Microsoft volume licensing costs to increase up to 33.5%

UK businesses that purchase Microsoft products under volume licensing will have to pay up to 33% more beginning July 1.

Microsoft will increase its UK volume licensing prices between 7.5 and 33.5% to adjust for the sustained currency differences between European countries and to ensure greater consistency between pound sterling price list and the equivalent Euro price list.

The majority of UK business customers who purchase Microsoft products from partners buy through Microsoft’s Open Volume Licensing Programme, which will increase 7.5% starting in July, according to the vendor.

IT customers are concerned but don’t want to rush into decisions because of the perceived impact of price increases, said Pierre Hall, director of workplace and software solutions at Computacenter Ltd.

“The licensing changes have definitely caused a material increase in queries from our customers,” Hall added.

There are typically two reactions to the price increase, Hall said. Customers that have invested strategically in Microsoft technology want to accelerate both their purchase and deployment plans to mitigate the price increases. 

Then there are organisations that work with partners and service providers to understand the impact of the pricing changes because their technology selection and deployment timelines are protracted, he explained.

Microsoft licensing updates
Microsoft volume licensing programmes impacted by the price increase include Open License, Enterprise Agreement, Enterprise Subscription Agreement, Enrollment for Education Solutions, Select/Select Plus, Open Value/Open Value Subscription, Microsoft Online Subscription Program, Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA), and Independent Software Vendor Royalty Program (ISVR).

While Open licensing costs go up by 7.5%, other licensing programmes will see a steeper increase.

For instance, SPLA and ISVR programmes and Open Value/Open Value Subscription will have an average price increase of 33.5%. 

The Enterprise Agreement prices will increase by an average of 25% and the Select Plus agreement prices will increase by an average of 24%, according to information from Computacenter UK Ltd., an IT infrastructure services provider to business in the UK and Europe, on its website.

Microsoft Hyper-V customers will also have to pay more.

Hyper-V is purchased through Windows Server and prices will increase related to the programme it is bought through, according to a Microsoft spokesperson. Those programmes include Enterprise Agreement, Select Plus, Open Value/Open Value subscription and Open licensing.

The pricing changes affect only volume licensing programmes and will not apply to Windows, Office or other products sold to consumers through retailers or pre-installed on PCs, said Scott Dodds, Microsoft UK general manager of marketing and operations.

The changes will not affect the academic on-premises discounts either, he added.

The public sector, health and charities volume licensing programmes will continue to be supported by the current government framework – Microsoft Public Sector Agreement (PSA09) which has been extended until June 30th 2012, Dodds said.

Further details of the pricing structure that will apply from July 1 will be communicated later, he said.