Software Assurance in Brief

Announced in May 2001 in connection with version 6.0 of Microsoft’s volume licensing program, Software Assurance (SA) gives customers the right to upgrade to any new version of software released during the term of the agreement in exchange for payment of an annual fee. SA extended this feature, which was previously only offered in Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreements, to customers who had other types of volume purchasing agreements, such as Select and Open licenses.

SA replaced several upgrade programs for volume purchasers, including version upgrades (discounts on the next edition of a software program already owned) and competitive upgrades (discounts granted to customers who switch from a competitor’s software), with a single upgrade program. (Version upgrades are still available for retail products.)

To get the upgrade rights conferred by SA, customers pay an additional fee on top of the normal payment for the software license itself. For servers, this fee is 25% of the license cost per year. For desktop software, the fee is 29% of the license cost per year. Participation in the program gives customers a perpetual right to upgrade to any new versions of their software released during the term of their agreement.