Microsoft products and the associated licensing t's and c's are constantly changing, and CloudServus wants to keep you up to date on changes that may affect your organization. In this blog we’ll break down Microsoft’s recent major announcements on licensing and product changes.
Latest key Microsoft updates:
Trade in Your Azure Reservations for Azure Savings Plan! If you need more flexibility than you’re getting today with your Azure VMs, Dedicated Hosts, or Azure App Services than you may want to consider trading in your reservations for Azure Savings Plan. Azure Savings Plan provides more flexibility needed to accommodate changes such as VM series and regions. Through the end of 2023 Microsoft is allowing customers to trade-in a reservation for savings plan. You can find more details on the trade-in program here.
Teams Premium is Now Generally Available! Microsoft Teams Premium is a Teams add-on license that allows organizations with Microsoft 365 subscriptions to enhance their Teams experience with benefits like more personalized and intelligent meetings and webinars, enhanced protection for meetings, advanced management and reporting capabilities for IT, and advanced Virtual Appointments. Through June 30th, 2023 Microsoft is offering Teams Premium at an introductory price of $7 per user per month. Customers can also try it for free for 30 days. You can find the announcement here and more details about Teams Premium licensing and features here.
Windows 8.1 Has Reached End of Support! Windows 8.1 reached End of Support on January 10th, 2023 which means software updates are no longer provided. Unfortunately Microsoft will not be offering Extended Security Updates for Windows 8.1 like they did for Windows 7. You can find a useful article which includes FAQs and links to further information here.
Teams Shared Device License Now Available! Microsoft announced that the existing Common Area Phone license has been rebranded to the Teams Shared Device license to enable more scenarios involving shared devices. This license will still be used for Teams Phones deployed in shared areas but will also be used to support a hotdesking experience on a Teams Display, and for a standalone Teams Panel not tied to a Microsoft Teams Room. You can find the announcement here.
Concurrent Exchange Online License Assignments Now Available! Microsoft has introduced support for concurrent Exchange Online license assignments, which means that users can now be assigned multiple licenses that include access to Exchange Online. SharePoint Online and Teams have been supporting concurrent license assignments for their own services for some time now and Microsoft is bringing the same level of support to Exchange Online. You can find an overview of how it all works and the benefits of stacking licenses in this way here.
Azure DevOps Server 2022 is Here! Microsoft has released Azure DevOps Server 2022 with no changes to the existing Server/CAL licensing model. You can find the announcement and links to additional information on the new release here.
CloudServus, a recognized Gold Tier Microsoft Partner, provides expert support via a comprehensive Microsoft Licensing Assessment to help organizations derive the most value from their Microsoft licensing across the lifecycle.
Through our Microsoft Licensing Assessment, we take a look under the hood at your company, analyze your programs, SKUs and pricing to make sure you’re in the right place across the aboard.
Contact CloudServus to review your current licensing and discuss your goals with your Microsoft partnership, and we can walk you through your options.
