| Acronym | Meaning |
| AAD | Azure Active Directory - Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service. This service helps employees access external resources, such as Microsoft 365, the Azure portal, and thousands of other SaaS applications |
| AADDS | Azure Active Directory Domain Services - Azure-managed Active Directory. Designed to be a cloud extension of an on-premise AD environment. Significant restricted functionality, avoid if all possible. |
| ABC | Acronis Backup Cloud |
| AD | Active Directory - LDAP-based identity management system |
| API | Application programming Interface |
| ARM | Azure Resource Manager - Azure’s IaC templating language for deploying resources to Azure. It’s written in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). They contain all of the config options for the resources they are deploying - VMs, App Services, Storage etc. These templates can then be run via the Azure CLI or in an Azure DevOps pipeline. |
| BSP | Business Service Provider |
| BYOD | Bring your own device |
| CAL | Client Access License |
| CDS | Cloud Director Service |
| CHP | CloudHealth Platform |
| CMS | Cloud Management Services |
| CPA | Customer program agreement, regarding PRISM |
| CRM | Customer Relation Management |
| CSP | Cloud Solution Provider |
| DLA | Direct Line of Access |
| DPOR | Direct partner of record |
| DYN | Dynamics 365 |
| EA | Enterprise Agreement - Agreement between customer and Microsoft for Azure & product licensing (not CSP) |
| EA/SA | Enterprise Agreement/Software Agreement |
| ERP | Estimated Retail Price |
| EULA | End User License Agreement |
| FPP | Full Packaged Product |
| FTE | Full Time Equivalent - 40h/week |
| GA | Global Admin |
| GB | Gigabyte |
| GSS | Global Support Services |
| IaC | Infrastructure as Code - Cloud infrastructure where the resource configurations needed are recorded in templates which are then deployed. |
| ISV | Independent Software Vendor - Software companies, who produce software or PaaS/SaaS products as their primary business. |
| LM | License Mobility |
| LSP | Microsoft License Solution Provider |
| MBO | Monthly Billing Order |
| MBSA | Microsoft Business Service Agreement |
| MCS | Mission Critical Support |
| MFA | Multi Factor Authentication |
| MOPS | Managed Operations |
| MPA | Microsoft Partner Agreement |
| MPN | Microsoft Partner Network |
| MRM | Messaging records management |
| MS | Microsoft |
| MSP | Managed service provider - A Company which provides technical services to clients, usually IT-related. |
| NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement |
| NPS | Network Policy Server |
| NSG | Network security group |
| OST | Online Services Terms |
| PAL | Partner Admin Link - A way to align Microsoft Partner Network ID to a customer’s subscription in order to be recognised for consumption of services |
| PGA | Partner Global Account (Global MPN) |
| PLA | Partner Location Account (Location MPN) |
| PMC | Partner Membership Center |
| PO | Purchase Order |
| PPU | Price per Unit |
| PSO | Professional Services Order |
| QMTH | Qualified Multi Tenant Hosting |
| RDS | Remote Desktop Server |
| RI | Reserved Instances - Pre-paying Virtual Machine/Database/Server etc. costs to save money i.e. reserving them in advance. In contrast to PAYG (Pay as you go) |
| RPO | Rhipe Program Operations |
| RRP | Recommended Retails Price |
| SAL | Standard Access License |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit |
| SP | Service Provider |
| SPLA | Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement |
| SPUR | Services Provider Use Rights |
| UM | Usage Meter - vCloud Usage Meter is a virtual appliance that is installed on a vCenter Server instance. |
| VAR | Value Added Reseller |
| VM | Virtual Machine |
| VOIP | Voice over IP |
| vSAN | VMware Virtual Storage Area Network |
| VSPP | VMware Service provider program - The VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) is program that allows VMware Partner Network Program participants to offer VMware-based cloud services. |