Reduce software and services costs with rights to new software releases and costefficient upgrades. You can use software assurance to upgrade your software for free. Software assurance often includes an additional set of rights that give you more freedom with the software. Software assurance benefits expire after two years, though they can be renewed for a fee up to 90 days before the date they expire. Microsoft makes significant licensing changes softwareone. You will need the current license number and the license key, and will also be given the option to renew. How to use or renew your software assurance benefits. Nec will prorate the cost of the software assurance. To renew your software assurance benefits, request a standalone software assurance product through techsoup up to 90 days before your original benefits expire.
A necessary cost microsoft vaguely defines software assurance or sa as a comprehensive volume licensing program that includes an extensive set of technologies, services. The software assurance for an upgrade product has the same end date as for the original product obtained through techsoup. Sign into the partner center dashboard from the partner center menu, select customers, then choose a customer from the list from the customers detail page, select add products, and then follow the onscreen instructions to create and pay for your order. Beware hidden costs of microsofts new windows server licensing the move to percore licensing could increase the costs of windows server substantially and impact software assurance customers as well.
But often cheaper to have software assurance and get automatically upgraded to the next version than it is to buy it again. Instead of one upfront payment, you spread the costs of your volume licensing and software assurance purchase across three equal, annual sums, helping you forecast your technology budget up to three years in advance. In 2008 we conducted a workshop on business case, and all indications are that there. To buy software subscriptions on behalf of a customer.
The ideal model for calculating the cost and value of software assurance may be one of these, or it may be a new model that builds on the common features that we have discussed. The customer can opt to renew software assurance coverage for the higher level edition they have stepped up to in the example above theyd renew software assurance for windows server enterprise edition. Volume licenses can be more cost effective than a retail license because you are. How to decide which renewal is best for your organization. Software assurance has an annual cost of 29% of the license price for desktop products e. You have 90 days from the date of computer purchase to acquire software assurance for this oem license. Software assurance benefits microsoft volume licensing. Changes to microsoft software assurance options at techsoup. You can continue to run sql server 2008 r2 under the processor use rights with the license. Microsoft sql server a deeper look continued flexera blog. The point value for each transaction is available in the price list of the specific volume licensing program. Ninety days prior to expiration, your vlsc account owner should receive an email from microsoft saying that the benefits are expiring soon. The organization has a license that has software assurance that will expire in the next 90 days, but it has not already expired.
How to use or renew your software assurance benefits techsoup. Software assurance benefits add value to your products but are not part of them. Acquiring software assurance software assurance coverage is included for the entire term of an open value agreement. Typically microsoft charges for nonsecurity hotfixes after. Buying through azure provides bonus of entitling you to use our cloud service, so. Software assurance for a software license is worth half the total point value of its linked license. There is no grace period after the end of the benefit period to renew.
To learn more about how to upgrade for free, see how to use or renew your software assurance benefits. Not every microsoft customer needs software assurance on all of the vendors offerings. Software assurance can be purchased on retail or oem licensed products if done within 90 days of acquiring the retail or oem license. With open license, software assurance must always be paid for in twoyear. Microsoft customers sour on software assurance network world. Microsoft software assurance sa is a microsoft maintenance program aimed at business. Microsoft customers sour on software assurance infoworld. Like all products, the licenses remain valid, and you can continue to use the product after software assurance expires. Additionally, software assurance is not as robust of a technical support offering. Is foregoing software assurance a viable option for your company. Sign into the partner center dashboard select mpn from the menu, then select programs select software assurance enrollment select the planning services program enrollment tab at the top of the page. All products that are currently eligible for license mobility within server farms and covered by software assurance are eligible for license mobility through software assurance. Every new license, software assurance purchase and software assurance renewal made in a volume licensing program carries a point value.
