MS licensing - renewal

[Koldov]

We are about to come to the end of our current 3 year deal.

 

Even though we are a small Junior school, from recent posts I believe we may get a nasty surprise at the cost increase...

 

We currently have the following licenses:

 

9EM-00293Microsoft®WindowsServerSTDCORE AllLng License/SoftwareAssurancePack Academic OLV 16Licenses LevelF AdditionalProduct CoreLic 1Year 2

228-09539 Microsoft®SQLServerStandardEdition AllLng License/SoftwareAssurancePack Academic OLV 1License LevelF AdditionalProduct 1Year 1

359-05417 Microsoft®SQLCAL AllLng License/SoftwareAssurancePack Academic OLV 1License LevelF Enterprise UsrCAL 1Year 30

2UJ-00012 Microsoft®DesktopEducation AllLng License/SoftwareAssurancePack Academic OLV 1License LevelF Enterprise 1Year 30

 

There are also various O365 licenses (due to the mess that was trying to get anyone to understand what we were entitled to a few years back), but correct me if I'm wrong in believing we would only ever need O365 A1 plus (which is free with the 'Microsoft®DesktopEducation AllLng License').

 

We don't use O365 as a school, but needed the licenses for a couple of apps the Head teacher needed on his iPad and one or two that needed Teams.

 

30 FTE staff

Windows 10

Office 2016

2 x Servers

SQL for SIMS

 

Your top 3 resellers...?

 

Obviously we are looking for the cheapest option, but bonus points for friendly (not too friendly, as in ringing every 5 minutes to 'see how you're doing' - and can I sell you anything else)... knowledgeable (although anyone who actually understands MS licensing must be the devil)... and actually able to be contacted (also bonus points for not having your 'account manager' changing 5 times in 3 years)!

[Jcx500]

I've been using Stone Computers for the last few years, really happy with there service. I've heard good things about very-pc too

[robyholmes]

@VeryPC would get my vote after we just completed going out for pricing on MS licences.

[3s-gtech]

Pugh are excellent, and seem to understand the licensing better than most. We've been with them for several years, but we've recently shifted to EES from OVS-ES.

[TwistedHelixis]

Another vote for VeryPC. Very friendly group of people :-)

[paulkerton]

Pugh are excellent, and seem to understand the licensing better than most.

 

As I was told by someone from Microsoft once, even Microsoft don't understand Microsoft Licensing.

[3s-gtech]

Hence my caveat. I will add that the cost of renewal didn't seem to go up this year, between OVS-ES renewals.

[Koldov]

Thanks all!

 

So far I have (from here and other threads) in no particular order:

 

MILLGATE

VERYPC

STONE COMPUTERS

PUGH

INSIGHT

XMA

 

There is also talk of EES (but we are not big enough for that), and also going with some sort of cloud based licensing E3 (?) or something, but that would require splitting into O365 and still some physical (for servers, SQL, etc). Correct me if I'm wrong?

[StevieM]

Another +1 for @VeryPC.

[Boredguy]

Thanks all!

 

So far I have (from here and other threads) in no particular order:

 

MILLGATE

VERYPC

STONE COMPUTERS

PUGH

INSIGHT

XMA

 

There is also talk of EES (but we are not big enough for that), and also going with some sort of cloud based licensing E3 (?) or something, but that would require splitting into O365 and still some physical (for servers, SQL, etc). Correct me if I'm wrong?

EES is now for schools with over 100 staff, so you could well qualify now

[MatthewL]

Trustmarque and Phoenix are two places I would go to software wise, used Softcat in the past too.

[TJ-Diggers]

Pugh are excellent, and seem to understand the licensing better than most. We've been with them for several years, but we've recently shifted to EES from OVS-ES.

 

Was this the new EES pilot which includes M365 A3 and on-site licenses? If so how have you found it?

[3s-gtech]

Yes.

 

I’ll find out on 1st April!

[johnlevis]

Hi @Koldov

 

It's nice to see so many recommendation on here.

 

We're a very friendly bunch at VeryPC and I'd be more than happy to quote you for the OVS agreement without hassling you after.

 

Feel free to drop me a PM or get in touch using these details

 

John Levis | Software and Solutions Specialist

Tel: 0114 321 8609

[email protected]

very-pc.co.uk

[Griff]

We use https://partnership.education/

[KK20]

Ours had a hike last year when we went to a new 3 year deal. For a potential cost saving, we found it cheaper to switch to per core model 2x 2core SQL server licence and drop the cals (7NQ-00051) - your mileage may vary and we only run a 4 core VM for our SQL server.