Protecting Your Email with Exchange Online Advanced Threat Protection 

With the constant threat of malware, companies have to constantly find ways to stay ahead.  How do you protect your data from these threats when they are constantly evolving and becoming more aggressive?  Microsoft has a solution in Exchange Online called Advanced Threat Protection (ATP).  It is another layer of must-have security that Microsoft offers to meet all your business needs. 

Many clients, especially those with Enterprise Agreements, are being asked by Microsoft to convert their licensing agreements into Office 365 based subscription solutions and are confused by their options.  This comparison is for clients who currently own just the Core CAL (client access license) and are considering moving to an Office 365 E1 plan with a Bridge CAL.  

Let’s start with what is the same.

Both E1 and the Core CAL give you the right to run Exchange Standard CAL, Skype for Business Standard CAL (formerly known as Lync), and SharePoint Standard CAL on premise, in your own data center for your users.  Both plans would require the requisite Server licenses purchases. 

The Bridge CAL completes the traditional functionality of the Core CAL by licensing you for a Windows CAL, System Center Configuration Manager CML, and the Microsoft EndPoint Protection Antivirus service. 

So many versions of SharePoint!  If you have seen the licensing chart lately, it’s starting to become a game of Where’s Waldo when it comes to figuring out what features are available in which version of SharePoint.  Are you On-Premises?  Online?  K1, E1, E3, E4?  Bingo anyone?!  The most common question when reviewing Office 365 licensing is whether or not to make the jump from E1 to E3.  But with all 300 of the features detailed in a complicated spreadsheet, how can you make sense of all the noise?  How do you know what your organization needs?  

SharePoint Online (SPO) Licensing Basics for O365 Enterprise Plans

Microsoft labels its Office 365 Enterprise level licensing as E1, E3, and E4.  The different levels designate the Office, Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint features that are available to your organization; where E1 is more basic and E4 is fully featured.  For many companies, the decision between E1, E3 and E4 comes easy based on needs around Exchange and Lync.  However, with growing flexibility around assigning licenses that can be ”mixed and matched” to individuals within an organization, there has been additional conversations popping up about who needs what.

In SharePoint terms, E3 and E4 are pretty much the same.  This leaves us to describe the differences between E1 and E3. For those already familiar with SharePoint, the differences can be summed up by comparing E1 to SharePoint Standard and E3 to SharePoint Enterprise on-premises.  However, while one could say the comparisons are similar, the functionality for SharePoint on-premises is not identical to SharePoint Online and so you cannot make the assumption that all functionality can be matched one for one.

When it comes it understanding why you would need to upgrade from E1 to E3, it’s easiest to look at the key features.