Select Agreement Consolidation Available

Microsoft will allow customers who have multiple Select 5 agreements to consolidate them into one Select 6 agreement. Consolidating agreements will reduce license management workloads for customers and could increase their volume licensing discounts.

Licensing 5 vs. Licensing 6

Select consolidation is designed to address some issues arising from the transition from Licensing 5 to the current Licensing 6 program, which was introduced in 2001. The most significant change between these programs was the introduction of Software Assurance (SA) upgrade rights, and the termination of most other forms of upgrade, such as version upgrades. SA is only available on new product licenses, and must be purchased at the time that the product license is purchased.

During a transition period, which ended July 31, 2002, volume licensing customers who wanted to purchase upgrade rights on older software had to purchase Upgrade Advantage (UA), which offered Licensing 5 customers the right to upgrade an older program to the most current version at any time within two years, or until the end of their volume licensing agreement, whichever comes first. After July 31, 2002, all upgrade rights purchased through UA were eligible for SA upgrades.