Changes Reduce License Costs for Hosting

Changes to the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) rules and offerings, effective July 1, 2011, will reduce the cost of outsourcing various Microsoft server-based products to third-party hosters. Two changes allow Software Assurance (SA) customers to leverage existing licenses and SA payments when moving server applications from on-premises data centers to an SPLA hoster. Two other changes, both related to Windows Server and available to any customer, simplify SPLA licensing and reduce licensing costs in some circumstances. Whether license savings generated by the changes are passed on to end-customers will, in many cases, be at the hoster’s discretion.

Changes Affecting SA Customers Only

Two upcoming changes to licensing rules will benefit volume licensing customers who are licensed for certain Microsoft server applications and have active SA coverage on their on-premises licenses. If such customers elect to move server-based applications from on-premises servers to a third-party hoster’s data center, they’ll be better able to leverage their ongoing SA payments to reduce the licensing fees the hoster has to pay Microsoft through the SPLA. (See the sidebar “What Is the SPLA?“.) Hosters that pass on these savings might be able to attract new outsourcing business from customers who already have considerable investment in SA for on-premises licenses.