Amazon Web Services (AWS Reviews) announced last week that the Microsoft “license mobility with Software Assurance” (SA) program applies to AWS cloud server services.
That means that organizations with Microsoft volume licensing and SA agreements in place have a little more flexibility on how to use Microsoft application server products that were originally licensed for on-premises use. In many cases, organizations can transfer those licenses into a hosting company’s public cloud, including leveraging AWS’ infrastructure-as-a-service offerings to run applications as services, without incurring additional licensing costs.
Amazon claimed in its announcement that companies with volume licensing and SA agreements in place have been upgrading to the cloud using Microsoft’s mobility licensing option. For instance, they may move from using SharePoint 2007 on premises to using SharePoint 2010 on the AWS cloud.
