Enrollment for Application Platform Phased Out

Enrollment for Application Platform (EAP), a contract offering discounts on SQL Server and other products, is being phased out and replaced by the new Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE). The two enrollment plans are very similar, but differences in the way subscription-based licenses are handled and perpetual licenses are priced could affect customers. The option to extend existing EAPs or initiate new EAPs will officially disappear Feb. 1, 2014, so customers weighing the two enrollments need to decide quickly. Furthermore, for all EAP customers, the impending changes could affect purchase policies under their current enrollments.

EAP and SCE Similar in Design

EAP and SCE are special forms of Enterprise Agreement contracts and share several important attributes. In many respects the SCE, launched in Nov. 2013, represents an evolution of the EAP. Both contracts require a customer to cover its entire installed base of a set of products and make ongoing annuity payments for those products through the entire term of the agreement. In exchange, a customer receives lower per-unit prices for those products than are available under alternative contracts, as well as price protection for the duration of the three-year contract and the convenience of annual True-Up purchasing.