Johannesburg, 10 Sep 2014
The awarding of Microsoft's Gold Competency signifies to the market that First Distribution has demonstrated the highest level of skill and achievement in the Microsoft Services Provider Licence Agreement (SPLA) and Volume Licensing sector.
In accordance with regulations, Microsoft conferred Gold Competency to First Distribution as a result of the distributor completing a business assessment, submitting five customer references, carrying a customer satisfaction rating of 92% and employing five qualified MCP and MCSE staff.
First Distribution's SPLA business has grown significantly over the past 12 months. The company has invested in technical skills from both a back-office and account management perspective, and coupled with the fact that it has more than 10 years of experience in dealing with SPLA, the distributor's understanding of SPLA and Volume Licensing is currently of an exceptional standard.
First Distribution's MSP Hosting Programme Manager, Chris Richardson, commented: "First Distribution is delighted to have this status conferred upon us by Microsoft. In meeting the requirements for this prestigious status, we are showing the market that we are 100% invested in providing the best level of service and technologies to our partners."
Richardson added: "In the ever-changing IT world where customers are looking for an opex-based model, First Distribution's SPLA offering takes the complexity out of licensing while still giving the service provider and end-customer the flexibility that is needed to fit their business. The SPLA Programme is a fantastic opportunity for service providers to offer customers a single point through which to acquire software services and the associated Microsoft products, so that customers do not need to acquire and deploy their own licensed products. First Distribution has the skills to be able to advise service providers as well as customers, with the best advice in deploying and servicing customers' requirements using Microsoft SPLA."
Microsoft SPLA encompasses every Microsoft product in a pay-per-use model, and includes some of the following benefits:
Pay as you use
Customers pay for what they use and how much they utilise - it is based on simple calculations regarding the number of end-user licences (SAL) or per-processor licences (PL) actually utilised on a monthly basis.
Zero start-up and upgrade cost
Near zero start-up costs as service providers pay for the licences that are used each month. The price quoted for SPLA licences covers the cost of all upgrades and provides customers with the right to use the current as well as the previous versions of the relevant Microsoft products.
Built-in software assurance
Each SPLA licence comes with software assurance granting access to the most current version of Microsoft software products for one monthly price. The option to deploy prior versions still exists.
Facilitation of licensing compliance
By acquiring SPLA, customers meet the compliance requirements for providing hosted services to third parties as per Microsoft.
For any queries regarding Microsoft SPLA and First Distribution, please contact Chris Richardson on (011) 540 2640 or chris@firstdistribution.co.za.
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