Microsoft has decided to increase its rate for Microsoft OLP licenses with effect from 1st September 2021. Here are the details:
5% wholesale price* increases for partners:
For on-premises products bought through the Open License program, occurring in a phased approach.
| Effective date | September 1, 2021 | October 1, 2021 | November 1, 2021 |
| Product family | Windows Server, RDS CAL, SQL Server
(on-premises products in the Open License program) |
Office Client
(on-premises products in the Open License program) |
Remaining on-premises products in the Open License program |
| Wholesale pricing increase | 5% | ||
| Segment | Commercial | ||
| Region | Worldwide | ||
December 31, 2021, is the last day to transact through the Open License program. In support of this, Microsoft is making changes to offers in the Open License Program to drive further adoption of perpetual software and cloud offers in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.
The upcoming changes are twofold and will leverage economic elements to navigate transactions away from the Open License program and instead drive towards the cloud offers in the Cloud Solution Provider program.
A price increase on the Estimated Retail Price (ERP) of 10% for certain EMS products and Office Professional Plus, Office Standard (on-premises), and the individual apps, was announced in February 2021, effective August 1, 2021, for EMS and October 1 for Office. Windows and RDS CAL pricing increases are effective September 1, 2021.
Dealers should be informed that December 31, 2021, is the last day to transact through the Microsoft Open License program. From January 1, 2022, partners and customers can no longer transact products in the Open License program. As of January 1, 2022, partners must be onboarded into the Cloud Solution Provider Program to transact perpetual software offers.
Therefore, between now and December 31, 2021, if your business has sales of perpetual software to customers through the Open License program, you will need to:
- onboard to the Cloud Solution Provider program if you have not done so already, and then
- transition Open License program customers sooner rather than later to the Cloud Solution Provider program for perpetual software needs or to the Open Value or Open Value Subscription programs for customers with Software Assurance need.
*This information is collated from the emailers sent to the Microsoft Resellers from the Microsoft distributors.
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