Mitel MiVoice Business licensing governs Mitel’s main call-control platform, which serves organisations “from 5 to 130,000 users” on a single software stream. It runs on single sites, multi-site networks, private cloud and public cloud.[1] The general framework is in Mitel licensing.
The General Information Guide describes the licensing strategy as offering “multiple user licensing levels” so that the licence level can match each user’s role.[1] Licences are either perpetual or subscription. A perpetual licence needs annual Software Assurance, while the subscription includes it.[1] Catalog proof: MiVoice Business is bought CapEx with annual SWA or OpEx including SWA; Licences are perpetual or subscription; subscription bundles trunks and Teleworker.
Editions
System types
A MiVoice Business system is activated as one of two types:
- Standalone (not available in all markets). In the License and Option Selection help, a Standalone system “does not support clustering, IP trunks or resiliency”, although XNET trunks are supported.[2]
- Enterprise System, which includes networking and full user and device resiliency.[1]
Both run the same software. Mitel says it encourages Enterprise over Standalone licensing because Enterprise “already includes the ability to expand to multiple nodes”.[1] Changing a system from Standalone to Enterprise erases its database, so a backup and restore is required.[2]
Licence management types
The General Information Guide lists three ways of managing licences:[1]
| Type | Application record | Licence sharing |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone System | One Application Record per system | None |
| Non Shared Enterprise System | One Application Record per system | None |
| Enterprise Licensing | Systems amalgamated into one Application Group record | Pooled through a Designated License Manager |
Catalog proof: Three licence management types: Standalone, Non Shared Enterprise, Enterprise Licensing.
Metrics
| Licence | Catalog row | Unit (General Information Guide) |
|---|---|---|
| User License | IP User License | An IP device fully activated, or a Hot Desk user |
| Multi-device User License | Multi-device User License | A user with up to eight devices |
| External Hot Desking | External Hot Desking License | An off-PBX number, typically a mobile for twinning |
| ACD Active Agent | ACD Active Agent License | Each concurrent agent log-in |
| Single line | Single Line License | Each analog or single-line SIP termination |
| Voice mail | Voice Mail License | Each mailbox, including auto attendant |
| Suite | Suite License | A hospitality suite of up to six phones |
| SIP Trunk | SIP Trunk License | Each simultaneous SIP trunk call |
Source: General Information Guide s.3.1.[1] The guide also lists G.729 compression, T.38 fax and digital link licences (per E1 or T1 link). MiVoice Analytics extension licences “are named licenses and not concurrent”.[1] Catalog proof: SIP trunks are licensed per simultaneous call; MiVoice Analytics extension licences are named, not concurrent.
Counting / floors
What consumes an IP User License
The License and Option Selection help lists what consumes an IP User License: each standard user and device, IP console, Hot Desking user, ACD-enabled set, ACD Hot Desking agent and ACD Express agent. Hot desk users and SIP phones also require one.[2] The number configurable depends on the controller, for example 700 on an AX, CX II or CXi II and 5,600 on an MXe Server.[2] Catalog proof: Which devices and users consume an IP User License.
Several devices per user
There are two ways to give a user several devices, and they count differently. A Multiple Device User consumes one MDU licence and may have up to eight devices ring together, but can talk on only one at a time (“one busy all busy”). In a Personal Ring Group “each of the members of the PRG consumes an IP User license”, but all the devices can be in calls at the same time.[1] For an entitlement review, the same user can therefore cost one licence or up to eight depending on how the user is configured. Catalog proof: Multi-device User licence vs Personal Ring Group.
Concurrent licences
ACD Active Agent licences are concurrent: one is needed “for each concurrent agent log in”.[1] Unlike most licences, they cannot be over-allocated. An attempt to do so goes straight to a Major license violation.[3] Catalog proof: ACD Active Agent licences are concurrent and cannot be over-allocated.
License violations
MiVoice Business enforces its licences itself. The Troubleshooting Guide lists the warning-level events. They include over-allocation, a missing DLM or Application Group member, licence keys that cannot be validated, a duplicate system, “Failure of timely synchronization with license server” and a tampered licence file.[3] Unresolved events escalate:
| Level | Reached | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | On the event | Maintenance log entries, pop-ups and banners |
| Minor | 2 days after the event | Alarms and pop-ups on multiple forms |
| Major | 7 days after the event, or at once for non-over-allocatable licences | As Minor |
| Critical | 14 days after the event | Also shown on the Desktop Tool and device displays |
| System Lock | 36 days after the event, for over-allocation above 5% of purchased licences or a virtual controller unsynchronized for more than six months | Desktop Tool disabled; all sets except attendant consoles restricted to emergency, attendant and incoming calls |
Source: Troubleshooting Guide, Initial Setup.[3] A small over-allocation, up to 5% of purchased licences, therefore produces persistent alarms but does not lock the system. A larger one stops normal outgoing calls after five weeks. Catalog proof: License violations escalate to System Lock after 36 days.
Enterprise Licensing (Designated License Manager)
Enterprise Licensing, also called license sharing, “allows a customer to easily move licenses around their solution”. Licences can move between MiVoice Business instances “with no involvement from Mitel or their Solution Provider”. One instance is configured as the Designated License Manager (DLM), and the network is then licensed “as a single solution rather than a group of individual licensed nodes”.[1] The rule that matters for a mixed estate is that “All licenses in a DLM must be of the same procured type”, meaning all perpetual or all subscription.[1] An organisation moving part of its estate to subscription must therefore keep the two in separate pools. Catalog proof: All licences in a DLM must be perpetual or all subscription.
Group membership is visible on each system as the License Sharing field. Systems that are members can share licences, and the Application Group License Distribution form tracks licences purchased, allocated and used.[2]
Virtualization & partitioning
MiVoice Business is supported on VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox KVM and Nutanix, and as virtual servers on Azure and AWS.[1] Licences are per user and feature, not per core, so no partitioning rule applies. The installation guide adds three licensing conditions for virtual deployments:
- Virtual licence SKUs. Hyper-V installations use the same images as physical installs, “but you must still purchase the virtual version of the license”, and must use a virtual base kit.[4] Catalog proof: Hyper-V installs need the virtual version of the licence.
- Connectivity. vMiVB synchronizes licences periodically, and failure to do so in time leads to license violation. “Connectivity to the Licenses & Services is required for any virtual appliance”, even where a DLM is used for offline sites.[4] Catalog proof: Virtual systems must synchronize licences periodically.
- Hardware binding. Each server generates a Hardware ID that includes its MAC address. With the Application Record ID it identifies the system to the license server. Changing hardware or reformatting the drive requires clearing the Hardware ID in Licenses & Services.[4] Catalog proof: Application record is bound to a Hardware ID; changing hardware needs a reset.
Under the older 2014 MiVoice Business v7 EULA, a server install was licensed “on one server only” and a virtual server install as “a single instance of the Software in a virtual environment”.[5] The current EULA instead defines Platform as servers (physical or virtual), workstation terminals and mobile devices, and grants use on “the applicable Platform(s)”.[6] Catalog proof: Legacy v7 EULA: virtual server install is a single instance.
Cloud / BYOL
Public cloud deployments run MiVoice Business as a customer-dedicated instance on virtual servers. The same virtual licensing and synchronization rules apply.[1][4] The retrieved documents publish no separate bring-your-own-licence policy.
Out of scope
- MiCollab and the UCC and Subscription bundles, covered in Mitel MiCollab, UCC and subscription bundles.
- MiContact Center Business, which Mitel describes in its own General Information Guide.[1]
- Controller hardware and phones.