Following the release of the next iteration of the Office System and Windows client, IT administrators will be able to leverage a single KMS host in order to activate both Office 2010 and Windows 7. With the advent of Office 2010, Microsoft is introducing activation for the copies of the productivity suite deployed by volume license customers. This will be valid for all volume editions of Office 2010, as the Redmond company has integrated the Windows Software Protection Platform (SPP) used in Windows Vista and Windows 7 into the successor of Office 2007.

The good news is that volume license customers will be able to leverage the same host to activate both of Microsoft’s main cash cows moving forward. “The same Key Management Service (KMS) host can be configured to activate Office 2010 clients as well as Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Also, there is no reduction in functionality in volume editions of Office 2010. Even if Office is not activated, your users will still be able to open, save, edit, and print Office files, though users will see notifications reminding them to activate,” explained Ted Way, a program manager on the Office Licensing team.

Just as it is the case for Windows 7, Microsoft offers two activation models for Office 2010. The default method for all Office 2010 volume editions is KMS. With KMS administrators can use a local activation service via a host and deal with the activation process for all copies of Office 2010 in an environment. In contrast, Multiple Activation Key (MAK) resembles rather closely retail activation, meaning that admins will need to activate Office 2010 by providing a key and letting the product connect to Microsoft, rather than a local host.

“KMS is set up on a designated host system that will activate all client installations of Office 2010, eliminating the need for individual computers to connect to Microsoft for product activation. It is a lightweight service that does not require dedicated resources and can easily be co-hosted on a system that provides other services. Here at Microsoft we have one KMS host up and running internally that has activated over 8000 installations of Office 2010 Technical Preview builds. It’s also activating Windows 7 and Windows Vista machines,” Way noted.

Microsoft informed that admins would be able to use computers running Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, but even Windows Server 2003, configured as KMS hosts for Office 2010. Essentially an administrator will only need to enter a single KMS activation key for the host, enabling the machine to register the KMS Service on DNS and to become discoverable and available to the KMS clients in an environment. Of course, all volume editions of Office 2010 come with the KMS activation product key and are designed to automatically find the KMS host and activate.

“KMS activation is not perpetual, so computers are activated (i.e. in the licensed state) for 180 days. Within that time, the KMS client will need to contact the KMS host and re-activate. When it does, it gets another 180 days starting from the day of re-activation. KMS clients by default attempt re-activation every seven days without a notification shown to the user, so this reactivation will happen automatically behind the scenes without any distractions. No “activation count” is “used up” when KMS clients activate and re-activate,” Way added.

The alternative, recommended for companies with approximately 25 computers that want all Office 2010 editions to be activated perpetually is to use MAK. The Multiple Activation Key activation method involves a product key that is capable of activating multiple copies of the product. Office 2010 will have to connect to Microsoft servers in order to activate, but only a single time.