Microsoft Open License Programs

Microsoft Open License is a Volume Licensing program for small to mid-sized organisations that have fewer than 250 desktop PCs. The program provides a simple, flexible, and cost-effective way to buy the latest Microsoft technology to meet your organisation's needs and procurement procedures.

Benefits of Open License

Open License benefits include:

• A minimum purchase of just five licenses.
• Discounts off the retail price of software.
• A one-time transaction, so that you can pay at the time you purchase software.
• The rights to create a standard image and deploy it on multiple machines, and rights to transfer licenses from one machine to another.
• A single authorisation identification number that can be shared with qualified affiliate organisations.

Open License Options

The Microsoft Open License program offers three ways to simplify and save on software purchases:

Open Value is designed specifically to give you simplified license management, better management of software costs, and greater control over your IT investment. The Open Value option includes Software Assurance, an enhanced maintenance program from Microsoft that provides you with access to added benefits such as training, deployment planning, software upgrades, and product support.

The Open Value program offers three options: subscription, company-wide, and non–company-wide. Each is designed to meet different business needs. The subscription option is for organisations that prefer to subscribe to software products. For organisations that prefer to purchase software licenses, Open Value provides company-wide and non–company-wide purchasing options. The company-wide option offers simplified license management and additional discounts.

Open Business is ideal for organisations that want to pay for software licenses as they need them. This option helps give your organisation the flexibility to grow as your business needs increase.

Open Volume is designed for organisations that want to increase their up-front purchase in one or more product pools to gain deeper savings. The Open Volume option uses a system of product pools and points to establish purchase minimums for discounted prices.

With Open Volume, software products are grouped into three product pools: applications, systems, and servers. You can combine similar Microsoft software products in the product pools to receive volume pricing discounts. The applications pool includes products such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Project, Microsoft Office Visio, and Microsoft Visual Studio. The systems pool includes Microsoft Windows operating system upgrades such as Windows Professional Edition. The server pool includes products such as Microsoft Windows Standard Server Edition and Microsoft Exchange Server.

Software Assurance

Microsoft Software Assurance is a comprehensive maintenance offering that helps you get the most out of your software investment. It combines the latest software with Microsoft phone support available 24 hour a day, partner services, training, and IT tools that help customers deploy, manage, and migrate software. With Software Assurance, you can increase worker productivity, accelerate organisational performance, and quickly realise a return on your software investment.

You can choose Software Assurance at the time of purchase and begin using your benefits immediately for the term of your license agreement.