Recently Act! LLC advised us of some changes to their licensing system that would impact our hosting provider. For context, Hosting Providers have historically been given what’s called an “Uber key” that would license the Act! software on their servers sufficient to support all the users hosted on them.

These license keys were version-agnostic and worked with all subscription versions of Act! Premium software. As flexible as these keys were, though, they were somewhat low-tech, and didn’t offer much activation or license enforcement, which is the impetus behind the planned changes.

What does this mean to our hosting customers?
We’re advising our customers of this change because people currently hosted on unsupported versions of Act!, namely v22 and v23, will need to upgrade to supported versions by November 30^th, 2024. Act! has implemented this new licensing system, and they unsurprisingly will not be backporting it for unsupported versions of Act!. That is not to say subscribers cannot continue to use these older 32-bit versions, we just won’t be able to host them.

Act! is aware of the number of clients we host on these unsupported versions, and they have been quite reasonable with their deadlines. The newer 64-bit versions of Act! offer many advantages over the 32-bit versions, and 14 months is plenty of runway to complete these customer upgrades.

Upgrade Plans
To prepare for this migration, we’ll be emailing all affected customers starting next month to plan their upgrade. As you can tell from the deadline, there is no rush, but upgrading almost a thousand users takes some planning.

As all Act! subscribers know, the software upgrades are free with their subscription, and updating their database on our servers is part of our hosting obligations, as well. Customers with Orange Care will also get hands-on technical support for their computers, and help with the reinstallation of their compatible Keystroke add-ons. Please note, that customers are responsible for checking the compatibility of addons with the 64-bit versions of Act!

The option for Act! Premium Cloud
As customer renewal approaches, many may wish to get a quote on migrating to Act! Premium Cloud (APC). Not only will customers enjoy the newest technology on the fastest servers available, but most can expect to save money too. Act! hosting customers that use remote syncing databases will save between $80-100 per user/year, and those on web only can save more than $200 per user/year compared to APC with Desktop Sync & Web respectively.

• GET AN INSTANT ONLINE QUOTE FOR ACT! PREMIUM CLOUD

It's worth noting that customers hosting with Act! Premium Cloud are upgraded automatically when a new version is released, meaning it's unlikely any APC customers will be using unsupported versions of Act!. 

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• Canadian hosted servers giving way to Act! Premium Cloud
• Old Act! Premium Cloud customers being migrated to the new APC