Software Licensing

The Software Licensing service is a managed capability that procures, allocates, governs, and tracks software licenses used on Equinix platforms, consolidating licensing and support contracts from different suppliers into a single managed source.

In this Service, Equinix supplies software licenses for customer use by installing licensed software on Equinix-owned and/or managed infrastructure hosted inside Equinix IBXs. The customer acknowledges that software licenses supplied through the Service are not owned by the customer and must be used in accordance with the terms and conditions of all applicable Equinix and third-party software licenses.

Equinix follows vendor standards, software license rules, and lifecycle management requirements, including version currency, security patching, and end-of-support transitions. Customers are responsible for promptly applying vendor-recommended changes that are applicable to their environment.

The Service is not available as a standalone offering and is not provided outside Equinix IBXs. The Service is primarily used for workloads running on Managed Private Cloud but may also apply to other regionally supported platforms and use cases, depending on location.

Software Options

Equinix provides a service option for customers who require specific software to operate on supported Equinix platforms and solutions. The Service offers versions of software licenses from multiple vendors. The offering is limited to licensing and is governed by global agreements between Equinix and approved software vendors. Details such as vendor, software name and model, unit of measure (UOM), committed quantity, and price are specified in the Equinix Order.

Software vendor	Available workloads
Microsoft	Managed Private Cloud Single Tenant
Red Hat	Managed Private Cloud Single Tenant
VMware by Broadcom	Confirmation required

Other vendors may be available in specific locations, and availability or applicable rules may vary by location.

Purchase Units

The Service is billed through a Monthly Recurring Charge (MRC) based on the expected number of software licenses consumed monthly in the customer environment, as defined during contracting. The Service is offered as follows:

• Baseline — The number of software licenses expected for monthly consumption is defined during contracting. This modality has a fixed monthly recurring charge based on the contracted quantity. Increasing the number of software licenses requires a contractual amendment.
• Overage — The minimum number of software licenses expected for monthly consumption is defined during contracting. This modality allows excess consumption without a contractual amendment. Additional charges apply only to the number of licenses consumed above the contracted minimum, as defined during contracting. Baseline and Overage modalities both include a recurring charge based on the contracted quantity. The Overage modality may be available only for specific vendors and includes a variable, proportional charge if the customer exceeds the contracted number of software licenses at the end of the month.

Equinix may adjust pricing based on vendor pricelist updates or exchange rate changes, independent of the customer’s contractual price adjustment cycle. Early termination is not permitted, and the customer must pay for the remaining contract term if cancellation occurs before contract end. Automatic renewal may not apply to some software licenses.

Roles & Responsibilities

Onboarding Phase

The Service must remain assigned to the hardware or platform where Equinix initially installed it and must remain allocated to Equinix IBXs. The customer may not move any part of the Service without authorization from Equinix.

If an audit is conducted or requested by the software manufacturer, the customer must allow Equinix and/or the software manufacturer to access the environment. No customer data is accessed during such audits; the audit is limited to verifying software license usage. Equinix does not supervise, monitor, or control customer content or data transmitted or stored in the environment and is not liable for such content, including any violations of confidentiality, intellectual property agreements, or unlawful disclosures made by the customer.

Any adjustment to the quantity of the Service due to licensing rule violations is based on comparing the contracted quantity with the installed quantity. In cases of noncompliance, the customer is responsible for any charges imposed by the software manufacturer.

Equinix provides a catalog of software that may be licensed to run workloads. When applicable, Equinix may install an application monitoring agent, usage metering tool, or other recommended software on the customer environment or virtual machine to verify differences between the licenses provided through the Service and those installed in the customer environment, ensure compliance with publisher use rights, and support periodic validation.

The monitoring agent collects only licensing information related to software provided through the Service. It does not access or control customer content, regardless of whether the environment is managed by Equinix. Collected licensing information is stored in an encrypted repository and treated as Confidential Information.

Acceptance Into Service

Equinix supports only software versions that are supported by the manufacturer. The customer must adhere to the manufacturer’s product lifecycle requirements and perform version upgrades when notified.

When the Service is contracted, the customer receives the right to use the software but does not own it; ownership remains with Equinix. Software version updates covered by the vendor without commercial change do not require an update to the Equinix contract. Execution of such updates is not included in this Service.

Activity	Equinix	Customer
Ownership of the software	R	I
Perform version upgrades	CI	RA

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.

Operational Phase

Equinix is not responsible for the operational behavior of the software included in the Service and is not liable for any damage resulting from software malfunction affecting the customer or third parties.

The customer acknowledges that the software provided through the Service is produced and licensed by third parties. These software licenses are subject to the terms defined by third-party providers, including End User License Agreements (EULA), Product Use Rights (PUR), or other applicable licensing documents.

Any vendor changes to pricing or software versions may be passed through to the customer by Equinix.

Activity	Equinix	Customer
Operating features of Software Licensing	—	RA
Damage caused by software malfunction	I	R
Applying changes to software license versions	CI	RA
Compliance with provisions established by third-party licensors	CI	RA

Service Requests

There are two types of service requests available:

• Basic - Service requests that fall within the scope of the Service; no additional charges apply.
• Additional - Service requests that fall outside the scope of the Service; additional charges apply.

Service request	Type
Product information	Basic
Request basic usage information (quantity)	Basic
Request support for non-standard configuration	Additional

In addition to the options listed above, additional services may be described in the Equinix Service Catalog or may be requested for evaluation by Equinix.

Third-party add-ons, non-standard configurations, or service assurance events resulting from customer actions or customer-directed activities are not included in the Service and may incur additional non-recurring fees.

Service Levels

Support

If an issue occurs, the customer must open a support case in the Managed Solutions Portal. Available support case types include:

• Solve issues with the SAM agent
• Investigate and resolve issues

Availability

The Service has no SLA. Equinix is not responsible for any software failure or vulnerability associated with the Service.