Lapsed assurance pricing cablecast community media. Microsoft license terms may change upon software assurance. How to stop overpaying for microsoft licensing network world. Models for assessing the cost and value of software assurance. Software assurance working out costs over 4 year period. To plan for and determine the cost of renewing your software assurance benefits, youll need to directly contact a microsoft charity reseller. Do microsoft customers really need software assurance. Guide to software assurance charity digital exchange donated. This is why your sa renewal will cost only a fraction of what you paid when you bought the license with sa. Microsoft volume licensing frequently asked questions faqs. Eliminating sa on some products can lead to savings of 20, 30 or 40 percent of your annual maintenance spend.
Trying to work out sa total cost over 4 years vs no sa and buying the latest license then. How long does my microsoft software assurance last. Microsoft unified support renewal cost sky rockets us cloud. A necessary cost microsoft vaguely defines software assurance or sa as a comprehensive volume licensing program. To see more details on features of each edition compare ides.
To check software assurance status and the cost of renewal, click the button below. Sell software subscriptions through csp partner center. Software assurance is renewed through your crm partner, or via our website store. Software assurance is a comprehensive volume licensing program that includes a unique set of technologies, services, and rights to help you deploy, manage. Half of the platforms licenses are covered with software assurance. With azure devops server 2019 you can either pay monthtomonth through azure or you can buy classic software licenses which requires a 3year commitment. To help verify your companys eligibility to enroll in a specific planning services engagement. In support of the nonprofit community, microsoft has generously included software assurance with virtually all of its product donations through the donation program. For desktops, software assurance sa is 29 percent the cost of an annual license. What is the grace period for renewing software assurance after the license. If you are using software under subscription licenses you are bound to the new terms on the earlier of renewal of your subscription or an upgrade to a version of software made available on or after october 1, 2019.
Microsoft software assurance gets customers to pay in advance for products about which they often know little, including whether theyll want to use it, which is a remarkable feat of salesmanship. It is a 3 year agreement that automatically contains software assurance sa or maintenance on all products for the three year term. If you let your software assurance lapse expire, your system then becomes subject to the increased renewal costs to get it back within coverage. Software assurance membership sam is an integrated set of support services and benefits provided to all enterprise agreement ea customers and those select plus license customers who have selected the sam option for one or more product pools on their select plus enrollment or companywide option available under open value. The software assurance spread payments benefit works with your budget and helps lower your initial licensing costs. If microsoft goes at least four years in between releases the company went about five years between xp and vista releases. The software assurance support provides business hours support with a 24hour response time goal. If microsoft goes at least four years between releases the company went about five years between xp and vista. Microsoft customers sour on software assurance itworld. Organizations will need to request one software assurance renewal for. For example, you purchase a new computer with a microsoft office oem license.
Licensing programs eligibility requirements microsoft. Determining sql server 2012 core licensing requirements at sa renewal not renewing if you choose not to renew software assurance on your processor licenses, you should consider the following. For a few server programs like system center you can only run the current branch if you have active software assurance. You will see a green check mark next to any requirements or competencies you have already. You may also purchase software assurance with an open license agreement for the remaining balance of the term of the open license authorization number. If we do not have a notification or primary email on file for a customer, we will waive the lapsed pricing and give a 45 day window to become current on assurance. The organization obtained a license without software assurance within the past 90 days.
With the exception of subscriptions, all licenses in an. Organisations such as businesses that purchase software through microsoft volume licensing must normally purchase software assurance as a separate option. To put it simply, microsoft computes the license price used as the basis for the 29 percent software assurance fee one way in a new agreement and a different way in a renewal. Microsoft volume licensing microsoft software assurance. The default microsoft license prices used in the presets of this calculator are based on sql server 2017 open no level prices from.
Microsoft volume licensing programs how to choose a. Software assurance has an annual cost of 29% of the license price for. In addition to software upgrades, software assurance also allows for. Microsoft software assurance big risk for a small reward. Software assurance benefits included with microsoft donations. The right to install the software on more than one machine. Ontime renewal contracts will start at the conclusion of the previous software assurance contract expiration.
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