Glossary

Introduction

This page contains a glossary of common, and not-so-common, terms you are likely to encounter as you navigate this site or engage in a Microsoft licensing conversation with a Microsoft licensing professional. They have been divided into four categories to provide some context with which to understand them.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Microsoft Licensing Terms
3. Microsoft Products, Services, and Features
4. Technical Terms
5. Industry Terms
6. References

Microsoft Contracting and Licensing Terms

These terms are particular to Microsoft licensing. Customers purchasing through a reseller or involved in contract negotiations directly with Microsoft may encounter many of the following words and phrases.

• AO / Add-on

  An add-on license is a product or feature that can be added to an existing license in order to add additional benefits. Add-ons build on top of an existing User Subscription License but don't replace it like a Step-up does. For example, a user may be assigned a Microsoft 365 E3 license plus an add-on, such as Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, to increase the functionality above the E3 license level. In this example the Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 is adding on to the Plan 1 inclusion within the E3 license and providing the extra features of Plan 2 that are not already included in that Plan 1 license, therefore the add-on costs less than a stand-alone Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 Full USL.

• Bridge CAL

  Bridge CALs (or Bridges) are a kind of add-on that provides a Client Access License for a server product that is not otherwise included in a cloud User Subscription License. For example, a customer that has moved some of their licensing to Online Services may find that they want a Bridge CAL to cover their residual on-premises server workloads.

• CAL / Client Access License

  A Client Access License (CAL) grants the right for an end user to access certain server hosted features. For example, a Windows Server CAL grants the right for an end user to access a workload hosted on a Windows Server.

• CAO / Cloud Add-On

  A Cloud Add-On (CAO) is a kind of add-on license that can be applied to an on-premises product license to add cloud features. For example, cloud add-ons are available for enterprise agreement customers that already have Core CAL or Enterprise CAL with Office Professional Plus to add Office 365 benefits.

• Core CAL & Enterprise CAL

  Core CAL and Enterprise CAL are forms of Client Access License that provide the right for a user to access workloads on Windows, Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business Server products.

• CSP / Cloud Solution Provider

  Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) is a procurement channel for Microsoft licensing typically used by small to medium sized organisations. CSP is purchased through a reseller for a standardised price set by Microsoft, with month-to-month purchasing commitment for the majority of license types.

• Deprecated

  A service that is being discontinued may be referred to as "deprecated", this typically indicates that it is no longer being worked on or improved and is being phased out. Rather than having a specific up-front end of service date it is often the case that these features will linger for some time but not be improved or have any new capabilities added, as such customers are advised to find alternates and discontinue their use. A deprecated cloud service will eventually get an "end of service" date and then be removed from the platform. A deprecated Windows feature will eventually be removed from an update release. A deprecated software product may be available to procure but have no ongoing updates and a fixed "end of support" date.

• DPA / Data Protection Addendum

  The Data Protection Addendum (DPA) is an addition to the Microsoft Product Terms that contractually defines the terms under which Microsoft will process customer data.

• EA / Enterprise Agreement

  An Enterprise Agreement (EA) is a classic contract mechanism for large Microsoft customers. EA's have several prerequisites to be eligible, but they provide a purchasing mechanism for large customers to secure preferential pricing or contract terms. EA's have classically included structured Volume Licensing pricing tiers referred to as Level A, Level B, Level C, and Level D pricing based on the size of the customer commitment. Some modern cloud products no longer have differentiated pricing by level.

• EAS / Enterprise Agreement Subscription

  A variation on the Enterprise Agreement (EA), an Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS) is for EA eligible customers that only want to procure subscription services.

• EOS / End of Support

  When a product reaches End of Support (EOS) it is no longer being supported by Microsoft. This means that there will be no more updates, patches, or fixes for the product. It is important to note that End of Support does not mean that the product will stop working, but it does mean that any issues that arise will not be addressed by Microsoft. Customers are strongly advised to upgrade to a newer version of the product before it reaches End of Support.

• Enrollment

  An enrolment or billing enrolment is a contract component that defines the terms under which a customer can procure Microsoft products and services. Enrolments are typically associated with a specific procurement channel, such as EA, EAS, or CSP.

• ESU / Extended Security Updates

  Extended Security Updates (ESU) are a paid option for customers that need to continue using a product that has reached End of Support. ESU provides security updates for certain products, but it is important to note that ESU does not usually include any new features or functionality. Often confused as "Extended Support", ESU is not a commitment to provide additional support. If a product issue arises during ESU Microsoft does not commit to fix it. Customers should only use ESU as a last resort.

