New Version Rights with SA
By Mark Mauermann
Summary: A common question that comes across our desk, especially around new Product launches is: “I have active Software Assurance (SA) coverage on my licenses and a new version has just been released. My SA is about to expire, do I have rights to this new version?”
Blog: Among other things, “New Version Rights for Software Assurance” can be one of the more attractive and valuable SA benefits. As outlined in the Product List, for any licensed product covered with active SA, you’re given the right to upgrade and run the latest version of that product that is “made available” during the coverage term. ”Made Available” effectively means the earlier of the date that Microsoft makes the product available for ordering, or the date that the product is available for download from the VLSC website.
The entire reason I’ve written this post is to address a point of confusion that several of my customers had with the release of some of the Office 2013 and the Office 2013 Server Products. Microsoft releases a price list on the first of each month. This means that anytime a new product is released through Volume Licensing, it will be made available for purchase on the first of the month. For instance, Office 2013 and the related server Products such as SharePoint, Lync and Exchange were released in Volume Licensing on December 1st, 2012. However, these products were added to the VLSC website for download on October 28th, 2012. The end result? Customers with active SA in October 2012, were given rights to use the newer 2013 version Office, and Office Server Products because they were “made available” during the time of their active SA coverage.
Some customers also ask, do I have to renew SA to receive the “New Version Rights for Software Assurance?” Although these customers can choose to renew their SA coverage at their next opportunity or they can choose not renew and ultimately, because their SA was active when the product was added to the VLSC website – they have perpetual rights* to use these Products. They have the right to upgrade and use them immediately, or wait till a later date to do so even if their SA coverage expires. What matters is that they were covered with active SA at the time the product was “made available”.
(*Note- as long as they have a perpetual Agreement type and not a subscription agreement where the licenses are provided for the duration of the subscription but have no perpetual use rights associated)
Inevitably, the next question that comes our way is, “How do I tell when these products were added to the VLSC website?” In all cases, customers can refer to the Product List. I have included an example above.
The first part of the Product List contains a table, which among other things, lists the date available for all products. As highlighted above, the date available is 10/12 – which in this case, indicates the products were added to the VLSC in October 2012.
In closing, “New Version Rights for Software Assurance” rights are given to the customer when the product is made available for sale on the Price List, or when the product is added to the VLSC website – whichever comes first. If you do not have access to the VLSC to check when a product was added, you can refer to the Product List as show in the example above.
This is one scenario, and licensing situation. Each customer scenario can vary by deployment, usage, product version, and product use rights. Always check your contract, and the current Products Use Rights document to confirm how your environment should be fully licensed. The blogging team does not warrant that this scenario will be the right licensing solution for other similar cases.