The Microsoft Academic Select License Program is a flexible, volume-based, transactional program that offers qualifying academic institutions a simple way to order licenses at a competitive price. It is the ideal choice for institutions with over 500 PCs, mixed Microsoft product requirements and the ability to forecast purchases.

Benefits

• Convenient - Academic Select offers a simple monthly transaction model under which you will receive regular confirmations of new licenses. Ordering licenses separately allows for easier license management across users in different departments.
• Easy to understand - You simply acquire and pay for the licenses and Software Assurance on an as-needed basis.
• Investment value - Through SA, you can easily stay current.
• Spread payments - When you purchase License with SA, you can choose to spread your payments over the course of your agreement for easier budgeting. Each installment is equal and unaffected by price changes that occur during the agreement.
• Software for training purposes - You may use up to 20 copies of most Microsoft software titles for evaluation and training purposes.

How it works

• A Select Agreement is valid for three years.
• Minimum point forecast of 1,500 points for each product pool you will cover, with at least 1/3 of that fulfilled each year.
• Reorder minimum of one license.
• Purchase licenses and optional SA as needed.
• SA expires when the Agreement expires, regardless of the point during the term in which it was purchased.

Overview of Microsoft License Offerings and Product Pools

Here are the license offerings that are available under Academic Select:

• License only (L) - Gives you the rights to the current version of a particular product.
• License and Software Assurance (L & SA) - Gives you the rights to the current version of a particular product, as well as eligibility for the most current version of the product released during the term of your agreement. Customers who choose Software Assurance Membership (SAM) to receive the additional benefits of SA must purchase SA on all of their licenses.
• Software Assurance (SA) - Enables you to always be eligible for the most current version of the product released during the term of your agreement. Can only be purchased without a license under one of the following conditions:
  • May be purchased within 90 days of the purchase of the current version of a server or system license from a retail package or OEM.
  • May be purchased within 90 days of the purchase of an Office System 2007 OEM license.
  • May be purchased as a renewal to your existing SA coverage.

Qualification for Academic Select licensing is determined by a forecast of the number of products in each product pool that you plan to purchase throughout the term of the agreement. The three product pools are:

• Applications - For desktop application products such as Office, Excel, Project, etc.
• Systems - For desktop operating systems such as Windows Vista (These are only available as upgrade licenses under Microsoft volume licensing. New licenses must be acquired either via OEM licenses or full package product.)
• Servers - For products that run on a network server such as Windows Server and Exchange Server. Client Access Licenses (CALs) for the server products are also included in this pool.

Software Assurance Benefits

In addition to new version rights, SA offers Academic Select customers the following benefits:

• Spread Payments - Provides you greater flexibility in managing technology expenditures. SA allows you to make payments annually instead of one upfront payment. This makes budgeting easier and more predictable.

• Windows Vista Enterprise and Virtual PC Express - Windows Vista Enterprise licenses help you to maximize your desktop investments with powerful tools and technologies that help reduce IT costs and the complexity of managing corporate PCs. It helps protect sensitive data and intellectual property on lost or stolen PCs. It also includes integration of all worldwide Windows languages (MUI), which helps reduce the cost of managing a single, global system image for your PC hardware. Virtual PC Express is a feature of Windows Vista Enterprise that lets you run legacy applications on legacy operating systems in a single, virtual machine.

• eLearning - Help your users to become educated on new products. Microsoft's eLearning delivers a comprehensive student experience, using streaming audio and video software demonstrations, hands-on exercises and courses designed by professional instructors. Employees can take interactive modules and tutorials on various applications at any time at their own computer, even offline.

• Cold Server Backup for Disaster Recovery - Protect valuable data without buying a new license. Software Assurance grants you the right to install server software on a cold server for the purpose of disaster recovery in the event of an emergency.

Academic Select License customers who choose to be Software Assurance Members and cover all of their licenses with SA will enjoy the following additional benefits of SA.

• TechNet Plus Managed Newsgroups and Subscription Media - Increase your efficiency for finding solutions. IT professionals have access to TechNet Plus Subscription content, featuring resources such as the knowledge base, utilities, drivers and how-to articles to help them succeed. The TechNet Plus Subscription Media also includes access to beta release candidate software and evaluation copies of the latest applications.

• Extended Lifecycle Hotfix Support - Request hotfixes for products in the Extended Lifecycle Support without signing up or paying an initial fee prior to determining a need. This means you do not pay for extended support unless hotfixes are required. As always, security fixes are automatically guaranteed.

• Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs - A Windows-based operating system designed for customers with legacy PCs who are running legacy operating systems but are not in a position to purchase new hardware.  Windows Fundamentals provides the same security and manageability as Microsoft Windows XP SP2 while providing a smooth migration path to the latest hardware and operating system.

• Corporate Error Reporting - Control deployment of fixes and resolutions. Microsoft Corporate Error Reporting gives your IT professionals a clear and easy way to monitor and review error information. It allows applications and the operating system to collect and report on crashes in the system, and gives IT staff the ability to control the types of reports sent to Microsoft.

• Windows Pre-Installation Environment - Windows PE is a powerful deployment tool that streamlines the installation and troubleshooting process, eases the administrative burden and makes IT professionals more productive.

Get Discounted Software for Your Students with Student Select

You can pass along the significant discounts of Academic Select 6 to your students by participating in the Student Select program. Student licenses and media are available for: 

• Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007

• Microsoft Office Standard 2007

• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Professional Edition

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007

• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007

• Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2007

• Windows Vista Business Upgrade

To Enroll in Academic Select

Contact your dedicated SHI Account Executive at 888-764-8888 for pricing and further information. Found out how your institution can benefit from Microsoft's Academic Select License Program.