What is Microsoft Volume Licensing?
The Microsoft Volume License program is the name under which users purchase different licenses for multiple users or multiple devices at the same time. The four different licensing programs that fall under Volume License are: Open License, Open Value, MPSA (Select) and Enterprise Agreement.
How does Microsoft Volume Licensing work ?
Microsoft Volume Licensing makes it easier and cheaper for organizations to purchase software for multiple users and devices within an organization. By purchasing licenses through the Microsoft Volume Licensing program, you only pay for the software license itself. However, under Open Value and Enterprise Agreements you can also choose to rent, lease or purchase the licenses. The Microsoft Volume License program is intended for business customers, both large and small. In some purchasing options you have an option to purchase Software Assurance while in other agreements it is included .
What types of Volume Licenses are there?
As mentioned earlier, there are 4 different licensing options within the Microsoft Volume license program: Open License, Open Value, MPSA (Select) and Enterprise Agreement. Below we provide more information about the different types.
Enterprise Agreement
The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement is a licensing program for which an organization is eligible if it has more than 250 desktops (there is standardization on these desktops). The required number of licenses are purchased after an annual count of the number of standardized workplaces. The price for the Enterprise Agreement licenses is then fixed for a period of three years. After the 3-year period, the licenses become perpetual, which means that you may use the relevant version and edition of the software forever. In addition to renting licenses from Enterprise Agreement, you can also rent them. In this case you are entering into an Enterprise Subscription Agreement.
Open Value
The Open Value licenses offer an organization great flexibility. Firstly, you have the choice to lease-purchase or rent the licenses. In addition, the Open Value licenses also take into account whether workplace standardizations are used within the company or not. If you purchase at least five licenses for any Microsoft products, or want to implement workplace standardization for at least five devices, then the Open Value licensing program is available for your organization.
If you use workplace standardization, you only have to count the number of devices within your organization once a year, on the contract date, and then pay based on that number. As with the Enterprise agreement, the Open Value contract term is three years.
Open License
With Microsoft’s Open License program, you can purchase licenses perpetually and pay directly for these licenses. After you purchase at least 5 licenses for Microsoft products via the Open License program, you are completely free to choose the number and type of licenses for a period of 2 years.
Important! From December 2021, Microsoft will abolish Open License and it will therefore no longer be possible for organizations to purchase Volume licenses via Open License.
MPSA formerly Select
The MPSA (Select) licensing program works with a so-called ‘ pay -as- you -go’ licensing model. This makes it easy to maintain and adjust a mixed software environment.
In the licensing program you have the options to choose the “normal” MPSA licenses or the Select Plus licenses. The standard Select license agreements are established for a period of 3 years (Software Assurance optional). Select Plus agreements are perpetual and you have the option of up to 36 months of Software Assurance.
Cheap second-hand Microsoft Volume licenses
Partly by abolishing the Open License program, Microsoft is trying to push more and more customers towards Microsoft Cloud products. While many organizations are still very content with on- premise licenses. Did you know that you can save a lot of money by buying second-hand used (on- premise ) licenses? Second-hand licenses work exactly the same as new ones. The only difference is that you can sometimes save up to 70% on the costs of these licenses . We at Q- Advise have years of experience with the purchase and sale of second-hand Microsoft licenses. Because we are independent, we can provide you with transparent advice. Together with you, we look at the wishes and needs of your organization before making a decision that best suits it.
Want to know more about Microsoft Volume licenses or second- hand licenses ? Please contact the Microsoft licensing experts at Q- Advise !
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