Deciding whether to renew Software Assurance (SA) is an important aspect of every Microsoft agreement renewal. As businesses shift on-premises workloads to the cloud, it is important to consider the cloud benefits that SA provides versus the cost of maintaining SA on perpetual licenses. This is especially true for SQL Server, which is eligible for […]
Based on data from Evolve Cloud Services optimization and licensing assessments, SQL Server 2016 continues to make up over 20% of an organization’s total SQL Server deployment on average. As SQL Server 2016 End of Support (EOS) approaches, it is critical for businesses to explore their EOS options as soon as possible. Early planning will
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
Did you know that Microsoft restricts Windows Server bring-your-own-licensing (BYOL) on AWS and Google Cloud to Windows Server 2019 and prior versions? Are you planning to upgrade to Windows Server 2022/2025 as Windows Server 2016/2019 near the end of support? Should you modernize these workloads and leave the cost and licensing complexity of running Windows
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
