Windows server Enterprise edition is discontinued starting this month.
The Windows Server 2012 product line-up
Datacenter edition for highly-virtualized private cloud environments.
Standard edition for non-virtualized or lightly virtualized environments.
Essentials edition for small businesses with up to 25 users running on servers with up to two
processors.
Foundation edition for small businesses with up to 15 users running on single processor servers.
A processor-based licensing model that covers up to two physical processors on a server.
Client Access Licenses (CALs) are required for every user or device accessing a server.
However, n: Foundation comes with 15 user accounts and Essentials comes with 25 user accounts.
Some additional or advanced functionality will continue to require the purchase of an additive CAL.
These are CALs that you need in addition to the Windows Server CAL to access functionality, such as
Remote Desktop Services or Active Directory Rights Management Services.
If you have Software Assurance coverage on your current Windows Server licenses at the time of the
Windows Server 2012 General Availability, you will receive the following transitional license grants to
Windows Server 2012.
For many companies the new licensing will prove to be much higher cost and we advsie you to review your future requiremnts and to budget accordingly.
There is a Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit o accurately archive a time/date-stamped inventory of hardware tied to Windows Server installations. This documentation will serve as proof of license for any incremental license grants beyond the normal upgrade transition grant.
