Microsoft has announced price increases for several on-premises server products starting from July, but also extending into August. The price rises and Microsoft has unveiled are not insignificant, reaching 20% in some cases, which means businesses will feel a direct financial impact if they use on-premises infrastructure.
Standalone server products, namely SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, and Skype for Business Server, will all see a hefty 10% price increase this month. Meanwhile the price of Microsoft’s Core Client Access License (CAL) Suite and Enterprise CAL Suite, will rise by an even bigger 15% and 20% respectively.
It’s important to know that these price hikes only apply to the on-premises versions, cloud services like SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and Microsoft Teams are unaffected. These price increases were previously communicated by Microsoft and reported by Neowin, but now they’re finally here.
In its July update, Microsoft also reminded users that the Exchange Server Subscription Edition and Skype for Business Subscription Edition are now generally available, you can check out Neowin’s coverage to learn more about each of these.
Both of these offerings are moving to Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Policy, which means they get continuous updates, rather than major version releases every few years. To deploy either of these, you must have an active Software Assurance (SA) or cloud subscription license for all users and devices that access them. The new Subscription Editions of Exchange Server and Skype for Business Server bring them into line with SharePoint in transitioning to the Modern Lifecycle Policy.
Microsoft has blamed the price increases on ongoing maintenance and updates for on-premises products. Another reason for the price increases is that revenues in this part of Microsoft business are falling. During Microsoft’s Q2 earnings, it was revealed that on-premises server products had a decline in revenue of 3%. The price increases could buoy Microsoft’s revenue in this area while also nudging customers to opt for Microsoft’s cloud offers instead.
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