For a successful virtualization project, it’s important to understand software licensing and support policies for virtualized and cloud environments. Today, many enterprises invest in software to track licensing compliance and vendor support policies because policies could differ substantially among vendors.

Do you use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel on a daily basis? You’re not alone. The Office suite has more than one billion users, and with a new version coming out next year that number could go up. Whether your organization currently uses Office or not, you need to be prepared for the next version.

Whether you only need a dozen, or a hundred, the process of deciding on and acquiring software licenses can be very frustrating. Many of us had hoped that cloud computing and virtualization would alleviate some of these headaches. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet, which is why it’s important to understand all of your licensing options when deciding on a virtualized environment -- let’s take a look.