Category Archives: «Microsoft Audits»

Companies licensing Microsoft software under Enterprise Agreements (EAs) likely have familiarity with the default requirement to true up EA Enterprise Products based on any increase either in the number of “Qualified Devices” (generally, workstations capable of runni......

Microsoft’s Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is the principal licensing agreement for companies that want to use Microsoft products to deliver hosted software solutions over the Internet. Microsoft’s standard volume license agreements expressly prohibit usi......

Many businesses contact Scott & Scott, LLP regarding Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) audits after providing extensive information to Microsoft’s auditors and receiving compliance demands that would be ruinous for their bottom lines, if paid in full. At t......

In late August 2022, Microsoft announced significant changes to several of its licensing models that will have big impacts especially on cloud and hosted solution providers and the services they offer to their customers. While the new licensing terms are not set to be reve......

Many businesses have teams of third-party vendors to assist with their business operations or to provide independent services – like software development or website design – that require access to company servers. For Microsoft products like Windows Server that re......

Most providers of hosted software solutions traditionally have delivered those solutions over the Internet from their own servers. However, an increasing number of businesses are interested in outsourcing not only their internal-use IT infrastructure but also the systems......

Microsoft, like other software publishers, routinely audits customers to help ensure that it is protecting the value of its intellectual property.  Microsoft verifies its customers’ compliance using several methods. Contact Us Microsoft License Verification ......

Microsoft licensing is a complex, multi-faceted undertaking, with different rules and license metrics applying to different products. In the context of software audits initiated by Microsoft, it is important to keep in mind the fact that the auditors hired to perform tho......

Microsoft does not make licensing SQL Server easy, either under SPLA or under volume licensing agreements. Here are the three most significant problems that our clients face when trying to license that product: Four-Core Minimum – Microsoft allows SQL Server to be lic......

Most Microsoft software products – especially server products – can be licensed under multiple different models and metrics. SQL Server probably is the best example of a product that presents companies with multiple decision layers when analyzing new use cases: • C......

CTOs who have read Microsoft’s volume license agreements and product use rights documentation know that Microsoft has a special place in its heart for contractual “gray area.” To some extent, that fact likely arises from the practical impossibility of trying to acc......

In recent years, Microsoft seems to have been shifting an increasing volume of its license-compliance resources toward what it calls Software Asset Management (SAM) reviews. These “optional” engagements typically are proposed by Microsoft personnel with whom a compan......

Most software license agreements used by major publishers like Microsoft and IBM are in many ways vague with respect to license restrictions and metrics. This leaves licensees in the position of having to interpret the agreements based on whatever guidance may be availab......

Most software audits pertaining to products licensed under perpetual licenses (such as licenses acquired under a Microsoft Select Agreement, MPSA or (usually) Enterprise Agreement) incorporate a snapshot-in-time approach, where licenses owned generally are compared to deploy......

Many businesses that identify a need to acquire “commercial hosting rights” in connection with hosted solutions incorporating Microsoft software have two options for acquiring them: through a Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) with Microsoft or through the Self......

If your business model involves hosting applications, websites or data, chances are that Microsoft will require you to obtain and follow a SPLA. Businesses that use Microsoft software for internal use only, or where third-party access is anonymous or unauthenticated, do not ......

Following the conclusion of a software audit, Microsoft’s standard practice is to require an audited company to purchase licenses associated with calculated “unlicensed use” within a set period of time (typically, 30 days) following receipt of Microsoft’s settlem......

If your company licenses products to third parties under the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), you may receive a request to perform a self assessment and provide a certification of compliance to Microsoft.  The SPLA self-assessment audit is a new audi......

If your company uses a Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA)—and it probably does if Microsoft considers you to be in the commercial hosting business—you will be audited at some point. Typically, Microsoft SPLA customers are audited once every three yea......

Like most software publishers, Microsoft includes terms in its standard license agreements to restrict a licensee’s ability to resell or otherwise assign to another party the right to install or use software. Increasing the level of difficulty for IT groups trying to m......

If you provide commercial hosting services using Microsoft’s Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), you may become a target of an ever-increasing variety of license audits from Microsoft and its vendors.  The latest flavor of a Microsoft SPLA audit is the verified s......

It is common for software solution providers to use third-party products to support the functionalities those providers have developed for their solutions. For example, a network-monitoring solution may incorporate IBM Cognos functionality, or an accounting solution may in......

Microsoft’s Services Provider License Agreement (“SPLA”) is a popular licensing framework for businesses delivering hosted or rented software solutions to their customers. However, as with many software license agreements pertaining to resale or other business chan......

