Previously we had Current Branch and Current Branch for Business, now we’ve got the Current Channel and the Deferred Channel.
If you’ve heard of the First Release for Current Branch for Business then that’s now the First Release for Deferred Channel and is essentially a preview of the next Deferred Channel release.
You can find Microsoft’s announcement of these name changes here: http://bit.ly/1O6sn51.
In September 2014, Microsoft introduced Shared Computer Activation (SCA) so that Office 365 ProPlus could be installed on a server and then used by users with shared hardware.
There were restrictions on the server which was used – if it wasn’t a customer-owned server then it had to be a Service Provider server dedicated to the customer’s use, or Windows Azure.
From January 2016 the rules have changed, and now shared Service Provider servers are eligible too – as long as the partner meets the requirements to be an “Authorized SCA Partner”.
You can see this change detailed on page 19 of the January 2016 Online Services Terms document, and a great resource for both customers and partners is the SCA site here: http://bit.ly/23675Q0
E5 is the new Office 365 plan which arrived in December 2015 and it’s available through commercial and government Volume Licensing programs. This includes the MPSA – but what product pool is it in? Servers? Applications? Half and half? The December 2015 Product Terms is updated to remove the ambiguity around this question and you can see it’s the Applications pool on page 58.
It’s December 1st and Office 365 E5 is added to the December 2015 Product Terms as expected. Page 58 tells us that there will be a full USL, an Add-on USL, and a From SA USL, with availability through the different Volume Licensing programs matching that of its best buddy E3.
If you’re not sure what’s in this brand new suite, then head over to the December 2015 Online Services Terms document where the table on page 26 has been updated to show the various components.
Many of these components are new (Office 365 Delve Analytics for example), and these are added to the Product Terms as standalone licences too.
Microsoft announce plans to deliver commercial cloud services from data centres in multiple cities within the UK, with Azure and Office 365 available in late 2016 and Dynamics CRM Online shortly afterwards.
The Microsoft Cloud will also be available in Germany during the second half of 2016 where access to customer data will be controlled by a Data Trustee under German Law.
See the announcement here: http://bit.ly/20UNcuf.
Microsoft announce new ways for customers to acquire Office 365, Power BI and CRM Online.
Firstly, there will be a CRM Online Professional Add-on to Office 365 E3, E5 and Business Premium, which will cost $50 per user per month.
Then we can also expect to see a new, low-cost Employee Self-Service licence for CRM Online.
You can find the announcement, along with information on the new features of CRM 2016, here: http://bit.ly/1GTderi.
From November 1st there are Bridge CALs available for Open Value customers.
When do you need a Bridge CAL? Well, if you’ve got an enterprise wide commitment to Office and a CAL Suite but want to transition to either EMS or Office 365 then you need a way to continue to pay for the on-premises components that haven’t transitioned – and that’s the Bridge CAL. They’ve been available in the Enterprise Agreement for a few years and now Open Value customers are able to buy them too.
See page 14 of the November 2015 Product Terms document.
The feature updates for Office 365 ProPlus are managed in a similar (but not quite the same) way as for Windows 10.
There’s a Current Branch and Current Branch for Business, but no Long Term Servicing Branch – if you want a static version of Office then you’ll need to deploy Office Professional Plus 2016.
There is, however, a First Release for Current Branch for Business to give organisations a chance to evaluate the CBB build before deployment.
There are some good explanations and diagrams in this TechNet article – it’s definitely worth a look: http://bit.ly/1Ov0l8Q.
The Home Use Program FAQ site is updated for Office 2016.
Of note:
Find the full FAQ here: http://bit.ly/1GCAXWM.
There are two updated Volume Licensing Briefs for October 2015: “Licensing Office 365 ProPlus in VL” and “Licensing Microsoft Office Software in VL”.
There are no major changes, the documents are just updated for the removal of the Office Multi Language Pack as an SA benefit – it’s now included with the licence, and the possibilities of Shared Computer Activation – including running Office 365 ProPlus in Azure.
Get the briefs here: http://bit.ly/MSvlbriefs.