Volume License Center Updates Planned

Planned improvements to Microsoft’s Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) will give partners offline access to more of their customer data stored at the center and make it easier for partners to manage licenses for their customers. The changes will be welcome, but could cause some nervousness, given the VLSC’s history of downtime during upgrades.

The VLSC is used by customers and often their partners to review volume licensing agreements and transactions, download software they have licensed, and access the product keys required to activate the software.

Upgrade History

Changes to the service in fall 2009 caused lengthy outages, leaving partners and customers without access to licensing records, downloads, or product keys.

A major upgrade in Apr. 2010 proceeded relatively smoothly and delivered features that would make future outages less serious, including the following:

• Administrators can delegate access to downloads, product keys, license summaries, and other information, reducing