Microsoft are making a big push with their hosted application offerings (BPOS & Office 365) but are also aware that many customers and partners base their businesses on 3rd party hosted solutions. In an effort to make that easier and more cost effective, the Redmond based company recently announced some changes to their licensing rule, referred to as “Licence Mobility”.
Essentially, these changes will allow customer organizations to deploy their licences in-house or hosted in a 3rd party datacenter. Not all products are covered with these changes, in fact, here are the products that are:
- SQL Server
- Exchange Server
- Sharepoint Server
- Lync Server
- System Center Servers (note the plural – this seems to be any and all SC products)
- Dynamics CRM
If these products are licensed with Software Assurance they
“can be run in service providers’ datacenters on shared hardware for that customer’s dedicated use”
Products that are NOT included are:
- Windows Server Operating Systems
- Windows Client Operating Systems
- Desktop Applications
- Developer Tools
Other Changes
Also, Microsoft are expanding the Subscriber Access Licences (SALs) for SA SKUs to cover Enterprise licences for
- Exchange
- Lync
- Sharepoint
For more information, see here:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/value-of-volume-licensing.aspx#tab=4
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 
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