Microsoft recently released a licensing brief (Base and Additive Client Access Licenses: An Explanation) which details future licensing changes upcoming in the next release of OCS (OCS Wave 14).
Here is a summary of the key changes:
1) A new OCS Voice CAL:
- Will include the OCS Wave 14 voice capabilities plus some of the voice functionality in today’s OCS 2007 R2 Enterprise CAL (ECAL).
- Will be additive on top of the OCS Wave 14 Standard CAL.
- Can be licensed with or without the OCS Wave 14 Enterprise CAL.
- Will not be included in the Enterprise CAL when Wave 14 launches.
- Will include new voice capabilities that will enable “Enterprise Ready Voice” for future releases of OCS (beyond Wave 14).
2) The OCS Wave 14 Enterprise CAL price will decrease to reflect the move of the voice functionality to the new OCS Voice CAL.
3) Will my current OCS Enterprise CAL give me access to the new OCS Voice CAL?
- If you purchased your existing OCS Enterprise CAL after July 1, 2009 and before the release of OCS Wave 14, and your Software Assurance was maintained, you will have the equivalent access rights to the new OCS Voice CAL. You will then need to renew to OCS Voice CAL separately at your first renewal after the OCS Wave 14 launch.
- If you purchased your existing OCS Enterprise CAL before July 1, 2009 or did not buy or maintain Software Assurance, you will need to separately purchase the new OCS Voice CAL.
More information about OCS Wave 14 can be found here: Microsoft Announces Microsoft Communications Server “14”.
