Amid Shifts at Microsoft, Changes in Pricing on Tap for 2014
Since we at Infinitely Virtual, a leading provider of Cloud Server computing services, established our first hosting environment in 2007, our prices have remained the same – almost without exception. That’s been the case because of our commitment as a company to deliver maximum value to our customers at the lowest possible price – and to preserve price stability across our product line.
Our policy is to continuously roll more value into our products while holding prices steady. Faster and faster storage. New equipment, delivering more uptime. Free intrusion detection and protection capabilities. Perimeter antivirus, also at no charge. We’ve repackaged some offerings, upgrading a premium product to “super premium” at the same price. Adding these and other essential performance and security features has meant that the value of our environment has gone up. And prices have not.
We’re proud of that tradition, of refraining from passing price hikes on to customers – a practice that has been top-of-mind for us throughout the sluggish economic recovery. And because we believe virtualization and Infrastructure as a Service are catalysts for business growth, we have acted to make it as easy as possible for companies to migrate to the cloud.
Sometimes, however, pricing is out of our hands, and this is one of those times. What will this mean for you?
Microsoft SQL Server – Standard and Web Editions
Effective January 1, we will reluctantly – but necessarily – transition to incorporate Microsoft’s policy for licensing SQL Server. Microsoft modified its licensing model to account for a change in server architecture; servers formerly had multiple single-core processors and now have multiple multi-core processors. While we have historically priced on a per-virtual server model – which we believe has made it easier for customers – we will now move to per-core pricing. Microsoft actually altered its licensing for SQL Server nearly two years ago. We held off, for the reasons just noted.
Microsoft requires that we pay SQL Server Standard and Web Editions license fees on a per-core basis, with a 4-core minimum. Accordingly, if you’ve typically paid $99.99/month for SQL Standard Edition, the monthly fee will rise to $74.99/core with the four-core minimum. Microsoft has always offered a per-user license fee for SQL Standard, and for small systems – that is, fewer than 18 users – it may be more cost-effective to license on a per-user basis ($15.99 per user per month). In addition, SQL Web Edition, previously priced at $4.99/server, will now be priced at $4.99 per core, with the four-core minimum.
Microsoft Windows Server
Other price increases will take effect on January 1 as well. Microsoft has raised its prices on Windows in hosting environments by 50 percent. In response, we will raise our prices on Windows hosting plans between one and five percent.
Remote Desktop Licensing
Finally, Microsoft has increased remote desktop user licensing fees by $1 per user per month, and we will be passing this hike along to our customers. Effective January 1, the increase will apply to primarily to those using our Virtual Terminal Server products and QuickBooks Terminal Server products.
These pricing changes notwithstanding, Infinitely Virtual will continue to be among the most cost-competitive providers in the virtualization market, and we are committed to not raising our prices on existing customers for the next two years. Our overriding goal is to ensure that you receive unsurpassed value for your hosting dollar. For additional details on pricing changes, please visit http://www.infinitelyvirtual.com/price-increases-2014-01.html.
