Important licensing changes in Kerio Connect for mobile users

If you have mobile Kerio® Connect users, they may be affected by an upcoming licensing change that becomes effective for Kerio Connect renewals beginning May 1st 2013.

This is the critical part: as of May 1st, if you have ANY mobile users who are configured with EAS (Exchange Active Sync) and wish to continue using them, your licensing costs will increase by $2 per user across all users when you renew, whether they are using EAS or not.

This is why you need to decide if you want this licensing. For example, if you are licensed for 100 Connect users and only 1 of those users is using EAS, you'd be paying an extra $200 yearly just because of that user.

Note that if, for example, your Kerio Connect renewal is later in the year, this extra cost does not affect you until then. You may also want to know that if you renew before May 1st, you can avoid this fee for another year.

Alternatives

There are alternatives. Mobile users may reconfigure their devices to use free protocols. See these articles:

Configuring imap carddav and caldav on android based devices 1329.html

How to configure your iphone to communicate with kerio connect 251.html

You may also want to read these:

Setting up your mobile device for imap caldav and carddav with kerio connect

Revisiting syncing mobile devices with open standards

If your mobile users are already using those free methods or will switch to them before your renewal, you don't need this extra licensing.

For those of you who renew later in the year, you have until then to decide whether or not to pay this extra licensing and, if not, to migrate users to the free methods.

Why is this happening?

Providers like Kerio have to license EAS from Microsoft. Some competitors have dropped EAS entirely because of that cost (Google, as of July 31st 2013) and others have announced price increases of $4 to $5 per user. Kerio is charging very little.

If a user has an iPad and an iPhone, do I need two licenses?

No. EAS is licensed per user, not per device.

How do I know if my users are using EAS?

You can turn on "Active Sync Synchronization" in the Debug log. If anyone is using EAS, you will soon see entries indicating who. Right click within the log, choose "Messages" from the context menu and find "Active Sync Synchronization".

Another way is to look at Active Connections:

Important things to know:

Kerio is definitely not eliminating EAS. Kerio Connect will continue to offer Exchange ActiveSync for mobile device synchronization going forward. The upcoming Kerio Connect 8.1 will be compatible with Windows 8 which relies on EAS for Mail, Calendars and Contact apps.

Kerio Connect will offer free, open-standards way for mobile device synchronization going forward. They are a founding member and an active contributor to CalConnect, and truly believe that open standards in interoperability are the best path forward for customers.

Some users don't like that with an Active Directory password policy they have to change multiple passwords (for Mail app, Calendar app, Contacts app, and whatever). Compared to typing in your new password just once if you use EAS, it is annoying. However, recreating a profile is a simple enough step with the auto-config tool (accessible from Webmail).

Others don't like that IMAP in IOS offers just pull email, and you get email in 15 minute intervals or you pull them manually. If you absolutely require instant email notifications you may want EAS.

Android does not offer native CardDAV and CalDAV support (unlike IOS); you have to install a paid CalDAV-Sync beta client and CardDAV-Sync client from Google Play or some other vendor. These are not expensive and are usually one-time costs.

To reiterate, for renewals beginning May 1, EAS will be a paid service at $2/user/year. If you want to continue using EAS, you will need to license EAS at your next license renewal. If you would like to use the free alternatives, read the articles above to learn how to configure your IOS and Android mobile device using open standards.

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