Use Rights Loosened for SQL Server Bundles

Offerings that bundle a Microsoft server application with an instance of SQL Server now allow the SQL Server instance to be used to support a few other server products in addition to the one in the bundle, provided the other applications are purchased in a similar bundle. This rule change removes a hurdle that had restricted customers’ architectural choices or forced the added expense of licensing SQL Server separately.

System Center and Other Products Bundle SQL Server

Many Microsoft server products, especially System Center systems management products, have a dependency on SQL Server’s database engine and other components. Several such products offer optional bundles that include SQL Server Standard edition, at a price that is almost always less expensive than licensing SQL Server Standard separately. For example, System Center Configuration Manager server licenses come in two variants—Configuration Manager 2007 R3 and Configuration Manager 2007 R3 with SQL Technology. Besides Configuration Manager, three other System Center products offer similar bundles as options—Essentials, Operations Manager, and Service Manager—and each bundle costs between US$700 and US$950 more than the corresponding product without SQL Server. Furthermore, two other products are always bundled with SQL Server rights: the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 software development collaboration server and the Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 antimalware subscription (previously called Forefront Client Security).