Channel Brief: Mimecast Launches Partner ONE MSP Program

In a blog post yesterday, Microsoft announced pricing changes for, among other services, its M365 Copilot subscription.

"Today, we are announcing several commercial licensing and pricing updates," the blog said. "These updates include introducing a new monthly billing plan for Microsoft 365 Copilot annual term subscriptions, standardizing the billing structure for all monthly billed products on annual term subscriptions, and updating the pricing for Microsoft Teams Phone."

Starting on December 1, 2024, Microsoft said, customers who purchase annual term subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales, and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service will have the option to pay on a monthly basis instead of making an upfront annual payment. That change includes a price increase.

"The monthly billing option for annual term subscriptions of Copilot will be priced 5% higher than the annual billing option and will be available across Buy Online, CSP, and MCA-E. Please note that the annual billing price for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot for Sales, and Copilot for Service annual subscriptions remains unchanged," according to the blog.

As of April 1, 2025, that change will apply to the monthly billing plans for annual subscriptions across Buy Online, CSP, and MCA-E. Microsoft argued that "by standardizing the billing structure, we ensure consistency and transparency across all platforms."

Customers who want to keep their existing pricing may switch from monthly billing to annual billing with upfront payment for their annual term subscription at their renewal date, Microsoft said.

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Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Mimecast launches Partner ONE MSP program: Mimecast announced the launch of its Partner ONE MSP Program, an advancement to its existing partner program. The Partner ONE MSP Program provides MSPs with a path to grow and differentiate their business through clear requirements and performance-based pathways. Mimecast enhances this experience with MSP APIs, fueling a stronger go-to-market strategy and offering new products and pricing, the company said in a statement. Mimecast serves more than 42,000 customers across 100 countries and protects over 27 million end users. The Partner ONE MSP Program allows partners to adopt Mimecast’s products into their portfolio and strengthen their offerings to meet the demands of their customers.

2. Fortinet names Janet Napolitano to board of directors: Fortinet has added Janet Napolitano, former Arizona governor and head of the Department of Homeland Security, to the company’s board of directors, adding further national security and public policy expertise to the board. Napolitano's appointment will help advance Fortinet’s public and private sector initiatives, advise on the company’s ongoing efforts related to CISA’s Secure by Design Pledge, and strengthen its collaboration with key government stakeholders across the Five Eyes community, NATO, and INTERPOL, Fortinet said. Currently, she is the founder and faculty director of the Center for Security in Politics at UC Berkeley and a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Napolitano holds board positions for Vir Biotechnology and Zoom and the board of trustees at RAND Corporation.

3. Druva supports M365 and Sales and Customer Service CRM modules: Data security firm Druva announced support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and support for Microsoft 365 Backup Storage to increase customer choice with Microsoft 365 protection. With these new additions to its multi-cloud portfolio, Druva now delivers one centralized platform to simplify backup, security, and compliance across infrastructure, end-user data, and business-critical applications across the Microsoft ecosystem. The Druva Data Security Cloud provides a comprehensive, fully managed SaaS solution to secure and protect data anywhere it lives on the entire spectrum of Microsoft environments including Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Azure VMs, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Entra ID.

4. F5 introduces new services for AI adoption: F5 has announced early access to its F5 AI Gateway to streamline interactions between applications, APIs, and large language models (LLMs) driving enterprise AI adoption, according to a statement. F5 AI Gateway observes, optimizes, and secures a number of user and automated variables to offer cost reductions, mitigate malicious threats, and ensure regulatory compliance, the company said. When integrated with F5’s portfolio, the new solution will give security and operations teams a path to adopting AI services through significantly improved data output quality and a superior user experience.

5. Logicalis offers Cisco MXDR: Logicalis has become the first global Cisco partner to launch Cisco extended detection and response (XDR) as a managed service (MXDR), the company said in a statement. Cisco XDR will be the latest addition to Logicalis’s recently launched Intelligent Security portfolio, increasing Logicalis’s threat detection abilities with AI-driven automation and global threat intelligence data. The addition of Cisco MXDR increases Logicalis' proactive threat-hunting capabilities worldwide and offers advanced visibility into cyberattack chains, AI-driven automation, and global threat intelligence data. In addition, Logicalis is also one of a small group of Microsoft partners that have achieved verified Global MXDR Partner status.