Will Microsoft amend the SPLA: so, is that the Clock Ticking, or your Heart?
22/04/2008
Posted by Simon Dadswell, Channel Marketing Manager, Endeavors Technologies.
Tick. Tock. Are you ready for application streaming? If not, what if your competition is? Or your customers? What if Microsoft opens the floodgates for streaming Microsoft Office applications? How will that impact your software as a service (SaaS) business model? Those service providers that are already poised to take advantage of application streaming will inevitably have first mover advantage on the SaaS opportunity.
By allowing application streaming under the Microsoft SPLA, Microsoft would enable service providers to exploit new technology to create and manage a catalogue of Microsoft applications centrally and stream them on demand to any client as if they are natively installed. Application streaming is a modern software delivery platform that takes advantage of local computing power and modern network capabilities and eliminates the bandwidth consumption, performance and security issues typically experienced with traditional terminal services environments, allowed under the Microsoft SPLA.
The move to allow application streaming under the Microsoft SPLA has been long in waiting by the Microsoft channel partners.
Microsoft and The SPLA
Behold the Microsoft SPLA; an agreement that may once have been the best thing to happen to your business - enabling you to license Microsoft products, host them in a data center environment, and sell metered access to these applications. But many have asked:
- Why does the Microsoft SPLA allow applications to be delivered through legacy terminal services environments, but not through application streaming?
- Why can’t I exploit application streaming as a distribution methodology for better controlling and managing the delivery of application content to the end user?
- Why do I have to continually firefight scalability and performance issues for hosting in a multi-tenant, terminal services environment?
- Why can’t I remove compatibility and stability issues by isolating the streamed application from other applications configuration/run time environment?
- Why can’t I improve license management control and the security of application content?... The list continues.
It’s true, that delivering software through a terminal services environment can achieve SaaS revenue streams… albeit rather inefficiently and clumsily. Application streaming happens to be a whole lot smarter. So you can better control your infrastructure, costs, the software you deliver, and your business. And you don’t have to be a computer scientist to figure it all out.
Application streaming in brief
Application streaming enables you as a service provider to post applications to your website. Subscribers click on a ‘Pay as you Go’ icon and complete payment and ID details. The system then auto issues an email with password credentials and within minutes the software is streaming. Applications run quickly and cleanly on the desktop and there is no need to download or install the application and subscribe to new services as they are made available. Software can also be disabled, or completely removed, as soon as a subscription has expired. Simple!
And the benefits of application streaming over traditional terminal services environments are many. They include allowing you to address IT issues such as security, multi-tenancy and manageability of applications, more easily track and monitor license usage, and eliminate the complexity of maintaining, operating and supporting desktop applications.
Why amend the SPLA?
Why is Microsoft waiting to amend the SPLA? Consider this: over the last 12 months the channel has increased the pressure on Microsoft to allow application streaming under the Microsoft SPLA. They fully understand the benefits of application streaming - in fact, Microsoft does as well. However, the Microsoft SPLA is restricted to delivering applications through a Terminal Services environment. This does not require a client license and presents an opportunity for Microsoft to sell windows terminal services licenses to deliver its software. The channel continues their pressure on Microsoft to unlock the full potential of client computing and allow application streaming under the Microsoft SPLA. This does require a client license as the application resides, partially or fully, on the desktop. Cynics argue the reason why these changes have not been made is because Microsoft does not want to displace their license revenue stream under terminal services and needed to find a way of charging for client licenses in a streaming environment.
However, if Microsoft chooses to open the floodgates and allow streaming of certain Microsoft Office applications it will be well received by their channel, a milestone in Microsoft software delivery, and a blow for their competitors.
In our opinion, it is only a matter of time for application streaming to become the delivery platform of choice for service providers looking to introduce flexible licensing models, improve the efficiency of software rollouts, ensure subscribers stay up to date with the latest software versions, and guarantee compliance of license agreements.
Tick. Tock. So, is that the Clock Ticking, or your Heart?
