UK Prices to Rise in July

Licenses purchased in the United Kingdom through Microsoft’s volume licensing programs will increase in cost by as much as 33% starting July 1, 2012. The UK pound has weakened considerably against the euro over the past few years, and Microsoft says this adjustment is necessary to restore parity between UK prices and prices within other European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. However, there are opportunities for customers who act before July 1 to lock in old prices for an additional period of time.

While UK prices charged to Open License resellers will increase by 7.5%, prices within other programs—including Select Plus, Select “classic,” Enterprise Agreements (EAs), and Open Value (OV)—will go up between 25% and 33%. How quickly the new prices will impact customers depends on whether a volume licensing program is transactional in nature or involves upfront multiyear commitments.

Transactional Programs

Select, Select classic, Open License, and Open Value Non-Organization-Wide are transactional: They generally permit customers to purchase whatever they like, in any quantity, at any time. The UK fee for any new license or Software Assurance (SA) coverage purchased by any customer through these programs on or after July 1 will be at the new higher prices. As a result, there is a strong incentive to accelerate license purchases whenever possible.