Microsoft Licensing

ShareTweet

Exchange Server 2010 adds new high-availability, archiving, and retention features, as well as client-side capabilities that reduce inbox clutter, improve voice-mail usability, and deliver other benefits. Customers can exploit the latest Exchange capabilities in four ways: upgrade an on-premises system to Exchange Server 2010; use Microsoft-hosted services to augment existing on-premises e-mail systems with message filtering, archiving, and encryption; outsource the organization’s e-mail system in its entirety to run in data centers run by Microsoft (or a third-party hoster); or adopt a hybrid approach with some users serviced by on-premises mailboxes and others by hosted systems. This report—especially valuable to organizations with older e-mail systems, including Exchange Server 2003 (which exited Mainstream support in 2009)—will help purchasing and IT personnel evaluate the licensing implications of each approach.

Introduction

• Types of volume licensing programs through which customers can purchase Exchange licenses
  
• List of all the different Exchange-related license types and their cost

Server Editions

• Overview of rules governing Exchange Server 2007 and 2010-server license reassignment and number of running instances per license-that are key in virtualization scenarios
  
• Licensing models and prices for Standard and Enterprise Edition
  
• New mailbox high-availability capability, Database Availability Group (DAG), now included in both editions; licensing implications (especially related to requirements for certain Windows Server editions)
  
• Scalability features unique to Enterprise Edition and when they are needed
  
• Licensing scenario illustrating the Exchange Server- and Windows Server-related licenses required for each component in a typical large (multi-server) Exchange Server 2010-based system

Client-Side Licensing

• Two types of Exchange Server 2010 Client Access Licenses (CALs); license and Software Assurance (SA) price changes
  
• External Connector option for licensing nonemployee users with a mailbox on the organization's e-mail system
  
• Features requiring an Enterprise CAL
  • unified messaging
    
  • personal archive
    
  • custom message retention policies (successor to Exchange 2007's Managed Folders capability)
    
  • automatic message and attachment protection (sometimes called "Information Protection and Compliance," "Information Leakage Protection," or "Information Protection and Control")
    
  • multi-mailbox search (also known as Cross Mailbox Search) and legal hold
    
  • premium journaling
    mobile device controls and policies
    
  • malware protection (on-premises and hosted Forefront offerings)

• Which new features require an Outlook 2010 client
  
• Rules that dictate when an Exchange Server CAL is necessary, which types and versions are needed, how many are required, and how to buy them
  
• Microsoft-hosted malware protection, archiving, and encrypted services that augment on-premises installations of Exchange Server

Exchange Online

• Feature, licensing, and price differences between Microsoft's three levels of hosted Exchange offerings--Exchange Online Dedicated, Standard, and Deskless Worker


• Exchange Online's inclusion in Microsoft's Business Productivity Suite (BPOS)
  
• Special accommodations made for customers with active SA on existing on-premises Exchange licenses


• Differences between a User Subscription License (USL) that grants access to Microsoft Online services and a CAL that provides the right to access on-premises server software


• Two scenarios where a customer could pay double when mixing the purchase of Core CAL Suite or Enterprise CAL Suites under an Enterprise Agreement with the purchase of User Subscription Licenses


• Reasons why customers may want to consider use of both Exchange on-premises and online services

Resources

• Where to go for additional information sources on topics related to licensing Exchange for on-premises and hosted configurations

Appendix: Exchange Licensing and Packaging Changes

• Summary of the major Exchange Server licensing and packaging changes made between Oct. 2001 and Nov. 2009


• Determining license entitlements under Software Assurance (SA)


• Understanding licensing and packaging differences between the current version and previous versions


• Understanding past special offers and accommodations that may have resulted in "free" licenses that do not show up in an official Microsoft Volume License Service Center (VLSC) license statement.

This Report Contains [16,479 words]