Author Archives: Louise Ulrick

Changes to From SA licences

Microsoft announce changes to the availability of From SA licences. These licences debuted in the August 2014 Product List and were a cost-effective way for a customer with users licensed with traditional desktop licences with SA to move to the cloud, with, for example, an Office 365 E3 From SA User SL costing less than a full Office 365 E3 User SL.

The changes don’t affect customers who have bought From SA licences – they’ll be able to continue to renew these licences, but from 1 February, 2024 no new licences may be purchased, either by existing or new From SA customer.

Now, as users are moved to cloud licences, full User SLs must be purchased for them. There is a concession that remains: each user who used a device licensed with SA for Windows, Core/Enterprise CAL Suite and Office Professional Plus before being assigned a Microsoft 365 E3/E5 User SL may continue to install a local copy of Office Professional Plus.

Find the adjusted Product Terms text here: https://bit.ly/2OFt7vB, and Microsoft’s announcement here: https://bit.ly/3w4RN6x.

Microsoft Mesh is generally available

Microsoft announce that Microsoft Mesh is now generally available, allowing you to join a Teams meeting as an Avatar within a 3D space. Features are available to everyone licensed with a Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Office 365 E1/E3/E5 licence, with the creation of customised 3D spaces requiring a Teams Premium licence. Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3u0k917.

Microsoft Entra ID Governance licensing

Microsoft Entra ID Governance is an identity governance solution to help organisations strengthen security and more easily meet compliance and regulatory requirements. There are (of course) multiple ways for customers to acquire the licences for this solution, and this article does a good job in explaining the options: https://bit.ly/3SzAIu6.

Exchange Server 2019 CUs and end of Mainstream Support

Exchange Server 2019 reached end of Mainstream Support on 9 January, 2024 which means that you wouldn’t normally expect any non-security updates to be released after that date. However, there are still two more Cumulative Updates planned – find out more from the Exchange Team here: https://bit.ly/3On7goF,

Azure Spring Apps Enterprise plan now eligible for Azure Savings Plan discounts

Microsoft announce that the Azure Spring Apps Enterprise plan is now eligible for Azure Savings Plan discounts. Customers able to commit to a 1-year Azure Savings Plan can expect savings of 20%, and 47% for a 3-year Plan, compared to Pay-As-You-Go costs.

You can find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3vTXfck, and a reminder of how Azure Savings Plans work on our blog here: https://bit.ly/3tQVCe9.

Azure SQL Database failover rights

Microsoft add new failover rights for Azure SQL Database to the December 2023 Product Terms. Now, when a secondary database replica is used only for disaster recovery, and doesn’t have any workloads running on it or applications connecting to it, you can save on licensing costs by designating the database as a standby replica. Microsoft provide you with the number of vCores licensed in the primary database at no extra charge, but you’re still billed for the compute and storage that the secondary database uses.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4b6kRKK, the relevant part of the Product Terms here: https://bit.ly/3Y6xsac, and instructions for configuring the standby replica here: https://bit.ly/3HxEzlc.

Azure Standard Support offer extended

Customers buying their Azure services through an Enterprise Agreement or via the MCA-E have long been eligible for free Azure Standard Support, and Microsoft confirm that this offer will be extended to June 30, 2024, with both new and renewing customers eligible for support for a period of 6 months.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3u1mUPN, terms of the offer here: https://bit.ly/3CTFrhq, and a useful comparison of all the Azure Support plans here: https://bit.ly/44i3x1h.

Power Apps licence assignment

Microsoft have made a number of changes to assist in the assignment of Power Apps licences to users that need them.

In April 2023 users were able to request a licence when they needed it (https://bit.ly/43cMw87), in May 2023 a maker was able to request a licence for users of their app (https://bit.ly/49dHATh), and in September 2023 an IT admin could set up an auto-claim policy that automatically assigns available licences to users as they need them (https://bit.ly/48UUeqH).

The latest innovation (November 2023) is that auto-claim policies are automatically created for a managed environment.

You can find the announcement article here: https://bit.ly/47UpXHp, and find out more about auto-claim policies here: https://bit.ly/3SjVdK3.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guides

The Dynamics team do a great job of keeping their Licensing Guides up-to-date. Read on for the news about the changes and additions over the last few months.

November 2023 Licensing Guide

  • Removal of the 1-year licences for the Fraud Protection offerings

December 2023 Licensing Guide

  • The Field Service User SL now includes access to Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist
  • The Field Service Contractor User SL is added to page 16, and you can find out more on our blog: https://bit.ly/4biwD4L

January 2024 Licensing Guide

  • The Finance Premium User SL is added to pages 18 and 19, and you can find out more on our blog: https://bit.ly/4birM3Q
  • The Operations Database capacity that is accrued for each individual Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce and Project Operations User SL is increased from 1.5 GB to 4 GB – see page 38
  • There’s a new option to purchase Dataverse / Operations Additional Database Capacity in increments of 1 TB – see page 40
  • Power Virtual Agents is replaced throughout by Copilot Studio, and you can find out more on our blog: https://bit.ly/3Uie6zq