Many of our clients contact us regarding notices they received from Microsoft requesting an internal self-assessment of their license positions under their Services Provider License Agreements (SPLAs). Naturally, many of those clients have questions about that process and ......

Companies with experience licensing Microsoft software and services through Enterprise Agreements know that small forests could be felled to produce the paper required for the typical document stack. EAs often incorporate a dozen or more different components, including som......

Microsoft and Flexera recently announced a joint initiative that the two companies have touted as a way to transform “the software supply chain” through the use of a standard set of software asset management (SAM) solutions. By deploying Flexera’s FlexNetManager Suite ......

I previously presented my thoughts here regarding changes Microsoft made to its Product Terms pertaining to the Self-Hosted Applications benefit under Software Assurance. After publishing that entry, Microsoft reached out to me to clarify that the principal effect of the ch......

Earlier this year, with no fanfare (which is perhaps unsurprising), Microsoft implemented a significant change to its Product Terms pertaining to Software Assurance (SA) benefits that likely will have a significant licensing impact for companies that have taken advantage of ......

Microsoft, like other software publishers, routinely audits customers to help ensure that it is protecting the value of its intellectual property. Microsoft verifies its customers’ compliance using several methods. 1. Microsoft License Verification (also, Software Asset Ma......

Companies that have long relationships with Microsoft know that the company’s form licensing agreements have steadily evolved over time, and typically for the worse. If software licensing can be said to have any “natural laws,” certainly the First Law could be paraphra......

Microsoft is in the process of transitioning many of its volume-licensing customers from the Select Plus Agreement to the new Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA). (More information on the transition framework is available here.) A notable difference between the......

In the past, business consumers of Microsoft’s products and services have needed to reference at least two documents – the Product List and the Product Use Rights – to help determine the purchasing requirements and licensing rules applicable to those products and servi......

The Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is Microsoft’s preferred licensing option for businesses wanting to use Microsoft products in support of hosted software solutions made available to end users over the Internet. For many companies, SPLA is a good fit, in that ......

Microsoft Enterprise Agreements may represent attractive licensing options for larger companies with dynamic IT environments for which steady growth can be projected over a three-year term. However, smaller or mid-size companies with relatively static IT environments may exp......

Many online service providers are well aware that Microsoft’s Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) entails a licensing framework that can be difficult to manage. SPLA may be a great model for businesses seeking to “float” their license expenditures from month to ......

Microsoft’s MSDN subscription licenses often create license compliance problems.  These problems arise because it is extremely easy to over deploy Microsoft software using MSDN media because it includes a vast array of Microsoft products with limited deployment controls.�......

In any software audit, there are two over-arching categories of information that must be collected: data regarding what products are deployed on a business’ computers and records demonstrating the licenses that the business has acquired to use those products. With regard t......

Licensing Microsoft server products in any environment can be a challenging undertaking, given the complexity of some of Microsoft’s licensing rules. However, licensing Microsoft products for commercial hosting environments under a Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA......

In a typical Microsoft audit of software licensed under perpetual licenses, the auditors usually will compare installations of Microsoft products against licenses owned, and Microsoft will require the audited business to purchase additional licenses required to cover any gap......

Microsoft offers an array of software licensing options for its business customers. However, during an audit, the timing and course of the project typically follows a fairly well-worn path: 1. Kickoff meeting At this step, Microsoft’s hired auditors (typically PriceWa......

With the April 2014 versions of the Product Use Rights (PUR) (for volume licensees) and the Services Provider Use Rights (SPUR) (for services providers under SPLA), Microsoft has implemented significant changes to several usage rights associated with fail-over or disaster-re......

As discussed previously, providers of software hosting services may deploy on their servers Microsoft products licensed by their customers under two different scenarios, one of those being where the hosting provider has dedicated a physical server for use by the customer pro......

Like any good business, many providers of hosted IT solutions prefer to demonstrate flexibility in offering services to their customers. For example, a company that offers hosted Exchange services may want to allow their customers to use perpetual licenses the customers purc......

For several years now, Microsoft has offered some of its customers the “opportunity” to have third-party licensing consultants (selected by Microsoft) review those customers’ Microsoft product deployments and determine whether those customers have all of the licenses n......

Many businesses running virtual servers with shared physical infrastructures have encountered significant audit exposure arising from the fact that, according to Microsoft, the physical machines in a clustered arrangement may be “running” any number of Windows Server ins......

Hosting services customers often want to use licenses that they have acquired to deploy Microsoft software on a service provider’s servers. Those customers need to be wary about such deployments, as applicable license terms may restrict their ability to deploy the products......