• FSA / From SA

  A From SA SKU acknowledges a customers prior commitment to Software Assurance (SA). A customer that has purchased a product with Software Assurance can often purchase a successor product "From SA" at a lower price than a new customer in a contract renewal.

• FUSL / Full USL

  A Full USL is a stand-alone User Subscription License that is not an add-on or a step-up.

• GCC / Government Community Cloud

  Government Community Clouds are separate instances of commercial cloud services like Microsoft 365, but with different security attestations, network connectivity, licensing, and features. Variations include GCC, GCC-High, and GCC-DoD (United States Department of Defence).

• MBSA / Microsoft Business Services Agreement

  The Microsoft Business Services Agreement (MBSA) is part of an Enterprise Agreement contract pack that defines the terms under which Microsoft will provide business services to the customer.

• MCA / Microsoft Customer Agreement

  A Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) is a licensing method that allows customers to procure Microsoft products and services without a fixed contract period. MCA is typically used by small to medium sized organisations, but is becoming more prevalent.

• OST / Online Services Terms

  The Online Services Terms (OST) are contract terms that got folded into the newer Microsoft Product Terms. Some customer contracts may still make reference to the Online Services Terms, in such cases the Product Terms are the appropriate substitute.

• Product Terms

  The Product Terms are unified set of binding contract terms that detail the specific commitments Microsoft makes to customers under various purchasing programs.

• SA / Software Assurance

  Software Assurance is form of Microsoft licensing that provides customers with a range of benefits including the right to upgrade to new versions of software, access to training and support, and other resources. For example, an enterprise Exchange Server customer with Software Assurance will automatically have the right to upgrade to the latest version. Software Assurance is typically purchased as part of a Volume Licensing agreement.

• SCA / Shared Computer Activation

  Shared Computer Activation is an install configuration for the Microsoft 365 Apps that allows multiple licensed users to access the same install on a shared computer without that computer counting as one of their 5 activated computers allowed. This is particularly useful for shared computers in a library or a computer lab.

• SPLA / Service Provider License Agreement

  Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is licensing method that allows service providers to license Microsoft products and services for use by their customers. SPLA is typically used by hosting providers and managed service providers.

• SU / Step-up

  A step-up license converts a lower level license up to a higher level license by effectively purchasing the difference between the two. The Step up then replaces the original license entitlement.

• Suite Value / Suite Benefits

  In the context of Microsoft 365, Suite Value or Suite Benefits refer to features that don't come with the stand-alone components of Office 365, EMS, and Windows but rather only when purchased as a "suite". For example, although the majority of the functionality of Microsoft 365 E3 comes from the three core sub-licenses of Office 365 E3, EMS E3, and Windows E3, a customer that purchases these separately will not only pay more than the price of a full Microsoft 365 E3, but they will also miss out on Suite Value such as ClipChamp, Loop Workspaces, and Defender for Endpoint Plan 1.

• USL / User Subscription License

  User Subscription License types have a per-user, per-month price list, though payment may be monthly, yearly, or from the date of purchase to the end of current contract year depending on your purchasing program. This kind of licensing is heavily used by SaaS cloud services, such as Microsoft 365.

• VL / Volume Licensing

  Volume Licensing is a purchase type for Microsoft licensing typically used by large organisations which builds in pricing advantages to recognise significant volumes of license purchasing.

Microsoft Products, Services, and Features

These terms are particular to Microsoft products, online services, and the features they provide.

• A/C / Audio Conferencing

  In the context of Office 365 E5 and Microsoft 365 E5 licensing A/C refers to Audio Conferencing. There are SKU variants that specifically exclude Audio Conferencing features and are distinguished by a "w/o A/C" or "without A/C" moniker.

• AD / Active Directory / ADDS / Active Directory Domain Services

  Active Directory is a Microsoft server product that provides directory services for Windows domain networks. It is used to manage users, computers, and other resources in a networked environment.

• AAD / Azure Active Directory

  Azure Active Directory is the old name for what is now known as Entra ID, the cloud-native alternative to Active Directory.

• AOVPN / Always-On VPN

  Always-On VPN is now a discontinued feature of Windows that provided a VPN connection at all times.

• ASR / Attack Surface Reduction

  Attack Surface Reduction features in Microsoft Defender that help protect devices from malware and other threats by reducing the addressable attack surface.

• AVD / Azure Virtual Desktop

  Azure Virtual Desktop is a highly-configurable Microsoft cloud Platform-as-a-Service component that allows users to access a virtualised desktop or stream virtualised applications from anywhere, on any device. AVD bills as pay-as-you-go consumption in Azure. Customers should also consider the sister product Windows 365, which is easier to manage and billed as a per-user, per-month subscription model.

