MICROSOFT

C O M PA R I N G M I C R O S O F T
C SP TO M I CROS O F T
ENTERPRISE AG REEMENTS
When to consider purchasing Azure through a Microsoft CSP Provider vs. an Enterprise Agreement.

Starting July 1, 2016*, small to mid-size companies with fewer than 500 seats will no longer T R U S T R AC K S PAC E
be able to purchase an Enterprise Support Agreement from Microsoft ®. Instead, if you want
• A leader in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant
support for cloud services like Microsoft Azure™ and Office 365™, you will need to purchase
for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting, Europe
the Azure infrastructure and support through a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. and North America

• Hosting provider for over 60% of the

Fortune 100
W H AT I S A M I C R O S O F T E N T E R P R I S E A G R E E M E N T ?
An Enterprise Agreement (EA) falls under the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement • 15+ years of hosting experience
(MPSA) and provides for licensing of software and services through a single agreement.
• Serving customers in 120+ countries
This agreement contractually locks a company into a 36-month agreement and requires
them to “true-up” their licenses each year. This means IT decision makers may have
to estimate the total number of users at the beginning of each yearly “true-up” cycle,
ENTERPRISE R ACKSPACE AS
potentially resulting in increased costs. AG REEMENT (E A) YOUR CSP

Terms 3-year commitment Pay as you go

The EA is designed for companies with 250+ seats (changing to 500+ in July 2016)
Upfront, in full (use
who want to standardize their Microsoft products, have the rights for the most-current Payment Month to month
it or lose it)
version of the software, and only want to account for additional seats once a year.
Limited to set
Support number of pro-
24x7x365
Hours active or reactive
An Enterprise Agreement includes a large product set across the Microsoft portfolio, hours
including but not limited to Windows ® on desktop machines, Exchange Server, Office
Supported All Microsoft Specialize in Azure,
and SharePoint ®. Products products Office 365

Vendor Enterprise reseller Rackspace direct

W H AT I S A M I C R O S O F T C L O U D S O L U T I O N P R O V I D E R ? Discounts
7-30% (Level A,
B, C, D)
Comparable to EA
Level A, B
A registered Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) is a service provider that offers
Support Premium support
value-added services on top of Microsoft Cloud products like Azure and Office 365. $1,000 monthly
Cost included

As low as
Expensive Rapid
A CSP serves as your first touch-point for questions and assistance with any cloud 15-minute
Response fees
SLA response time SLA
resources and billing. Your CSP will also generate your consolidated invoice, covering all to get 15-minute
for emergency
response
situations
cloud infrastructure and service fees.

R AC K S PAC E B EN EF I T S
• EXPERTISE: We’re a five-time Microsoft Hosting Partner of the Year with hundreds of
Microsoft Certified Professionals available 24x7x365.

• SUPPORT: We are one of the largest Microsoft CSPs, with Microsoft engineers and
architects standing by to rapidly resolve your toughest issues.

• FLEXIBILITY: Scale your workload through hybrid cloud integration and management
between hosted and on-premises environments.
Microsoft
Gold Hosting
Partner
• SIMPLICITY: When you purchase Microsoft Azure or Office 365 through Rackspace, you
Gold Collaboration and Content
get a single service experience, a single invoice. Gold Cloud Productivity
Gold Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions

C O N TA C T U S
1-844-240-9203
* Microsoft has indicated that existing customers approaching renewal will be able to extend their current
Enterprise Agreements for 36 months (current program rules will apply). www.rackspace.com/microsoft

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property of their respective holders and do not imply endorsement or sponsorship. DATE MODIFIED: 2016-06-28