Multiparty licensing with Conductor Essentials

[ruben.montes]

Hello,

can I have Multiparty licensing with Conductor free version (essentials)?

Thanks,

[Patrick McCarthy]

No, you cannot. 

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/collaboration/pervasive-conferencing/at-a-glance-c45-729835.pdf

[ruben.montes]

I have had the follwing answer from Partner Helpline some minutes ago:

"Conductor Free can be used, as long as only one Telepresence server or MCU is controlled by it.
All it needs to control a Multiparty environment is to get the software updated.

When migrating existing screen licenses under TP-SMP-SL2SMP, the system generates SKU LIC-VMCNDTR-PMP-PK, which is a PAK for full Conductor. So, if what the customer is doing is to migrate using this top level SKU, then they will receive Full Conductor as well. If they want, they can continue using Conductor Essentials. However they will also be entitled to use Full Conductor. The key condition: Their screen licenses today MUST be under contract for this to work.
http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/collaboration/pervasive-conferencing/at-a-glance-c45-729835.pdf

[Patrick McCarthy]

Ruben - that is incorrect. This was posted on a forum some time back, you will get an error when attempting to register the SMP PAK. If you look at the guide you will see Cisco has created an SMP starter pack. There was a response to the below message from the product manager that specifically states that you cannot apply the SMP or PMP licenses to free Conductor, and the migration does not entitle you to full Conductor. Also note that your partner response also implies that SMP licenses can be used with an MCU, that is not the case, it is Telepresence Server only. 

However, when trying to register an SMP PAK, we get an error message saying 
that a Base Software PAK is required before registering the SMP PAK

[ruben.montes]

That answer is not from a partner, it from Cisco's Partner Help!! So you mean you must have Conductor Select or Full in order to use Mulitparty licensing??

[Patrick McCarthy]

Yes - I have read this in a number of places - that's why the starter pack was added. 

[Patrick Sparkman]

In order to use Multiparty licenses with Conductor, notably SMP, you must purchase the SMP Starter Kit.  One other person found this out after the fact as well in this thread telepresence-licencing-minefield.

[ruben.montes]

So, the free migration from SL to SMP is not true, because client must purchase the starter kit, wich is 9000 USD. Our customer has already TS with SL, Conductor Essential, TMS and EXP-E, EXP-C. 

So the SMP starter kit is a must have?¿