4-Processor licensing offered for datacenter
ENT News | at | by Mike
Microsoft recently changed the licensing terms for its Windows 2000 Datacenter Server to create a situation where customers could buy the high-end operating system on servers with only four processors at a lower price. Previously, the smallest licensing package available to the computer manufacturers who then sell Datacenter to customers, was an eight-processor pack. Microsoft also offered 16-processor and 32-processor license packs for Datacenter Server.
Datacenter is only sold as part of complete server systems that include hardware and the operating system so that the computer manufacturer can maintain tight control over drivers and other components that might cause a system to fail. The method also ensures that customers have one support number at the computer manufacturer to call in case of a problem, whether it involves the hardware or the operating system. The eight-processor packs are used by Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell and others for Datacenter systems. Unisys uses the 16-processor and 32-processor license packs for its ES7000 server.