• Azure

  Azure is Microsoft's pay-as-you-go cloud platform with both Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service services available for customers to build their own solutions, but also the foundation platform on which Microsoft 365 and many other Microsoft Software-as-a-Service subscription products are built.

• CA / Conditional Access

  Conditional Access is a feature of Entra ID which is essentially a rules engine defining the circumstances and conditions under which users can authenticate and conditionally constrain their access level. For example, Conditionl Access rules could allow a user to login to an admin terminal, require MFA, but block them if there are any signs of suspicious activity on their user account.

• CSPM / Cloud Security Posture Management

  Cloud Security Posture Management is a set of tools and practices designed to help organizations manage and secure their cloud infrastructure by providing visibility into cloud resources, identifying misconfigurations, and enforcing security policies to ensure compliance with best practices.

• D365 / Dynamics 365

  Dynamics 365 is a suite of business applications that help organizations manage their operations, customer relationships, and financials. It includes applications for sales, marketing, customer service, finance, and operations, among others.

• Defender

  Microsoft Defender is a suite of security products that includes Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Defender for Office 365. It is designed to help organizations protect their endpoints, identities, cloud resources, and email from cyber threats.

• E1, E2, E3, E4, E5 / Enterprise SKUs

  These are the five levels of Office 365 Enterprise licensing, but the number progression shows up in other license types too. E1 is the most basic and E5 is the most feature-rich. Office 365 E2 and E4 are discontinued and not available for new customers. Office 365 E2 included all the features of Office 365 E3 except the Office apps. Office 365 E4 included all the features of Office 365 E3 and added Enterprise Voice (Skype Plus CAL).

• EMS / Enterprise Mobility + Security

  Enterprise Mobility + Security is a suite of Microsoft products that includes Entra ID Premium and Microsoft Intune, amongst other benefits. It is designed to help organizations manage and secure their identities, applications, and devices. As a foundation component of Microsoft 365 it complements Office 365 but is applicable to many other on-premises and cloud scenarios.

• Entra

  Microsoft Entra is the new name for the Microsoft identity and access management products. Most famously Azure Active Directory is now known as Entra ID.

• Entra ID

  Entra ID is the new name for Azure Active Directory, the cloud-native alternative to Active Directory.

• EOP / Exchange Online Protection

  Exchange Online Protection is the standard email filtering (anti-spam and anti-malware) service that is part of Exchange Online.

• EXO / Exchange Online

  Exchange Online is the Software as a Service cloud version of Exchange Server, the email service that is part of Microsoft 365.

• GPO / Group Policy Object

  Group Polciy is a Windows feature that allows administrators to manage and configure operating system settings and user preferences in an Active Directory environment. A Group Policy Object is a specific Group Policy configuration setting.

• Intune

  Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service that helps organizations manage and secure their devices and applications. It is part of the Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) suite.

• LAPS / Local Administrator Password Solution

  Local Administrator Password Solution is a Microsoft solution that helps organizations manage local administrator passwords on domain-joined computers. It provides a way to automatically change and securely store local administrator passwords, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

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• M365 / Microsoft 365

  Microsoft 365 was originally a suite of Office 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security, and Windows. Now includes Suite Value / Suite Benefits that are only available under a Microsoft 365 suite license.

• M365 SKUs

  Microsoft 365 SKU types are the various license types available for Microsoft 365:

  • M365 A = Academic (Education)
  • M365 B = Business (Basic, Standard, and Premium)
  • M365 E = Enterprise
  • M365 F = Frontline
  • M365 G = Government (only in GCC environments - Government customers outside of GCC will use Enterprise SKUs)

  These variations of Microsoft 365 licenses exist under different purchasing agreements to provide differing features and usage rights.

• MDE / Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

  Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive endpoint security solution designed to help enterprises prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats. It is part of the Microsoft Defender family of products and provides a range of features including endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat and vulnerability management (TVM), attack surface reduction (ASR), and automated investigation and remediation.

• MIP / MPIP / PIP / Microsoft Purview Information Protection

  Microsoft Purview Information Protection is a set of tools and technologies designed to help organizations classify, label, and protect sensitive information. It includes features such as data loss prevention, encryption, and rights management.

• O365 / Office 365

  One of the founding components of Microsoft 365, along-side EMS and Windows. Office 365 includes a suite of productivity applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, as well as cloud services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.

• ODfB / OneDrive for Business

  OneDrive for Business is an enterprise cloud storage service that is part of Microsoft 365. It allows users to store, sync, and share files with others, and access them from anywhere on any device.

