New Windows Server License Option Eases Hosting

• Customers can bring their own Windows Server licenses to more service providers with a new licensing option.
• The change will reduce Windows Server license costs for some multitenant hosting scenarios.
• Customers running Windows Server Standard on-premises or in third-party dedicated hosting can see lower costs and simpler compliance.
• Nothing changes with Azure, which still offers unique licensing advantages for Windows Server.
• Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, and Google hosting customers will not benefit.

Windows Server offers a new VM-based licensing option effective Oct. 2022. Customers can use the option to bring their own Windows Server core licenses with Software Assurance (SA) to third-party multitenant hosting providers, and they can save costs and reduce license compliance risk in some dedicated hosting and on-premises situations. The VM-based option applies to both Windows Server Standard and Datacenter editions, but the benefits apply mainly to Standard. The new option does not change Windows Server client-side licensing. It also does not change the rules for Azure or for the major Azure competitors (Alibaba, Amazon, and Google), which Microsoft designates “Listed Providers.”