On-Premises Use Rights Included in ECS

In addition to online services, the Enterprise Cloud Suite (ECS) includes access rights for several types of software run on-premises, primarily as a way to handle “hybrid” hosted and on-premises deployments as well as staged migrations. In fact, ECS includes a set of on-premises use rights similar to those provided by a traditional Platform Enterprise Agreement (EA). However, all on-premises software rights included with ECS are nonperpetual and expire with the subscription. In contrast, traditional Platform EAs (other than Platform EA Subscription contracts) offer some level of perpetual use rights should a customer choose not to renew.

Platform EAs (or Platform EA Subscription contracts) generally license the Windows Enterprise Upgrade, the Office Professional Plus suite, and a Core or Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) suite across the entire organization. The shaded regions in the illustration indicate the on-premises software licenses included in traditional Platform EAs, and the area within the dotted line indicates the licenses for on-premises software included with ECS.