News
Microsoft Extends Client Management Rights to Opalis 6.3 Licensees
- By Kurt Mackie
- February 17, 2011
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it has added client management rights to its Opalis 6.3 end user licensing agreement for certain licensees.
Opalis, which Microsoft acquired in December 2009, is the IT process automation solution for the company's System Center product line. While the solution can be used to integrate services at the enterprise level, datacenters primarily use Opalis to automate management operations.
Opalis users have needed to have a server management license from Microsoft in place, along with the Software Assurance option. Customers who had purchased Microsoft's server management suite enterprise (SMSE) license or server management suite datacenter (SMSD) license with Software Assurance "on or after December 10, 2009" were granted access to the Opalis software, Microsoft announced in March 2010. Now, Microsoft is extending client management capabilities to Opalis customers "licensed for the System Center Client Management Suite or Enterprise CAL [client access license]," according to a Microsoft blog post on Wednesday.
"The existing Opalis grant made available to SMSE/SMSD customers covered server management scenarios, but did not enable scenarios where Opalis was managing client devices," explained Adam Hall, senior technical product manager for Microsoft Opalis, in the blog post. "This additional grant provides our customers with full rights to leverage the power of the Opalis automation and integration capabilities against devices covered by either a CMS or Enterprise CAL license."
The added client management rights are extended to Microsoft Opalis customers who have Software Assurance in place for the System Center Client Management Suite or Enterprise Client Access License "between December 10, 2009 and April 30, 2012," Microsoft explains in the blog.
Microsoft extended the 32-bit Opalis 6.3 to run on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, in addition to Windows Server 2003, in December. Microsoft is currently working to remediate all of its integration packs for use on its flagship Windows Server 2008 products.
Those wanting to get the client management rights need to download Opalis 6.3 and accept the end user licensing agreement, according to the blog. Microsoft also offers a free 180-day trial version of the software at the Opalis download page.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.