• OPP / Office Professional Plus

  Office Professional Plus is the traditional Office desktop application licensing for enterprise customers. It includes the full suite of Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

• Product Lifecycle

  Product Lifecycle spells out the stages a product goes through from its initial release to its end of support. Microsoft provides information on the lifecycle of its products, including the dates for mainstream support, extended support, and end of support.

• Product Pages

  Product Pages are the online documentation hosted at microsoft.com that describes the high level features and capabilities of Microsoft products and services.

• Productivity Servers

  The Microsoft productivity server products are SharePoint, Skype for Business, and Exchange.

• Purview

  Microsoft Purview is the new name for the Microsoft compliance and data governance products. It includes Information Protection, Insider Risk Management, Communication Compliance, Information Governance, eDiscovery, Advanced eDiscovery, Advanced Audit, and Records Management.

• RDS / Remote Desktop Services

  Remote Desktop Services is a Microsoft server product that allows users to connect to a desktop or application hosted on a server. To use RDS, users need a Remote Desktop Services Client Access License (RDS CAL).

• RMS / Rights Management Service

  Rights Management Service was originally part of Active Directory but is now also available as a cloud service through Microsoft Purview Information Protection.

• Service Descriptions

  Service Descriptions are online documentation hosted at learn.microsoft.com that describes the features and capabilities of Microsoft products and services.

• SPO / SharePoint Online

  SharePoint Online is the document and collaboration service that is part of Microsoft 365.

• SSPM / SaaS Security Posture Management

  SaaS Security Posture Management is a set of tools and practices designed to help organizations manage and secure their Software-as-a-Service applications by providing visibility into SaaS resources, identifying misconfigurations, and enforcing security policies to ensure compliance with best practices.

• Teams

  Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform that combines chat, video conferencing, file sharing, and application integration. It is part of Microsoft 365 and is designed to facilitate communication and collaboration within organizations.

• UEBA / User and Entity Behavioural Analytics

  User and Entity Behavioural Analytics is a security tool that uses machine learning and advanced analytics to detect anomalies in user and entity behaviour, helping organizations identify potential security threats and insider risks.

• Viva

  Microsoft Viva is a suite of employee experience products that help organizations improve employee engagement, well-being, learning, and knowledge.

• W365 / Windows 365

  A Windows Desktop-as-a-Service delivered from the Microsoft Cloud. Where AVD is a highly configurable Platform-as-a-Service, Windows 365 is a more streamlined Desktop-as-a-Service that is designed to be easier to configure, use, and manage. Similar in philosophy to the difference between hosted Exchange Server and Exchange Online.

Technical Terms

These technical terms are not specific to Microsot but are routinely used by Microsoft products, services, and features.

• AGI / Artificial General Intelligence

  Artificial General Intelligence is a category of AI, not yet demonstrated but under heavy R&D, able to be applied to everyday tasks that a human would be reasonably expected to perform. In contrast, most AI systems to date have been specialised to singular modalities, such as speech, text, or images, and to specialised domains of knowledge such as mathematics, data prediction, single task automation, or industrial processes.

• AI / Artificial Intelligence

  Artificial Intelligence is a field of computer algorithms designed to mimic or replicate the intelligence of natural creatures, particularly humans. There are many kinds of AI development, ranging from classical algorithms through to Machine Learning and most recently and publicly the development of Generative AI.

• Gen-AI / Generative Artificial Intelligence

  Generative AI, not to be confused with Artificial General Intelligence, is a relatively recent advancement in the field of Artificial Intelligence that uses statistical models that are, most simply, used to predect the next 'token' in a stream of information. What emerges from a seemingly simply technique is a new form of AI that promises to revolutionise many tasks and jobs. Most famous of the early Generative AI implementations is ChatGPT which uses General Purpose Transformers (hence the name) to construct natural written language responses to questions by effectively predicting the right response to a natural language expression.

• GPT / General Purpose Transformer

  General Purpose Transformers are a leading form of Generative AI models which have proven highly effective at creating natural language interfaces onto software systems and at reasoning over content to provide insights and answers. The concept of a large statistical model of language may sound relatively simple, but the algorithmic breakthrough is quite recent in computing. Fundamentally, by training a GPT on an enormous body of text content you can create a statistical model that is able to produce compelling results. Readers with a western English-speaking background will instantly recognise the next word in the sequence "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little ..." as "Star", which is a simple demonstration of the kind of probabilistic process that such systems employ.

