Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Excellent Microsoft Licensing Solution For Small Businesses

Open Value is a licensing option that a lot of SMB's should take advantage of.

From Microsoft:

Microsoft Open Value and Open Value Subscription Overview

Microsoft® Open Value and Open Value Subscription are for small to midsize organizations with five or more desktop PCs that want a flexible and affordable way to use and manage Microsoft licensed products under a single agreement. The Microsoft Open Value and Open Value Subscription programs offer license management tools and better control of your software license costs and investment. Open Value and Open Value Subscription provide flexibility to acquire licenses or add product licenses as needed. Additional cost savings are available when standardizing desktop PC licensed product organization-wide.

Open Value and Open Value Subscription also offer the advantages of Microsoft Software Assurance for Volume Licensing, Microsoft’s comprehensive offering that helps you get the most out of your software investment.

More than just maintenance, Software Assurance is a complete solution that delivers both software and services to bring more value to your business. Software Assurance combines a broad range of benefits including rights to new software versions, training, deployment services and support. Benefits cover all phases of the software lifecycle—plan, deploy, use, maintain, and transition – so you can get help when you need it. Access to these valuable benefits can help you manage costs, get the most out of new technologies, and improve employee and organizational productivity.

Open Value and Open Value Subscription offer many benefits, including:

Simplified License Management

  • You get a single agreement for all Microsoft licensed product within a territory, including qualified affiliates in other countries.
  • You can upgrade at any timeno need to track versions or open new agreements.
  • You can transition new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) licenses onto your agreement by purchasing Software Assurance.

Ability to Take Control of Your Investment

· With the Software Assurance New Version Rights benefit, you receive rights to new versions of licensed products to deploy at your convenience.

· Software Assurance offers benefits such as Packaged Services, Training Vouchers and 24x7 Problem Resolution Support so that you can take advantage of consulting services, training and support to help you deploy your new software.

  • You can upgrade licensed product company-wide while staying within budget.

More Licensing Flexibility

· Open Value and Open Value Subscription give you a single platform option, which allows you to choose components from the Windows® Desktop Operating System upgrade, the Microsoft Office system, and Client Access Licenses (CALs) under a single platform for every desktop PC in your organization. The custom platform option allows customers with the Open Value Company-wide option or with Open Value Subscription to continue Software Assurance coverage on multiple product versions rather than only on the latest version

· You also have the option to choose Microsoft’s latest offerings in midsize business solutions with Windows Essential Business Server. If your organization requires Microsoft’s enterprise solutions, Microsoft Office Enterprise, Windows Server Enterprise Edition CAL, and Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) are now available.

· Government customers have the option of a one-year or three-year agreement with Open Value Subscription to better accommodate single year budget requirements for government.

Better Management of Your Software Costs

· Spread payments with the Software Assurance Spread Payments benefit which reduces up-front costs and helps you forecast annual budget requirements with predictable annual payments.

  • You have rights to new software version releases with Software Assurance New Version Rights to help you lower the costs of acquiring software licenses while simplifying procurement and forecasting.Company-wide licensing provides additional savings.
You can read these two documents for greater details
Open_Value_2008_ProgramGuide.docx

or visit Microsoft Volume Licensing