Earlier this week, Microsoft introduced BizTalk Server 2013 and with it, a new licensing model. Instead of the per-processor licensing model customers had grown accustomed to, BizTalk Server 2013 is now being offered in a new core-based licensing model. This change aligns very closely with the licensing changes applied to SQL Server 2012 last year.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Enterprise, Standard, and Branch Server licenses will be sold in 2-Core Licensing Packs. So, pricing for a single-processor license under the old model is equivalent to four core licenses under the new model. Customers deploying BizTalk Server 2013 on machines with more than four cores in each processor will end up paying more.
• To license a physical server, you must license all the cores on that server. There is a minimum of four core licenses required for each physical processor in the server. Servers fully licensed with Enterprise Edition core licenses with software assurance (SA) allow for an unlimited deployment of virtual machines (VMs) running BizTalk on the server (or server farm). This is especially beneficial in heavily consolidated virtual environments.
• As an alternative to licensing all the physical cores on a server, organizations are able to license individual VMs. To license a VM with core-based licenses, count the number of virtual cores allocated within the VM (minimum of four core licenses per VM). Each VM licensed w/SA can be moved frequently within your server farm.

What does this mean for you? Continue Reading…