Microsoft SQL Server powers mission-critical enterprise workloads across countless organizations, but this power comes with expensive enterprise licensing. Companies are increasingly exploring ways to manage these costs, from right-sizing existing workloads to considering open-source alternatives and complete SQL Server migration. In cloud computing, where costs directly correlate with utilization, the first step should always be […]
In 2024 Microsoft announced that certain customers will be unable to renew their Enterprise Agreements (EA) at expiration. While this change is limited to a small percentage of organizations, it could be indicative of future changes that may have an impact on a broader audience. What did Microsoft Announce? On November 12th, 2024, Microsoft announced:
Microsoft updated to the Service Provider Use Rights (SPUR) to remove the option for service providers to use their own Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) licenses in Listed Provider environments (AWS, Google Cloud, Alibaba, Azure) after October 1, 2025. Service providers impacted by this change are advised to contact EVOLVE Cloud Services for help optimizing and/or modernizing their cloud deployments.
While often overlooked, the software licensing costs associated with workloads that you move to the cloud are 3 to 4 times the costs of all other cloud operational costs (compute, network & storage). As a result, it’s imperative that you understand the licensing impact, both from a cost optimization and compliance perspective, for any new
We have been seeing more and more customers over the last year either put themselves into a compliance issue or lose their long term licensing flexibility because they do not understand their licensing rules & options regarding Windows Server licensing subscriptions and their use in the Public Cloud. Microsoft made some significant licensing changes that
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on cloud and software licensing strategies for most companies. The need for increased flexibility & scalability has accelerated cloud migration timelines. Staff reductions, ability to scale both up and down and the need to cut costs have also had companies re-evaluating the best licensing strategy to implement
It’s fascinating how quickly companies perceptions have evolved over the last few years when it comes to cloud computing. Just thinking back to conversations that we had with customers about moving their server infrastructure to the public cloud, the typical responses went something like this: 2016 – “We are never moving to the cloud!” 2018
On August 1, 2019, Microsoft announced a significant licensing change that has a major impact on current and future AWS and other Public Cloud provider workloads. The intent behind this change was to make a clear distinction between licensing rights for Microsoft software on hardware leased and managed by traditional outsourcers verses dedicated hosted services
