If you provide commercial hosting services using Microsoft's
Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), you may become a target
of an ever-increasing variety of license audits from Microsoft and
its vendors. The latest flavor of a Microsoft SPLA audit is
the verified self-assessment or VSA. The SPLA verified
self-assessment differs from both the independent audit and the
Self-Certification audit being used by Microsoft.
Traditionally, Microsoft audited service providers using
independent auditors such as KPMG, E&Y, and Deloitte.
These audits were time-consuming, expensive, and frequently
adversarial, with the so-called independent auditors making
assumptions that favored Microsoft to the detriment of the service
provider.
