Counting Client Devices to Reduce EA Costs

Because an Enterprise Agreement (EA) is based on the number of client devices used in an organization, and because computing devices can be used for many purposes, organizations negotiating an EA must define devices that should be excluded from the count. Exclusions are, in effect, a further discount: excluding 200 PCs in a 2,000-PC organization will reduce the cost of the EA by 10%.

The EA is primarily aimed at knowledge workers who use common business applications. Technically, the language in an EA defines a “qualified device”—i.e., a device that must be included in the count—as “any personal desktop computer, portable computer, workstation, or similar device…that meets the minimum requirements for running any of the Enterprise Products.” A rule of thumb that covers most instances is whether a device can run Office. Apple Macs don’t normally run Windows, one of the enterprise products, but they can run the Mac version of Office, another enterprise product. Computers running Linux are not considered qualified desktops because they can’t run Office. Computers running embedded OSs, such as thin clients, are also excluded.