April 9, 2024
Microsoft Licensing News
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) Features are going to be moving to Microsoft 365 Admin Center
WHEN: starting April 2023
Microsoft is transitioning volume licensing capabilities to M365 Admin Center to enable customers to manage on-premises software, on-line services, and subscriptions in one site accessed by a single Log in ID.
Starting April 2023, some VL features will no longer be available in the VLSC, and users will be redirected to MAC instead. VLSC will continue to display tabs for each of these features, but users who click on them will be re-directed to the relevant page on the MAC. There should be no requirement to sign in again.
To view volume licensing in the M365 Admin Center you must have registered a license ID (volume licensing agreement or enrolment) in the VLSC.
After registering in the VLSC and signing into MAC at least once, it won't be necessary to return to VLSC for those VL features that are present in the MAC. To navigate to the volume licensing features directly, go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center (MAC) Billing > Your products > Volume licensing for the following features.
- Downloads & Keys
- License Summary - labelled "Contracts" in MAC
- Relationship Summary - included in "Contracts" in MAC
Meanwhile, work continues to transition the remaining VLSC functions, specifically Manage Users and Manage Online Service Reservations, over to M365 Admin Center.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: New Intune offerings have launched
WHEN: March 1, 2023
Intune is becoming a family of offerings, rather than one specific product. The legacy Intune per User license has been renamed to Intune Plan 1. This is the plan you will find included in the Microsoft 365 Suites. The new products are Intune Plan 2 and Microsoft Intune Suite, which are both offered as an add on to Plan 1.
You can learn more about plans and pricing here.
Licensing Change Announcements for March 2023
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Citrix moving from per user to per device licensing for Virtual Apps and Desktops product
WHEN: Effective March 1st, 2023
Effective March 1st, 2023, Citrix has moved from per-user licensing to a per-device licensing model for their Virtual Apps and Desktops product. This means that businesses will need to purchase a license for each device that accesses Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, rather than a license for each user.
Citrix has also made some adjustments to their pricing tiers. They have introduced a new "Standard" tier for Virtual Apps and Desktops, which sits between the "Advanced" and "Premium" tiers. This new tier is designed to offer more affordable pricing for businesses with basic needs.
Overall, this news highlights how a thorough understanding of your deployments can help you stay on top of potential budget-altering licensing changes. Long View Systems is a Citrix Managed Services Provider and Reseller and our team can help you get aligned with these three take-aways that Citrix users should be considering:
- Businesses with a lot of devices will likely see an increase in licensing costs. If you're a Citrix user with a large number of devices accessing Virtual Apps and Desktops, now is the time for an assessment of your environment.
- The new per-device licensing model may be more flexible for some businesses. It’s worth fully understanding the benefits of moving to a shared or a "bring your own” device policy. The per-device model may work better for you than the per-user model for reasons other than budget.
- The new pricing tiers may offer more affordable options for some businesses. The introduction of the "Standard" tier may make Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops more accessible to smaller businesses with basic needs and may even help to offset some of that per-device increase.
While these announcements are significant, they’re not necessarily bad news: Citrix has been and will continue to be executing on 2023 plans that are focused on aligning and integrating with client and channel partners’ needs. The Managed Services option allows for monthly consumption-based billing as opposed to annual or multi-year renewals. Effective January 1 Citrix also moved to a “Partner-Led” model meaning that they are more reliant on partners like Long View for the sales and support of their products. Stay connect to these changes with Long View Systems and contact us if you’d like to understand how our teams can work for you.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Citrix New Offering and End of Renewal of Perpetual Software Maintenance
WHEN: March 6, 2023
Citrix is moving to a subscription model and discontinuing the sale of Perpetual Software Maintenance renewals which affects the following products:
- Perpetual software maintenance for all Citrix VDI products
- Perpetual software maintenance for all Workspace products
- Perpetually licensed NetScaler ADC MPX/SDX hardware and VPX/BLX software
WHAT'S HAPPENING: SolarWinds support changes for Database Mapper
WHEN: March 31, 2023
End of engineering (EOE) on SolarWinds Database Mapper, which means new service releases, hotfixes, etc., will no longer be supported by the engineering team. However, SolarWinds will address and remediate security fixes, and customers will still receive technical support until the EOL date.
SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support for Database Mapper after this date.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Pure Storage announced end of sale of first generation FlashBlade
WHEN: May 6, 2023
As of May 6th, all first-generation FlashBlade SKUs will become inactive. End of support on these products will be May 2028
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Sophos End of Sale early announcement for UTM and SG Series
WHEN: June 30, 2023
End of Sale has been announced for for UTM and SG Seriescan, however you can continue to purchase all new and renewal subscriptions until June 30, 2023.
After June 30, 2023:
- 3-year renewal subscriptions will no longer be sold
- 2-year, 1-year and 1-month renewal terms can be purchased as long as the end date does not extend beyond the EOL date, June 30, 2026
- All new subscriptions of any term (e.g., for a new firewall running Sophos UTM) will no longer be sold
- You can continue to run Sophos UTM with a valid license until June 30, 2026.