Tag: Licensing

Microsoft User CAL Changes: What it means for you

Posted by at 10:31 AM

As the nature of the cloud evolves, so too does its licensing models. In the past, organizations were set up with licensing on a “per device” basis, but with the ongoing consumerization of IT and the proliferation of new devices (mobile phones, tablets, ultrabooks, etc.) in the workplace, many organizations are looking to cut costs by shifting focus to the user rather than the device.

To address this shift, Microsoft is raising the cost of its User Client Access License (CAL) licensing model. Effective Dec. 1, 2012, the cost of the following User CALs will increase 15 percent:

  • Bing Maps Server CAL
  • Core CAL Suite
  • Enterprise CAL Suite
  • Exchange Server Standard and Enterprise CAL
  • Lync Server Standard, Enterprise, and Plus CAL
  • Project Server CAL
  • SharePoint Server Standard and Enterprise CAL
  • System Center 2012 Client Management Suite
  • System Center Configuration Manager
  • System Center Endpoint Protection
  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server CAL
  • Windows Multipoint Server CAL
  • Windows Server CAL
  • Windows Server Remote Desktop Services CAL, Terminal Services CAL
  • Windows Server Rights Management Services CAL

What does this mean for you? Continue Reading…

VMworld 2012 wrap-up: What’s on the Horizon

Posted by at 10:55 AM

When I wrote this post, my plane was soaring 34,000 feet above the eastern edge of San Francisco, rocketing me away from VMware’s ninth-annual VMworld 2012. It really seemed the place — floating above the clouds, catching a glimpse of the sun hitting the horizon — to reflect on some of the new products revealed at this year’s worldwide users conference.

The cloud played a leading role this year (as you can expect with any big tech conference nowadays) as vendors demonstrated how small business could use the cloud to create, automate, and provision their own cost-effective private clouds.

But I think the announcement that got everyone the most excited (and let’s be honest, it would only ever get a cheer in a room full of nerds) was that VMware is stepping away from its vRAM licensing model. Rather than pricing based on the amount of memory provisioned inside the environment, it will be based on the number of CPUs on the physical machines used to run the virtual environment, regardless of the power of those CPUs.

But VMware had a lot more in store for us than just licensing news. Here’s a look at my top-three takeaways from VMworld 2012. Continue Reading…