Procurement & Licensing

Microsoft 365 Education: Differs from Enterprise by Degrees Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft 365 Education offers most of the features included in commercial enterprise Microsoft 365 offerings, with...more Microsoft 365 Government: What’s in the Box? Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft 365 Government offers regulatory compliance, but at the cost of missing features, which are...more Azure: Know Reservations Updated: March 2, 2026 Azure reservations allow customers to reduce Azure costs in exchange for a one- or three-year...more And Acquisition for All: Microsoft 365 Self-Service Purchase March 2, 2026 Microsoft makes several services available for direct purchase by end users to promote adoption, circumventing...more Services Increasingly Expanding Beyond Microsoft 365 Suites Updated: February 27, 2026 New tiers of several Microsoft 365 core services are quite expensive and are not available...more VMware Rapid Migration Plan Loses Incentives: Some Benefits for Commitment Remain Updated: February 18, 2026 Note: Following a further extension of the deadline for the VMware Rapid Migration Plan to...more Comparing Paths for Licensing Microsoft 365—The Savings May Not Stack Up  Updated: January 18, 2026 Customers have numerous paths available for licensing Microsoft 365 services. Licensing subcomponents on an à...more Top Reasons to Use SQL Server 2025 and a Few Reasons to Avoid It January 14, 2026 SQL Server 2025 reached general availability in Nov. 2025 and offers compelling changes that should...more How to Apply Azure Reservations and Savings Plans Effectively January 10, 2026 Azure compute is typically the single largest cost category of resources that an organization will...more Free SQL Server Developer Edition Is Mostly for Demos Updated: January 2, 2026 SQL Server Developer edition is free for development and test use. Because the product requires...more Intune Premium License Tiers Still Not Worth It Updated: December 23, 2025 Two premium Intune tiers are now available, along with multiple à la carte features. Intune...more EA to MCA Legal Terms and Strategy November 24, 2025 Microsoft is gradually phasing out the traditional Enterprise Agreement (EA)  that most customers use for...more Demystifying Microsoft’s Copilots Updated: October 27, 2025 Copilot-branded technologies from Microsoft assist users in completing tasks, but Microsoft overstates ROI. Almost all...more Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) Brings Discounts, Negotiation Leverage Updated: October 23, 2025 Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment is an agreement to spend a specified amount on Azure, typically...more Dynamics 365 License Compliance Enforcement Delayed to at Least Jan. 2026 October 20, 2025 Microsoft has delayed plans to lock the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations front door from...more Entra ID Group-Based License Management Helps Ease Licensing Administration Updated: October 19, 2025 Entra ID group-based license management can help organizations manage licenses for Microsoft services in a...more

Available Azure Reservations Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plans Updated: March 1, 2025 Microsoft Defender for Servers Plans Updated: January 6, 2025

  Product Reference Microsoft 365 Archive Microsoft 365 Archive is a consumption service for storing inactive SharePoint and OneDrive sites   Licensing Reference Azure OpenAI Service An Azure service that enables developers to use large language models (LLMs) developed by OpenAI...more   Licensing Reference Spread Payments This SA (Software Assurance) benefit allows customers to spread the cost of a new perpetual...more   Licensing Reference Windows Server SA Benefits Summary of SA (Software Assurance) benefits associated with Windows Server, organized by high and low...more   Licensing Reference RDS User CAL Extended Rights This SA (Software Assurance) benefit lets customers use RDS User CALs and RDS User SLs...more   Licensing Reference Flexible Virtualization Benefit A SA (Software Assurance) benefit associated with all Microsoft software products that allows licenses to...more   Licensing Reference OneLake   Licensing Reference Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection A standalone online service that analyzes transactions and events in real-time and reports on potentially...more   Licensing Reference Entra ID An online service that provides identity and access management for Microsoft-hosted services such as Microsoft...more   Licensing Reference Fabric Data Engineering   Licensing Reference Fabric Data Factory   Licensing Reference Fabric Data Science   Licensing Reference Fabric Real-Time Intelligence   Licensing Reference RD Session Host   Licensing Reference SQL Server Technology A limited use copy of SQL Server distributed with System Center, Azure DevOps Server, and...more   Licensing Reference Dynamics CRM Online A previous name for a set of online services that deliver customer relationship management (CRM),...more

Copilot   Fabric