licensing

[grecko21]

I am employed by a company who has recently become a certified partner with MS. One of our incentives for this was to be able to purchase software for future production systems at a discounted price. After reading the partner guide and other sources, I never really found anything specific about what percentage discounts a certified partner is extended when purchasing volume licensing. Recently, I found out from a representative that it was 20%. I asked if the same discount was applied if we reached the Gold Certified Partner level (hoping the answer was "no" and that it would be a bigger discount), and she said yes. I know there are other programs we can pursue like the MSA and SBS (Microsoft Software Advisor/Small Business Specialist- where our company helps smaller companies acquire licensing), MS authorized distributor, and the reseller program. It looks like no matter what we do, we will only be extended a maximum of 20% discounted pricing on licensing for production use. Can anyone confirm this is true? I would think the more aligned we become with MS (i.e., distribution/reselling of software, etc.), we would be rewarded with a greater discount. I know that education and government entities are extended a significant discount, but I guess private enterprise is not afforded the same benefit.

[cluberti]

Usually you receive other things (like enterprise phone support packs) - usually those get better with higher certification, and possibly training resources as well. You would want to check on that, but I'm pretty sure that at least used to be true...

[Jakebo]

You might look into an action pack. It can not be distributed but it can be used in some production. You can get all the information on it when you log in to the partner page. Hope it helps some.

Jake,

http://www.wasatchsoftware.com

[Mordac85]

For the best answer call MS and ask. I'm w/a larger company and we negotiate our discounts and usually get much more than 20%, but then again, our size probably factors into that. I'm sure if you kept it open and hypothetical MS would be willing to let you know what advantages there are to the different levels.