3 Tips To Help Your Clients Take The Sting Out Of Microsoft Licensing

By Don Boxley, DH2i

With the release of SQL Server 2012, Microsoft transitioned from a per-processor to a pre-core licensing model. One might suppose, that with the advent of ever-larger core-count processors, Microsoft saw an opportunity and took action. While this change may not have hit your clients’ radar screen yet, it will in a few months, and when it hits — it will hurt. 

By April 2015, all per-processor-based Enrollment Application Platform (EAP) agreements will be forced to transition to a per-core licensing model (see the licensing definitions from Microsoft). For the most part, this means that your clients need to accept the fact that they need to write-off another large chunk of their limited budget to Microsoft licensing. (See Why Your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Renewal Costs May Explode Over the Next Three Years for an explanation.) So … this means that they will likely not be in any position to even consider that important new initiative and corresponding technology investment (which was also going to help them to better meet business demand — which as you know, can many times justify added budget for additional technology investment to further enable business agility and growth).

So, what can you do?  You can’t change Microsoft’s mind on this, and of course you need to help your clients to remain fully license-compliant. The good news is that with a bit of advanced planning, you could help your clients to save boatloads of cash. 

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