The April 2016 Hosting and Cloud Service Provider newsletter is out with some useful information: you can attend a webcast on recent updates to the SPLA licensing program with Microsoft’s Michael Chacon on 9th June – this link will add the appointment to your calendar: http://bit.ly/24U9HAv – and there are details of your transition options if you’re a partner in the retiring Hosting competency.
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The March 2016 Hosting and Cloud Service Provider newsletter is out.
There are a couple of topics of licensing interest: firstly, E5 is now a qualifying CAL for the Skype for Business Server Enterprise and Plus SALs for SA.
Then there’s a reminder to report only the products shown on the published SPUR – for example, a Service Provider who uses SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard should report SQL Server 2014 Standard Core licences.
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If you’re a Cloud Solution Provider partner selling Azure then this Getting Started guide from Microsoft is worth a look.
There’s useful information on the Azure admin portals, the relationship between tenants, subscriptions and services, and how to use the various parts of the Partner Center.
You’ll also find links to useful resources and how to get help from Microsoft.
Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/1KUBdbF.
The February 2016 Hosting and Cloud Service Provider newsletter is out.
It’s got articles on the new Azure Hybrid Use Benefit and the changes to the Shared Computer Activation rights allowing Office 365 ProPlus to be deployed in third-party multi-tenant environments. There are also links for partners to useful Azure in CSP resources.
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Microsoft announce that the minimum requirements for both the subscription and perpetual flavours of the Enterprise Agreement will go from 250 users/devices to 500 from 1st July 2016.
The recommendation for smaller customers is to buy through the MPSA or CSP, but existing customers CAN renew their EA by extending it for an additional 36-month term if they want to – even after 1st July.
Read the full Microsoft blog post here: http://bit.ly/1Klwhfg
The December 2015 Hosting and Cloud Service Provider newsletter is out.
It’s got links to recent topics of interest in the hosting world: the launch of E5, licensing changes for Windows Server and System Center 2016, and the changes to Licence Mobility for SA rights which allow customers to fail-over to shared hardware.
There are also links to useful CSP resources and the next quarterly licensing webcast on 20 January, 2016.
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The October 2015 Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter is out.
There are two things of particular note if licensing is your thing; firstly, there’s a recap of the news that Microsoft will soon allow customers to bring their own Windows Server and Windows 10 licences to Azure, and the FAQ is worth a look (http://bit.ly/1jeqDj6).
Then there’s an announcement of a new digital workshop if you want to gain a better understanding of the CSP licensing model which is free for partners to register for (http://bit.ly/1k4TzdG).
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The September 2015 Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter is out.
There are three things of particular note; firstly, the launch of a new SPLA contract (SPLA 2016) on 1 December 2015 – the old contract may be used up to 1 March 2016. Then there’s a new format for the SPUR starting on 1 December 2015 where it will also start to be published monthly, and finally, if you’re interested in the Cloud Solution Provider program then there are workshops all around the world you can register for: http://bit.ly/1L4ENPf.
Sign up for the newsletter here: http://bit.ly/1iVEvxV.
The Cloud Solution Provider program allows partners to provide a complete managed cloud solution for their customers. The program is growing – Azure and CRM Online have recently been added and the program itself is available in 131 markets.
If you want to find out more about CSP there’s an extremely comprehensive FAQ site here (http://bit.ly/1Unlh1V) with over 230 questions covering the products, contracts and billing, and available admin tools.