 October, 2009. The move was to keep pace with customer needs and
pave the way for new computing models, he said.
Matz said the new scheme was based on customer feedback from
more than three million customers. "Customers feel the pressure of
the economic environment and look for ways to save money on the IT
investments they have already made," he said.
Matz said Microsoft will release packaged solutions on 1
October, like the new Microsoft Enrollment for Application
Platform. This suite of products includes Microsoft SQL Server
database software, Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server, Microsoft Visual Studio development system and
Microsoft Dynamics xRM business software.
Customers will be able to buy this through their enterprise
agreement (EA) as an enrolment on a one- or three-year deal. "For
customers with a three-year true-up, we provide predictable costs
with fixed payments for the term's life. Customers may realise
lower ongoing costs for new deployment with price savings of up to
40%," Matz said.
Matz said Microsoft would also change the basis for charging for
infrastructure products such as Windows Server, Microsoft System
Center server management, and Microsoft Forefront Client Security
to a simple, per-processor basis.
Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite would in future be
available through an enterprise agreement or campus and school
agreement, or customers would be able to subscribe online through a
new Microsoft online subscription program, which offered a 12-month
licence with flexible payment terms.
With a new services provider license agreement, SPLA Essentials,
Microsoft also simplified licence management for firms that resell
Microsoft products. Matz said SPLA partners could also now use
prior versions of Microsoft licensed software. This would help them
move to a hosted business model more easily, using the version of
the Microsoft technology that best met their business needs, he
said.
"Ultimately, customers will be able to purchase through one
agreement and manage their licenses through one platform, instead
of managing multiple agreements today," Matz said.