• IaaS / Infrastructure as a Service

  Infrastructure as a Service is a commercial model for a service that provides virtualised infrastructure resources so that a customer does not carry the cost or overhead of procuring and managing physical hardware.

• LLM / Large Language Model

  A Large Language Model is a very large statistical model of natural language that enables Generative AI to produce compelling results.

• MDM / Mobile Device Management

  Mobile Device Management is a set of technologies and processes used to manage and secure mobile devices within an organisation. The specific features are heavily dependent on the mobile device operating system, but typically include features such as remote wipe, device encryption, and application management.

• MFA / Multi-Factor Authentication

  Multi-Factor Authentication is a method of authenticating that requires users to provide two or more forms of verification before accessing a system or application. This typically includes something the user knows (password), something the user has (smartphone or hardware token), and something the user is (biometric data).

• ML / Machine Learning

  Machine Learning is a subset of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on the development of algorithms and statistical models that enable computers to learn from and make predictions based on data. Machine Learning is often used in applications such as image recognition, natural language processing, and recommendation systems.

• PaaS / Platform as a Service

  Platform as a Service is a commercial model for a service which provides a platform for customers to build and deploy applications without concern for the underlying infrastructure. This is a level of abstraction above Infrastructure as a Service. A simple example of PaaS is web application hosting. In IaaS the customer would need to deploy the operating system and the application host and then deploy the application. With PaaS, the operating system and application host are provided as a service.

• SaaS / Software as a Service

  Software as a Service as a commercial model for a service which provides a software application as a service. This is a level of abstraction above Platform as a Service. A simple example of SaaS is email. In PaaS the customer would need to deploy and manage the email hosting application into an application runtime. With SaaS, the entire email service is provided as a service.

• SIEM / Security Information and Event Management

  Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) is a set of technologies and processes used to collect, analyze, and manage security data from across an organization's IT infrastructure. SIEM solutions provide real-time visibility into security events and incidents, helping organizations detect and respond to threats more effectively.

• SLM / Small Language Model

  A Small Language Model is a small statistical model of natural language that is not as exhaustive as a Large Language Model but is still able to produce compelling results for many scenarios.

• VM / Virtual Machine

  A Virtual Machine is a virtualised computer that runs on a physical host machine. VMs are used to run multiple operating systems and applications on a single physical server, allowing for better resource utilization and flexibility.

• VPN / Virtual Private Network

  A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a technology that creates a secure encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the Internet. VPNs are used to protect private web traffic from snooping, interference, and censorship. Or connect a remote user into their office network.

Industry Terms

The following terms are broadly common to the industry and/or wider society but often get used in one of the contexts above.

• BI / Business Intelligence

  Business Intelligence tools are used to extract actionable insights and intelligent data points from business data. For example, the Microsoft product: Power BI Pro found in Microsoft 365 E5 is a Business Intelligence tool for building dashboard and reports from dynamic business data.

• NDA / Non-Disclosure Agreement

  A Non-Disclosure Agreement is a contract between parties that allows the sharing of otherwise confidential information under the commitment not to on share it in unauthorised ways. Often used in a Microsoft context to mean that there is certain product roadmap or some unannounced (not yet public) information that can only be shared under a contract agreement not to disclose it to third parties. e.g. "Let's set up a meeting so I can share the latest roadmap under NDA". Many Microsoft Partners and Enterprise customers sign NDAs to allow them to learn about future innovations or to share detailed business problems to collaborate on solutions with Microsoft and Mirosoft Partners.

• R&D / Research and Development

  Research and Development (R&D) is an investment in the researching and subsequent development of new technologies often without immediate commercial prospects. R&D spending is made with the intent to learn, discover, and grow cutting edge technologies.

• SKU / Stock Keeping Unit

  A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier for a product. What the consumer sees as a single product may have multiple different variants, the generally accepted way to label and track product inventory is through standardised Stock Keeping Units, SKUs. In a classic retail setting this could differentiate the same product in different geographies, in different colours, or with additional features. For example, a toaster may be sold under the SKU T123-A in Australia, T123-U in the US, T123-E in Europe. The model in stainless steel for Australia may be T123S-A. Microsoft licensing is no different, and therefore one product may in practice be purchasable via one of dozens of SKUs or combinations of SKUs.

References

These reference materials provide even more content to help build your knowledge of Microsoft products, licensing, and procurement. They provide official documentation to support the content of this glossary.

• Licensing Resources and Documents

• Microsoft Licensing Guides

• Product Licensing Terms

• Service Descriptions

• Client Access Licenses and Management Licenses

• Microsoft Licensing Agreements

• Enterprise Agreement