Licensing Options

Simplify the Process of Creating Unified Solutions

By participating in the ISV Royalty Licensing Program, you can:

• Deliver a total solution. Simplify procurement and deployment for your customers by eliminating the need to separately license the Microsoft products that are included with your solution.

• Reduce costs. Help reduce installation, configuration, update, and support costs by pre-configuring solution installation with Microsoft licensed products.

• Increase revenue. Create an additional revenue stream or increase margins by redistributing Microsoft licenses and embedded maintenance upgrade coverage with a unified solution.

• Extend the product life cycle. You may continue selling version-specific unified solutions for up to 24 months after Microsoft releases a new version of the licensed product that is integrated into the value-added business solution.

• Distribute a unified solution. You can distribute a unified solution to customers in any part of the world where distribution is allowed.

• Earn Partner Points. You can earn partner points in the Microsoft Partner Program by signing up to participate in the ISV Royalty Licensing Program.

• Explore other markets. With SPLA, you can target academic organizations with special pricing to qualified academic end users.

• Provide customer demonstrations. Demonstrate your unified solutions to prospective customers, as long as you remain in possession of the demonstration copies.

• Provide customer evaluations. Let your customers try it out by providing unified solutions to prospective customers on a trial basis for up to 120 days.

• Sell through the experts. Sell through a distributor partner with expertise in Microsoft licensing, operations, and support services. This will reduce the administrative work of consolidating reporting and working with Microsoft. Distributors will also provide local language support and work in local currencies.

  • Additionally, if you have an ISV Royalty agreement through a distributor, Microsoft does not require you to meet the US$15,000 minimum commitment requirement. ISV Royalty Licensing distributors are not available in all regions. Contact isvroy@microsoft.com if there is no distributor in your region.

• Simplify with a single master agreement. Simplify the Microsoft Business Services Agreement (MBSA) addition with a single master agreement. The Microsoft ISV Royalty Agreement is now linked to the MBSA—a perpetual agreement between the customer and Microsoft.

• Easily renew your agreement. The MBSA contains high-level terms and conditions that are applicable to all agreements signed under it. Once an MBSA is in place, you can easily renew your agreement by signing a shorter and simplified ISV Royalty agreement.

• Streamline the partner purchasing experience. If you choose to purchase the required product support through Microsoft rather than a third party, the Support Services Agreement is included as part of the MBSA so the you do not need to sign a separate agreement.

Each Microsoft licensed product offered through the ISV Royalty Licensing Program has a corresponding set of use rights. There are two types of use rights:

• ISV License. This default license type allows you to integrate Microsoft licensed products into a unified solution and to license those products as part of the unified solution. This license also allows your end users to use the underlying Microsoft licensed product with other applications as long as the end users are still licensed for your application.

• ISV Run-Time License. Some licensed products offered through the ISV Royalty Licensing Program are offered with additional restricted use rights. Your customers can use these applications only with the unified solution with which they were acquired. Your customers cannot use the Microsoft licensed products to run any other application, to develop new applications, or in any context independent of the unified solution with which they were acquired.

Program Requirements

To participate in the ISV Royalty Licensing Program, you need to:

• Meet one of the following requirements:

  • Enroll in the Microsoft Partner Program as a Microsoft Certified Partner or Gold Certified Partner

  • Purchase at least five technical product support incidents for the licensed products used in the unified solution from Microsoft or from a Gold Certified Support Partner

• Complete the agreements. Complete the ISV Royalty License and Distribution Agreement, Microsoft Business and Services Agreement (MBSA), and credit application form (credit form required for direct agreements only).

  • To obtain these documents, send an e-mail message to isvroy@microsoft.com. (If you have an indirect agreement, you should contact your distributor.)

• Submit the paperwork. Submit the ISV Royalty License and Distribution Agreement and credit application form to the applicable Microsoft Operations Center.

After you are accepted into the program, you will receive a welcome letter that contains information on how to get started—including how to order fulfillment media and how to register for the online program tools.

More Program Requirements

To participate in the ISV Royalty Licensing Program, you also must:

• Provide technical support. You are responsible for providing customer support for the unified solution. To ensure the support level, you must enroll in the Microsoft Partner Program as a Microsoft Certified Partner or Gold Certified Partner, or purchase a minimum of five technical product support incidents from Microsoft or from a Gold Certified Support Partner.

• Comply with the Microsoft license terms. Incorporate any applicable Microsoft license terms into a customer agreement for the unified solution. Microsoft makes available the Microsoft license terms for licensed products that are offered in the ISV Royalty Licensing Program.

• Develop a unified solution. You must develop a value-added solution that uses Microsoft licensed products and distribute the unified solution in a tangible media format.

• Meet a revenue commitment. If you have a direct agreement with Microsoft, you must commit to a minimum of US$15,000 in royalties paid to Microsoft during the three-year term of the agreement.

• Provide monthly reporting on software licenses. You must submit a monthly royalty report or zero royalty report, and payment for the royalties due, for the licenses that you and your affiliates distribute to your end users.

Get a complete list of program requirements