Some brief thoughts on Microsoft 365 Enterprise offers in combination with Extended Use Rights and Azure and Azure Stack HCI to data center consolidation, modernization, transformation and cost savings.

1. © 2019 Paul Morse https://www.usmicroserver.com 1
Microsoft 365 Enterprise Value Options
Microsoft365 Enterprise Editionsare,withoutadoubt,the mostvalue-ladensetof productsthatMicrosofthas
everofferedinasingle SKU. Microsoft365 E3 and E5 are comprisedof Office 365,Enterprise Mobilityand
Security( EMS) and Windows10 Enterprise and are offeredasa perusersubscription. The breadth,depthand
richnessof the extremelybroadandgrowingrange of featuresinMicrosoft365 is simplystunning. Onfirst
impressions,itappearsthatMicrosoft365 is a pure cloudplay.Meaningthat Microsoftwantscustomersto
operate entirelyin,andfrom, Microsoftcloudproperties.Fortunately,thisisnotentirelytrue.There isalittle-
knownlicensingbenefitthatenablesawide range of implementationandoperational optionsfororganizations
that may nothave the ability,ordesire,tofullymove toacloud-only operational model butcoulddefinitelytake
advantage of many of the Microsoft365 offerings aroundcollaboration,informationmanagement,securityand
more.Thisbrief documentexploressome of those options.
ExtendedUse Rights – Transition to cloudat your pace
In the MicrosoftProduct Termsfor Microsoft365, there isan ExtendedUse Rightsclause thathas the potential
to be veryuseful tomanyorganizationsthathave an infrastructure investmentinMicrosoftOffice servers.
Those serversinclude Exchange,SharepointandSkype forBusiness.The ExtendedUse Rightbasicallymeans
organizationscanrun Office serversoftware fornocharge – noServeror Cal License fees –forany userthat is
assignedaMicrosoft365 Subscription.The application optionsof these ExtendedUse Rightsrequiresdeep
considerationtodetermine if there trulyis valueembeddedinthem foranorganization.Forsome,the value
couldbe substantial dependingona varietyof factors. The textfor the ExtendedUse RightsforMicrosoft365 E3
and E5 fromthe November2019 ProductTermsdocument;
2.2 ExtendedUse Rights for Microsoft365 E3/E5
2.2.1 Office Servers
Each LicensedUserassignedaMicrosoft365 E3/E5 User SL may:
 install anynumberof copiesof the followingserversoftware onanyServerdedicatedtoCustomer’s
use:Exchange Server,SharePointServer,andSkype forBusinessServer;and
access to the above serversoftware isexclusive tothose usersassignedaMicrosoft365 E3/E5 User
SL or External Users.
DedicatedServers thatare underthe managementorcontrol of an entityotherthanCustomeror one of its
Affiliatesare subjecttothe OutsourcingSoftware Management clause.ThisprovisiondoesnotapplytoUser
SLs acquiredunderthe MicrosoftCloudAgreement.
For organizationsthatare consideringadoptingMicrosoft365, but donot want to immediatelytransitiontheir
Office Serverinfrastructure toall-cloudtechnologies,these ExtendedUse Rights canresultinsignificantcost
savingsforon-premisessoftwarewhile allowingthe organizationtoemployhigh-value security,productivity,
managementandWindows10 subscriptionswhiletheytransitiontoall-cloudoperationsovertime.

2. © 2019 Paul Morse https://www.usmicroserver.com 2
Consolidate and Modernize Data Centers
For organizationswithaginginfrastructure,includinglow-core-countserverfarms withantiquatedstorage
runninglarge numbersof clusteredOffice Servers,theseExtendedUse Rightscanbe verybeneficial if theywant
to modernize theirserverinfrastructure andemploy Hyper-ConvergedInfrastructure andreduce the size and
complexityof theirexistingdatacenterestate. Forexample,bymovingtoAzure StackHCI for on-premises
computing, andemployingahybridcloudcomputingmodel, theycanhave a consolidated,more efficient,and
significantlylowercost on-premises computeenvironmentthattheycanintegrate withMicrosoft365
technologiesof value andtransitionvariouson-premisesOffice Servers tothe cloud overtime andat their
desiredpace.
It needstobe notedhere that WindowsServerlicensesandCAL’sare not includedinthe Microsoft365
ExtendedUse Rights,sothe WindowsServerlicensesandCAL’swillstill be required.WithregardtoWindows
Serverlicenses,if the organizationcanachieve asignificantservercount reductionthrough consolidation and
movingtoa Hyper-ConvergedInfrastructure,the costsforthe Server,Management,Securityandotherlicenses
couldbe reducedas well.Further,if the organizationwantsto employ Azure technologieslikeAzure File-sync,
Site Recovery, Storage,Backupandotherservices aspartsof the overall solution,the on-premisesfootprintof
the entire computingenvironmentcan potentially be reducedsubstantially.
Conclusion
Everyorganizationshouldbe consideringMicrosoft365 as a viable approachtomeeting some portionof their
computingneeds.The overallvalue of the offeringsimplycan’tbe ignoredfororganizationsthatwantto
improve productivityandsecurityand achieve adigital transformation.Byunderstandingthe Microsoft365
ExtendedUse Rights,andthe broaderoptions aroundimplementationof those rights,manyorgsmayfinda
newlyviable setof alternativesformodernizingtheirinfrastructure andloweringtheircoststhrough on-
premises consolidationandhybridclouddeploymentstrategies.
Resources -
Microsoft 365 site https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise
Microsoft Product Terms site https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/products
Azure Stack HCI site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-stack/hci/
Azure Backup site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/backup/
Azure Site Recovery site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/site-recovery/
Azure Storage site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/product-categories/storage/