One of the first steps we typically recommend to businesses facing software audits from any source is to try to estimate the financial exposure related to those audits. Doing so allows a company to allocate its resources more efficiently and to set aside reserves or make oth......

In a past entry, I mentioned the SPLA Qualification Road Map as a helpful document for companies to use when trying to determine the appropriate license model for Microsoft products deployed in connection with hosted services. Again, the road map takes the form of a flowchar......

We write extensively at this site about some of the finer points pertaining to licensing software under Microsoft’s Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). However, some businesses new to the model often ask us much more basic questions, like: What is SPLA, and is it r......

Businesses that have endured audits initiated by Microsoft in connection with Services Provider License Agreements (SPLAs) are all too aware that Microsoft’s auditors spare no effort in identifying opportunities to increase the total amount of the compliance purchases dema......

Businesses wanting to license Microsoft products for use in connection with solutions delivered to customers over the Internet need to remember proper licensing involves answering two questions: • Are users “accessing” the software? • Is that access “commercial ......

Many companies using Microsoft products to deliver services to their customers are familiar with the “commercial hosting” prohibition included in most Microsoft license agreements: You may not host the products for commercial hosting services. Most CIOs reading that proh......

An increasing number of enterprises are considering the value of Microsoft’s enterprise-level licensing models. The model with which companies are most familiar likely is the Enterprise Agreement (“EA”), under which a business licenses all of its desktops for Windows, ......

Microsoft audits – especially for larger companies – often are resource-intensive and exhausting undertakings even for the most well prepared IT teams. However, certain aspects of such audits often present more challenges than others. In our experience, the most difficul......

Most business owners are familiar with the “traditional” server-plus-client licensing scheme for many Microsoft server software products, such as Windows Server operating systems, Exchange messaging software and SQL Server database software. That is, you purchase one lic......

The basic model for licensing Microsoft server software – both for operating systems and for applications – is to purchase a license permitting the installation of the software on a server and a number of client-access licenses (CALs) equal to the number of users or devi......

Many organizations allow their users to access desktop applications like Microsoft Office through Citrix, which is often used to control the number of users who can access the software at any one time. These organizations need to carefully evaluate whether they are legally a......

Many businesses struggle with the task of determining what kinds and quantities of licenses are needed in order to deploy Microsoft operating systems and client-accessed applications on their servers. The first step in that process often is the most difficult: decidin......

Microsoft offers its employees an opportunity to buy discounted software if they agree to restrictive usage terms when purchasing from the Microsoft Company Store. In addition to the online Microsoft Company Store, employees may go to one of a few different physical location......

The Business Software Alliance (“BSA”) and Software Industry & Information Association (“SIIA”) work on behalf of their members (the lists of which include Microsoft (for the BSA), Adobe, and Autodesk, among others) to enforce copyrights and the terms of end user......

Businesses seeking to license older versions of Microsoft products may encounter challenges acquiring valid licenses.  This is a particular concern for some companies that utilize Microsoft products as the basis for their IT infrastructure and that want to avoid a costly mi......

Generally when purchasing new software online, or upgrading existing software, a box pops up on the computer that says “Agree to Terms”.  Most people simply check the appropriate box and click next without reading the fine print.  This can be troublesome when the Busin......

Use terms of Microsoft server products can be complex and difficult to interpret.  Microsoft SQL Server licensing rules for use in virtual environments demonstrate that a careful review of the use terms is necessary to avoiding copyright or contract violations. The current ......

Most businesses seeking to license Microsoft software for the purpose of delivering hosted software solutions over the Internet turn first to the company’s Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). SPLA is Microsoft’s flagship licensing model for commercial hosting ser......

When I heard a Microsoft executive recently explain its new approach to software license compliance enforcement, I couldn’t believe my ears. Statements like, “Microsoft does not endorse audits,” and “Microsoft believes that most of its customers want to be in com......

I previously have discussed what "commercial hosting" means when it comes to Microsoft software, but the universe of problems created by the "hosting" ambiguity obviously is bigger than just Microsoft. Almost all software publishers restrict or prohibit - to varying degrees......

Business software buyers increasingly are aware of the significant changes that Microsoft will be implementing to the license metrics for SQL Server when version 2012 of the popular database solution is released this April. However, of potentially equal or even greater signi......

Independent software vendors (ISVs) constitute a diverse group of businesses whose core business model typically consists of utilizing third-party software infrastructure and development platforms (such as Microsoft SQL Server or IBM WebSphere Application Server) to create t......