If your hosted application meets the definition of a unified solution, you can license the environment using a volume licensing agreement instead of an SPLA. Companies that own and host an application directly for the end-user customer without third-party intervention may not need an SPLA. Self-hosting only applies if the Licensee possesses the business logic, content or data and provides the Service under its own brand with its own intellectual property. Self-hosting use cases can be licensed with an internal volume license with external connector licenses to cover client access. According to Microsoft rules, apps are considered self-hosted only if they are explicitly approved by Microsoft (e.B. SQL Server and Windows Server) if they are used exclusively in conjunction with a “Unified Solution”, if they are the primary service and/or application and the only access point of the Unified Solution, and if they are provided to end users via the Internet or a private network from the datacenter. Microsoft`s standard product usage rights prohibit the use of its commercial hosting infrastructure. Therefore, companies in the commercial hosting sector need an SPLA. Assuming that non-anonymous third parties access the hosted solution, you should ask yourself the most critical question: “Does Licensee grant access to software applications or data used for third party business operations?” If the answer is yes, you are hosting for third parties and you may need an SPLA. With lol Cloud Help, Microsoft enables service providers to offer hosting, outsourcing, and other services, avoid upfront costs, plan the licensing budget, and pay only for what you use. Robert represents medium and large enterprises in software licensing transactions and litigation with major software vendors such as Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
He has defended more than 250 software audit cases initiated by software piracy trading groups such as BSA and SIIA. He advises some of the world`s largest companies on information technology issues, including intellectual property licensing, risk management, data protection and outsourcing. 4. Be owned and unlicensed, except that its software may contain non-essential third-party software integrated or exploited to support its software. SPLA stands for Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA). The main difference between an SPLA license and a license that comes with a boxed product (similar to something you`d buy at a retail store) is the person using the software. The software you buy from a retail store can only be used by the person who bought it. SPLA, on the other hand, is designed for hosting companies that offer software as a service to their customers. This is for third-party access, not for internal employee access. For example, if an organization wants to host an Exchange server on behalf of another organization, the Exchange license required for that access will be SPLA. Other common examples of organizations that use SPLA are companies like Rackspace, Go Daddy.
What is Microsoft SPLA? A Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is one of the many licensing programs microsoft offers to access its software product offerings. While other licensing programs offered by Microsoft, such as enterprise agreements and open licensing programs, allow users to access Microsoft products but not host Microsoft products, an SPLA allows licensees to host certain Microsoft programs. SPLA is a one-month licensing program. If a service provider has 10 users who have access to the software in February, it will pay for those 10 users in the first week of March. In March, if they have 10 users, they would report those 10 users in the first week of April and so on. SPLA is very flexible, it allows use up and down monthly. It is not indefinite, after the end of the service contract, no one actually owns the licenses. Think of SPLA as rented software designed for hosting companies that want to offer Microsoft software as a service. This program is only available to external users and is not designed for internal employees. For anything internal, you need to purchase a volume license agreement, not SPLA. If you operate commercial hosting in accordance with Microsoft`s policies and must be an SPLA provider, be very careful.
This can be risky, especially if you don`t follow the rules very carefully. Failure to comply with the rules can lead to lengthy and contradictory audit engagements and massive fines. And often, it`s not because companies deliberately break the rules; it`s because the rules are complicated. Generally, you are legally responsible for ensuring that Microsoft software runs on your computers, even if you have not deployed or used it. 1. Add important and core functionality to self-hosted applications that are part of the Unified Solution (dashboards, HTML editors, utilities, and similar technologies are not in themselves a core service and/or application of a Unified Solution); SPLA grants usage rights to third-party owners of these Microsoft licenses, so end customers who receive services provided on Microsoft software products do not need to purchase their own licenses. End customers have the right to interact directly or indirectly with Microsoft software features through the SPLA licensing service provider. Within two weeks, the contract must be approved by Microsoft Corp. Microsoft and LOL Cloud will send you a welcome email with the details of your new SPLA agreement. Even the signed and approved physical contract is sent directly by Microsoft. LOL Cloud sends the signed subcontract. 2.
be the primary service and/or application of the Unified Solution and must not allow any end user of the Unified Solution to directly access the self-hosted applications; If you need 2 licenses this month, you pay for two licenses, but if you use 30 next month, you pay 30 and then you can go back and pay only the initial 2 licenses or the amount you need. .