Hello and welcome to the new Microsoft License Management site. We’ve created this site to keep you informed about your licenses, walk you through your agreement lifecycle and provide you with helpful tools and resources. You can also follow us @Msft_VL to stay up to date on Volume Licensing for Enterprise Customers.

We will use this area of the homepage to post news about licensing changes, Software Assurance benefits, and relevant resources to help you get the most out of your investments Microsoft volume licensing. Check back often and sign up to make sure you receive our informative newsletter and invitations to our quarterly webcast series, where we clearly explain upcoming changes and new features in Microsoft licensing.

The Microsoft Home Use Program is a Software Assurance benefit available under a company’s Volume Licensing agreement with Microsoft. Under this program, the Office Professional Plus 2010 suite is available to employees of eligible companies for just $9.95. This means your employees gain experience using Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, InfoPath, Publisher, and SharePoint Workspace at home!

If the Home Use Program is in place prior to your company’s deployment of Office 2010, it can help ease the transition to the new system as employees become familiar with the software at home.  This allows your IT department to focus on other issues. Furthermore, the program terms are between Microsoft and the employee so your company is not liable for employees’ home use of the software.   The Home Use Program is a low overhead program for you that results in great benefits for your team, your company, and your employees.

To see if your company is eligible for this benefit, speak to your benefits administrator or someone else in your company that is an administrator of the volume license agreement with Microsoft. Additional information about HUP can be found on the Home Use Program Site, the HUP Digital Marketing Portal or the MS Volume Licensing Site.

As a customer with Software Assurance benefits, you may be eligible for Windows Azure Deployment Planning Services – structured consulting engagements, delivered by qualified Windows Azure Circle Partners. Are you looking to extend your existing applications to the cloud or build new web or line-of-business applications with better storage solutions? Do you want to better manage HPC workloads, content collaboration or to syndicate content distribution?

Available at extremely reduced charge (using DPS days) for Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) customers, AZDPS provides an opportunity for you to leverage your investment in Software Assurance (SA) and receive custom training and consulting to identify your applications best suited to run on Windows Azure.

Choose the engagement best suited to your business needs:

• 3 Day Engagement: Learn about Windows Azure and receive training for architects and developers
• 5 Day Engagement: Evaluate web applications and develop assessment plans for their next applications to run on Windows Azure
• 10 Day Engagement: Evaluate Line of Business applications and develop assessment plans for three applications to run on Windows Azure

As a Software Assurance customer, you are may be entitled to Planning Service days which can be redeemed for Planning Service days with Microsoft Services or qualified Microsoft partners. The number of Planning Service days you are eligible for depends on the type and number of Software Assurance licenses you have. Planning Service days are pooled and can be used on any of the Planning Services offerings regardless of the products purchased.

You can track your available Planning Service days and activate your vouchers at the Microsoft Volume License Services website at: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter.

To learn more about Windows Azure Deployment Planning Services, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/default.aspx.

Microsoft provides this information to you as a convenience and makes no warranties, express, implied, or statutory.  Customers should refer to their licensing agreement with Microsoft for a full understanding of their SA benefits and other rights and obligations.

PVDPS is a Software Assurance (SA) benefit designed to help organizations plan effective deployments of their own Private Cloud solution, leveraging System Center, Windows Server and Hyper-V solutions. PVDPS engagements help make the decision to deploy easier by providing an assessment and plan based on leading Microsoft practices.

The following three engagements will be continually updated as new products are released:

1. Upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2: Provide an analysis and migration plan to Windows Server 2008 R2. Learn more.
2. Accelerating Virtualization and Management Deployment: Show customers how to streamline their IT infrastructure by consolidating multiple underutilized physical servers onto a single host, integrating management of both physical and virtual systems. Learn more.
3. Accelerating Private Cloud Deployment: Demonstrate how the Microsoft Private Cloud — the natural next step after Virtualization — will help customers transform their IT infrastructure by enabling self-service, elasticity and high levels of automation. Learn more.

Microsoft Services or partners who have attained a gold competency in Virtualization, Systems Management, Server Platform, and/or Identity and Security can deliver engagements that vary in length (3-day, 5-day, 10-day and 15-day) depending on the amount of Software Assurance benefits customers have available.

For Customers with Software Assurance (SA) benefits – If you have SA benefits, go to the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) to check your benefits. Microsoft provides this information to you as a convenience and makes no warranties, express, implied, or statutory. Customers should refer to their licensing agreement with Microsoft for a full understanding of their SA benefits and other rights and obligations. Click here for a list of the PVDPS Service Providers.