Adding Servers to Campus Agreement
Now is a good time to consider adding servers to a campus agrement (vs buying them off Select).
Never in the history of the company has there been more new applications and server products released than in the last 12 months. With many more new releases coming later this year.
Some of you may not be aware that in late December of 2006 Microsoft went through and slashed the pricing on all of its Server products by as much as half for our Campus Agreement customers. This allowed a number of customers to end the debate on whether it was more cost effective to purchase their Server Licenses through Academic Select or to put them on their Campus Agreement Enrollment on an ad-hoc basis.
As part of the new 3.5 Campus Agreement updates, which took effect in March of this year, and which all of you are grandfathered into, you can now add software products onto your existing Campus Agreement Enrollment at a prorated price point (no less than 6 months). This new pro-rated opportunity was not available previously and makes the decision even easier.
Many of you have inquired about Free Professional Support Incidents for Education – adding servers onto your Campus Agreement Enrollment provides you with that additional benefit:
Campus Agreement Volume Licensing Program server products are covered by Microsoft Software Assurance. CA customers meeting the minimum requirements are entitled to TechNet Software Assurance Subscription Services and TechNet Plus Direct.
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You are entitled to one User ID per enrollment. 1 |
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You are entitled to one subscription per enrollment. 1 |
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1Minimum of five server licenses must be acquired to qualify |
TechNet Plus DirectTechNet Plus Direct helps provide your IT staff with fast and convenient online access to the IT resources they need to do their jobs. Each TechNet Plus Direct subscription provides one user with access to the following benefits through an online portal for subscribers only: Two complimentary Professional Support incidents Note TechNet Plus Direct is licensed for one person only. Benefits cannot be shared. If more than one IT professional in your company would like access to the benefits, you can purchase additional TechNet Plus Direct subscriptions and TechNet Plus media subscriptions through Volume Licensing. |
CA/SA Enrollment must have at least 5 Server Licenses to qualify for this benefit.
If you have business initiatives that warrant the purchase of new Microsoft Server products, the time is truly now to add them onto your Campus Agreement Enrollment. If you have a Software Assurance payment coming due on your perpetually owned licenses, the cost of adding those products onto your Campus Agreement will be, in most instances, substantially less than renewing the SA. And when Servers are placed on the Campus Agreement Enrollment they are automatically covered by Software Assurance as part of the Campus Agreement Program. Older server software that is no longer supported, can be brought current at a fraction of the price of purchasing new perpetual licenses through Academic Select or Open License, simply by adding those previous version server software titles onto your Campus Agreement and using the upgrade rights to bring the software current.
One of the benefits of the Campus Agreement Program is that you can add servers onto your enrollment in an ad-hoc basis. So, rather than needing to cover all the servers in your server infrastructure, as is required with applications through the FTE calculation, you can pick and choose which servers you would like to add to your Campus Agreement Enrollment.
Now, I know many of you may be saying, “Ya, but Microsoft doesn’t come out with a new Server product version or R2 release often enough to warrant the annual renewal year after year.” I am happy to announce that has changed as well. Microsoft also announced when they reduced the prices in December of 2006 that our goal is to release a minor upgrade (R2 release) 2 years after a Full release, with another full release 2 years after that, so that the Software Assurance benefit could be exercised for additional value.
The Time is NOW to add servers onto your Campus Agreement Enrollment.
Exchange Server 2007
SQL Server 2008
Windows Server 2008
Office SharePoint Server 2007
System Center Configuration Manager 2007
System Center Data Protection Manager 2007
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007
System Center Operation Manager 2007
Windows HPC Server 2008
Please contact your account manager or your reseller directly for help in adding server products onto your current Campus Agreement Enrollment.