Select Plus Eases License Management

A new variant of Microsoft’s Select volume license program will make it easier for customers and their resellers to track license purchases, particularly for global organizations with large numbers of affiliates. Called Select Plus, the program may also eliminate some options that regular Select customers use to reduce licensing and Software Assurance costs. Customers should familiarize themselves with the details to ensure that the program can deliver more value to them than the current Select program, which Microsoft will continue to offer.

Building on Select “Classic”

Select Plus employs many of the same concepts as the existing Select program, one of three major Microsoft volume license purchase programs. Select requires higher purchase volumes and offers deeper discounts than Microsoft’s entry-level Open program and offers a more targeted approach to license purchases than Microsoft’s organization-wide licensing program, the Enterprise Agreement (EA). Select is used by larger organizations (generally 250 or more PCs) that lack EAs, and is also used for server purchases by many companies that have EAs.