Benefit from:
Resources
If you want to run predictable Windows Server workloads in Azure, you can now make use of a fixed 1-year or 3-year subscription that works alongside Reserved Instances and Azure virtual machines to provide you with the best possible price. This could equal savings of up to 88% for Windows Server, compared to the same model on PAYG on Azure.
You will also receive access to certain benefits included in Software Assurance (SA), something which you would have previously had to buy separately. SA helps companies to get the most from investment in Microsoft technologies by lowering off-premises deployment costs through Licence Mobility and Disaster Recovery benefits. One benefit is the Semi-Annual Channel which has a faster release cadence than the Long-Term Servicing Channel.
With new releases every six months, the Semi-Annual Channel is particularly useful to those of you that have modern applications and innovation scenarios such as containers and micro-services that require faster innovation. SA also provides access to new version rights and enables you to use the latest version of the Microsoft software you need. As part of this you will get the following benefits:
*Licences can be used to provide customer-facing software-solutions hosted on dedicated servers on-premises subject to the Product Terms or shared servers in Azure subject to the Online Service Terms
Just because the server subscriptions are purchased via the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program doesn’t mean the licences have to be used on Azure. You will be entitled to the Azure Hybrid benefit and be able to choose whether you use your licences for Azure virtual machines or in on-premises deployments.