OCS 2007 R2 - Licensing

  • Article

There are a lot of question going around when it comes to OCS 2007 R2 and licensing. In this post I'll try to give an overview of which licenses are required :-)

In the end, it all boils down to three things, meaning, you may need a license for:

1. Using a client software to gain access to a service provided by the Office Communications Server (= clientsoftware license)

2. Gaining access to the service provided by the Office Communications Server (= client access license)

3. The sever offering the Office Communications Server services (= server license)

So let's have a look at these three different licenses you need...

1. Client Software License

You need a license for using Microsft Office Communicator, which is available as both a stand-alone product, and is also included in Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2007 and Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007.

If you have a valid Server License, you are allowed to use the following Client Software (you don't need to buy a Client Software license for using these Client Software programs)

  • Office Communicator Web Access 2007 R2
  • Office Communicator Mobile for Java 2007 R2
  • Office Communicator Mobile for Windows 2007 R2
  • Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Conolse
  • Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant Console
  • Office Live Meeting Console

2. Client Access License

You need a license for every user or every device using any of the services provided by Office Communications Server. There are two type of Client Access Licenses (CAL), being Standard and Enterprise. The choice of standard/enterprise CAL will depend on which features you want to use:

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 STANDARD CAL =

  • IM/Presence/Chat 
    • IM/Presence
    • Group IM
    • Peer-to-Peer Voice and Video
    • File Transfer
    • Group Chat

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 ENTERPRISE CAL = STANDARD CAL +

  • Conferencing 
    • Web Conferencing
    • Multiparty collaboration
    • Application sharing
    • Desktop Sharing
    • Audio Conferencing
  • Voice
    • Call Routing
    • User Call Management
    • Remote Call Control
    • Voice Media on Softphone
    • Team Call
    • Delegation
    • Response Group
    • Single-Number Reach

 In OCS 2007 R2, you do NOT need to provide a CAL for:

  • An external (anonymous) user attending an OCS 2007 R2 Web conference
  • Users receiving a call from an extension hosted on the OCS 2007 R2 server
  • Non OCS 2007 R2 users placing a call to an extension hosted on the OCS 2007 R2 server

3. Server License

There are two types of Server licenses in OCS 2007 R2, being Standard and Enterprise.

The following OCS 2007 R2 OCS Server Roles require a server license

  • OCS 2007 R2 Front End Server: Standard or Enterprise (Using Enterprise you can introduce High Availability (!))
  • OCS 2007 R2 Edge Server role: Standard or Enterprise

The following OCS 2007 R2 OCS Server Roles, Standard Edition, can be installed without requiring a Server license for the role itself, BUT requiring a valid Front-End Server license (Standard or Enterprise) in your OCS 2007 R2 environment:

  • Monitoring Server role
  • Director Server role
  • Mediation Server role
  • Archiving Server role
  • Web Components Server role (including Communicator Web Access)
  • Group Chat Server role

Other Offerings

  • Public IM Connectivity
    1. A PIC License is no longer required for federation with Windows Live. Customers qualify for federation with Windows Live if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active SA on their current LCS/OCS license
    2. A PIC License will no longer be required for federation with American Online (AOL).   Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license. 
    3. Customers who want Yahoo! federation will continue to purchase PIC licenses.  The price of PIC will be reduced by 50%, effective October 1, 2009, to reflect this change. 
  • Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP is available at no cost

Need additional information?

Have a look at one of these links:

-Ilse