They are mistaken. User Connect Licensing (UCL) is very new and confusion on all sides is inevitable. There is a fair amount of documentation on it but it is restricted to partners or Cisco employees. I'll attempt to summarize here for you. As a disclaimer: I am not a Cisco employee and cannot make legally binding statements about compliance or non-compliance. You are responsible for getting your Cisco Account Manager to concur with anything you take from this reply.
First to ensure this is clear: UCL is user-based licensing of feature access and the elimination of server/software licenses. Unified Workspace Licensing (UWL or CUWL) is packaged suites of products/features at a discounted rate. UWL is similar to how Microsoft provides Enterprise Agreements to provide incentive for customers to deploy additional functionality for users.
At the most basic level, UCL starts with an IP User License. While I am not allowed to post the internal documentation, I am going to provide relavent excerpts.
Telephony and Mobility Licenses
Note: Each order requires a minimum of 50 users (mix of LIC-CUCM-USR and LIC-CUCM-BASIC).
● Enhanced IP User License - Entitles the user to use of a single endpoint of any make or model, including a hard phone and Soft phone from Cisco or a third party. The Enhanced IP User License also entitles Mobile Connect for a user who has a mobile client (dual mode or Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator) or any third-party mobile solution. Any user with a mobile client or third-party mobile solution requires an Enhanced UCL.
● Basic IP User License - Entitles the user to use of one (1) Basic Cisco IP Endpoint, currently Cisco Unified IP Phone 6901 and 6911 models. Basic IP User License also entitles Mobile Connect for a user who does not have any mobile client (dual mode or Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator) or any third-party mobile solution.
Note: One UCL can cover multiple mobile devices with mobile connect for the same user.
A user is intended to be a live human. If the device is not assigned to an individual live human, it must be purchased as a public space or analog device. Personally, my rule for this is that the user's DN appears by default and the device is associated to their End User account. Again, I am not a Cisco employee and cannot make legally binding statements about license compliance.
Add-on, Analog, and Public-Space Licenses
Definitions:
● Analog Device - licenses one Fax Machine, analog Conference Phone, Modem, etc.
● Public Space - licenses one IP Phone for lobby, conference room, etc. that is not associated with a particular user.
After the basic IP User license comes optional feature access. In UCL everything from video capabilities to voicemail are licensed separately. Cisco is stacking the deck to prefer CUWL for most users.
Definitions:
● Adjunct License - licenses an existing Enhanced or Basic user for one assigned audio or video endpoint or
soft client such as Cisco IP Communicator or Cisco Unified Personal Communicator. Note: Mobile
Communicator licensing is covered as part of Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage.
● Desktop Video License - licenses users for one video endpoint or soft client not connected to Cisco Unified
Video Advantage or Cisco Personal Communicator.
These feature-specific licenses continue in other products including Unity Connections, Unified Presence, etc. Each has documentation that partners and Cisco employees can consult.
All of this presumes you do not migrate to UWL which makes things easier. There are migration paths from a-la-carte to UCL and UWL and you can even mix them together depending on what fits for a specific business area.
After all of that, to answer your original question: The users would be requried to be converted to UCL Enhanced IP User licenses at a minimum and not Analog devices. At least that's how I read the documents on the topic.
