When it comes to licensing, most of the time we discuss what you cannot do with the licenses. Today I thought I would touch on what you CAN do with Microsoft licenses as it pertains to the SPLA program. I came up with a list of ideas that you can take advantage of being a Microsoft hosting partner.
- Use SPLA licenses internally. There is a 50% rule with SPLA that states you can use 50% of what you are hosting for your internal employees. Let’s say you are hosting 10 Exchange licenses externally, the terms of the agreement states you can use up to 5 licenses internally. These licenses are not free, you would still need to report those 5 licenses on your monthly report (report a total of 15 licenses to your reseller). One way of reducing your volume licensing count.
- 60 Day Evaluation – This allows a service provider to host an application as a trial for up to 60 days per customer! Trick is you cannot receive a fee during this period.
- Customer Owned Licenses – Customers can bring their own licenses into your data center and you can host the software for them. The issue: you must host it in a physical dedicated environment (nothing shared amongst other customers).
- Install Servers on Customers Premise – As long as you own the hardware, you can locate the server at your customers location.
- Receive the latest version. As new technology is released, you will have access. (check SPUR for availability)
- Partner with another service providers to host the software. This is especially important for customers looking to deploy a Dynamics solution but are not Dynamics authorized.
It’s refreshing to write about what you can do. Microsoft is not always the bad guy!
Thanks for reading!
SPLA Man
Need SPLA audit help?
Facing an audit, a license review, or a tricky reporting question? I offer independent SPLA consulting and audit support for service providers and hosters. Email info@splalicensing.com with a short summary of your situation.
Independent consultant; not affiliated with Microsoft.
