REDMOND, Wash., May 10, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today announced several new volume licensing and product selection improvements that will give K-12 schools and higher education institutions more flexibility and greater choice for their software and licensing needs. Now, for the first time, a student license option will be extended to K-12 schools. The new Campus and School Agreement 3.0 Subscriptions, available in the United States on Aug. 1, and the new Microsoft® Software Assurance offering, available in the United States on Oct. 1, are part of Microsoft’s larger global effort to expand and enhance licensing and software services for its customers.
“Educational institutions are complex organizations with an ever-changing base of students, faculty and staff using technology,”
said Mark East, worldwide general manager of the Education Solutions Group at Microsoft.
“That’s why we’ve simplified our academic volume licensing subscriptions to empower educators to choose software that more closely matches their individual needs, in programs that are easier to administer.”
Improving Choice for Educators
To better address the needs of educational institutions, Microsoft has redesigned licensing options for both the Campus and School Agreement 3.0 Subscriptions. These new programs allow schools and higher education institutions to more easily renew their agreements annually rather than establish new agreements each year. By entering into a Master School Agreement or Master Campus Agreement with Microsoft, schools and higher education institutions can submit a renewal form each year when their current subscription expires.
School and Campus Agreement 3.0 Subscriptions enable educators to choose only the individual software titles they will need for their students, faculty and staff, rather than a full platform, ensuring that the school or institution has only the software it needs, at a lower cost.
Now schools will have the same opportunity to provide tailored programs for their students that colleges and universities have had. Through the expanded School Agreement Subscription Student Option, K-12 schools can choose to license their students to use the most current technology on a personally owned computer, their home computer or a school computer dedicated for their individual use. Microsoft has also created more flexible student licensing for both schools and campuses by allowing administrators to license a defined number of students rather than the entire student body.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s business leaders, so it is vitally important that students have access to current technology to better prepare for success in the future,”
East said.
“With the addition of the Student Option for K-12 schools, every school and campus in the United States now has the opportunity to enable their students to learn with powerful software tools throughout their day.”
The new subscriptions also make it easier for schools and campuses to exercise their buyout options. Specifically, educators may acquire perpetual licenses for only the platforms and software they would like to continue running, and they may remove the other products without penalty, saving money and allowing institutions to become more nimble when making buying decisions.
Simplifying Access to Current Technology
Along with simplifying licensing requirements and expanding software choices for schools and higher education institutions, Microsoft has introduced the streamlined Software Assurance offering to replace the confusing alphabet soup of upgrade options (VUP, CUP, PUP, UA). Software Assurance, which can be purchased for individual machines or for all of a school’s PCs and servers, provides the school with the rights to upgrade to the latest versions of products released during the term of the agreement. These offerings are available through the Academic Open License and Academic Select 6.0 programs.
The new simplified volume licensing and product selection offerings are part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to help every school and campus build a Connected Learning Community, where learning is more individualized and personalized and is available any time, any place and on any device. More information on Microsoft’s academic licensing programs and education initiatives is available at http://www.microsoft.com/education/ .
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