Cloudy with a chance of Licensing
Latest news on Microsoft licensing, Cloud, and AI
Very little activity this month:
Updates to the CAL/ML Equivalency tables to make them clearer
Updates to Dynamics 365 Purchasing Minimums table
Updated Azure Maps API results clause to include Weather
I can’t help but feel like there are some big things coming in a couple of months…
Main changes for March 2021:
*This is only available via CSP
**This is only available via MPSA
A very quiet start to 2021 from Microsoft:
Teams Rooms Standard & Premium Device subscription licenses have been added.
SharePoint Syntex is added. This is “trainable AI” that can help process corporate data and automate some of the tasks involved. See more info on what it is and how it’s licensed here.
Dynamics 365 Project Operations added. As sure as night turns to day, there’s a new D365 SKU 😂 This is a replacement for Project Service Automation (PSA).
The snappily named “Audio Conferencing Extended Dial-out minutes to USA/CAN” is added. This add-on license gives “virtually unlimited” US & Canada dial-out minutes, although there is a “fair use” policy.
The new “Extra Graph Connector Capacity” license enables additional indexing using Microsoft Graph connectors. Graph being Microsoft’s evolving connective layer between various MS products that we will continue to see pop up over the coming months for sure. In my opinion, this is another example of Microsoft moving towards a licensing model reminiscent of IBM/SAP/Salesforce where there are 100s of odd, obscure metrics based around quantity and usage – making them easy to exceed and difficult to track.
None of the recently announced security name changes have been updated though…
Only a few additions again this month but a couple are pretty interesting.
Azure DevOps Server 2020 is added.
Dynamics 365 Sales Premium is added. This is a new SKU that combines the “Sales Enterprise” and “Sales Insight” licenses for £101.80 per user per month – a saving of £7.50 pupm. Naming wise – I’m not sure that having an “Enterprise” SKU inside a “Premium” SKU really makes sense tbh!
Azure SQL Edge is added. This is a new variant of SQL made for the cloud world with features including:
I’ve taken a look at it here.
Azure Stack Edge appears too – this is a physical device you keep on-premises, like a branch office or field location, to “filter, analyse, and transform your data before it moves to Azure”. Lose/damage one and it’s a $40,000 charge!
Nothing too major this month, as expected:
Nothing new for Power Platform, really just moving key info from the licensing guide to the Product Terms – which is the way it should be.
A pretty quiet March from Microsoft again – the main changes being:
VDA add-on for M365 E3/E5 added
Updated Windows 10 use rights for Microsoft 365 F1*. It can now use prior versions, access VDI, and use KMS activation.
Number of O365 licenses required for Multi-Geo Capabilities reduced from 500 to 250.
*It was called Microsoft F1 at the time but they have subsequently announced this product will be renamed to Microsoft 365 F3, and a new F1 will be introduced as well.
Another quiet month for Microsoft licensing , just a few minor changes.
A bunch more new Dynamics 365 SKUs including HR, Commerce, and IoT offerings.
Flow renamed to Power Automate.
Clarification on a few terms around Windows 7 ESU and Windows 10 QMTH (Qualified Multi Tenant Hosting).
It does make me think we’re going to see a number of changes all at once in an upcoming month…
Nothing major but a couple of interesting SQL Server bits:
1) A clause that, if you’re using SQL in Azure via Azure Hybrid Rights or DR rights, you must indicate it in the portal/API.
2) If you acquire SQL 2017 from an OEM before March 31, 2020 – you can add Software Assurance within 90 days of purchase.
That first addition feels audit related doesn’t it? While it makes sense that organisations indicate where they’re using their licenses and which Software Assurance benefits they’re using etc. – it definitely feels like Microsoft are getting things lined up for the next generation of license compliance audits which will look at cloud environments too.
Also, slightly interestingly, the Online Service Terms (OST) won’t be published until January 8th. Whether this is because people are still on holiday or due to a major change being announced – we’ll have to wait and see! 😊
December 2019 sees the following additions:
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (MDATP) for “cross-platform devices”. Available only via the EA/EAS volume licensing programmes, this allows MDATP to be run on up to 5 non-Windows devices concurrently.
Power Virtual Agents are added, with no extra info. These aim to enable anyone to create AI-powered chat bots and look to be a new member of the Power Platform:
There are a couple of lines added covering the recently announced Intune access for SCCM users. This confirms SA is required on the existing licenses but, perhaps a little confusingly, doesn’t mention the “Microsoft Endpoint Manager” name at all.
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 