A quick Google of "SPLA" will tell you that it stands for the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
While this is the top result, it is far from relevant to the SPLA that we deal with in the IT Industry. Microsoft SPLA (Service Provider Licensing Agreement) is a program that allows resellers or service providers to "rent" software licenses to their clients. It is aimed primarily at those wishing to offer hosted software and services to end user customers and who wish to include software licenses as part of their service offering.
Typically, a Microsoft license agreement in programs such as OEM, FPP and Volume Licensing are held between Microsoft and the end customer; known as a "EULA" (End User Licensing Agreement).
The SPLA agreement is different. This is held between Microsoft and the reseller/service provider. It grants the provider with the rights to lease Microsoft software to their clients. The most important consideration in this scenario is that the hardware upon which the software will reside cannot be owned by the end customer. It can be installed at customers' facilities, but it must be hardware that the provider owns or leases to the end customer.
The licensing is provisioned by the service provider on a "pay as you go" basis. Meaning they pay Microsoft (and bill their clients) only for the products that they authorise customers to use on a monthly basis. The service provider reports at the end of each month on the number of active installations and can "turn on" and "turn off" the licenses to meet any fluctuations in staff numbers, as required.
SPLA gives the ability for those offering Hardware as a Service to offer clients a monthly subscription to the most current Microsoft product versions, either per subscriber (SAL – subscriber access license) or per processor. This licensing model allows the provision of "TaaS"; Technology as a Service, as both the hardware and the licensing can be rented to the client. At the end of the hardware's lifecycle, service providers can refresh the hardware with whatever the most current software platform happens to be, thereby continuing to rent them a complete solution and a current platform.
This takes the focus away from simply selling a box and allows service providers to be more flexible with the way hardware, software and service is supplied.
The biggest hurdle for a client is to make the mental leap from "ownership" to a true rental scenario whereby they will never possess the equipment or the licensing, but simply rent it. It can have huge tax benefits for a company but some business owners are just that. They like to own the capital; renting is a paradigm shift.
As we move more and more towards "the Cloud" people will shift their thinking away from traditional models and start embracing concepts such as hosted, rented, and serviced. SPLA enables IT partners the ability to offer solutions that fit with this model, while still retaining control over the client's environment and adding value through services.
