The IT manager for a large customer called me the other day in a panic and asking for help. He said they were about to start a project to upgrade Cisco Unity in all their servers around the world and could not get the necessary software. They were under the impression that they could get their software via a quick visit to Cisco.com – after all, they had never had trouble getting their software in the past, and they had only purchased their three year subscription 18 months ago. This customer planned their upgrade project without ever considering any issues obtaining the necessary software. At the 11th hour, they found out that getting their software upgrade was impossible!
Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing, commonly known as CUWL, lets you easily buy and organize Cisco UC applications and services. Instead of purchasing and maintaining licensing for individual products, CUWL simplifies delivering the full suite of applications to your users. You can provide call control, voicemail and other applications in one consolidated package.
As part of any CUWL order you must also purchase a Cisco Unified Communications Software Subscriptions (UCSS) along with matching Cisco Essential Operate Service (ESW) software support. Valid UCSS and ESW subscriptions/contracts are required for activating and receiving the various licenses purchased under CUWL. So, in summary, one needs to purchase and activate three separate Cisco products in order to make CUWL work:
1. The CUWL licenses – selected Cisco UC products conveniently licensed together for one seat/user.
2. UCSS subscriptions for the UC products licensed under CUWL – an upgrade subscription where licensees may upgrade any of the licensed products to the latest and greatest versions available from Cisco.
3. ESW contracts – Technical support contract direct from Cisco for the UC products licensed under CUWL. Support may be received online via Cisco.com, or via telephone and email directly from Cisco’s TAC.
Here is where things can get a bit tricky! When purchasing CUWL licensing, the associated UCSS and ESW subscriptions terms may vary in length. UCSS is typically available only in three (3) or five (5) year terms* (*Note: 1 year UCSS terms are available only for Public Sector organizations). CUWL itself is valid for the term of its associated UCSS subscription. For example, if a 3 year UCSS contract is purchased with CUWL, the CUWL licenses themselves are valid for three years. Simple enough.
Unfortunately the ESW contracts, part three of the above list, is sold in contracts of varying lengths – anywhere from one (1) to five (5) years. Although it is typically possible to buy CUWL and UCSS in two terms – 3 or 5 years, you can purchase the required ESW contract for a term of only 1 year. Not only is 1 year ESW possible, it is the likely default term on may configuration tools being used. Herein lays one of the most insidious pitfalls Cisco customers face with CUWL: if a one year term of ESW is purchased with multi-year CUWL and UCSS, it is imperative the ESW contract be renewed each year for the duration of the UCSS term. If ESW is not renewed within 90 days of expiration, it may void the UCSS subscription associated with that expired ESW contract. And, as I mention above, CUWL itself is valid for the term of its associated UCSS subscription. If Cisco voids the UCSS subscription because ESW has lapsed, the entire CUWL house of cards falls apart and what was supposed to be a 3 or 5 year CUWL license goes away permanently. This is not good.
At some point I would hope Cisco somehow ties the three CUWL components, CUWL, UCSS, and ESW with mandatory matching terms so this problem never manifests itself again. In the meantime, review all of your ESW contracts associated with CUWL and make sure you renew for the duration of your CUWL/UCSS term.
This post discusses Cisco User Connect Licensing.
Author: Alex Obeso
Originally posted at Geeknick.com
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Tagged with: Call Manager • Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing • CUWL • CUWL Licensing • ESW • Meetingplace • Presence • UCSS • Unity
Filed under: Unified Communications
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Being in distribution, most resellers match the subsciption terms for ESW, UCSS and CUWL. Although it would be nice to not have to worry about that issue Period.
Thanks for your thoughts Nick. I’ll tell you I see way too many cases where resellers, both large and small, do not match the subscription terms. Agree it would be nice not to have to worry about this!
Regards,
–Alex