#1 2017-03-30 06:16:11

cuc1490871690

General Questions Before Purchasing Adobe Connect

Hello Everyone,

I am looking to try and possibly buy Adobe Connect Learning. I had some questions which I need some clarification on. I have contacted Adobe which got one of its Regional Authorised Sellers to contact me. However, they weren't very clear, and I couldn't be sure if they were trying to up-sell me. Because the Adobe Partner are selling it to me as the "Enterprise Version" and want to charge over £100 more a month ($125 USD extra a month).

My first question is, when you purchase Adobe Connect, are you purchasing on a per user basis? So does the  $370 a month (£297.38/month) Or does monthly cost allow you to create multiple logins? Or is it "concurrent" users etc. Please clarify if you know?

Can you also please clarify for me the differences between “Adobe Connect Learning” that is sold through the website and what is sold by Adobe Partner Company. One of the differences I was told by the Adobe Partner was that they host on local UK servers which they say will make the video call quality much better than what is being offered by Adobe which would be based in the US. Is this true? Will there be a huge difference?

The Adobe Partner is also telling they will give me the following benefits:

Unlimited amounts of Persistent Room URL’s
Unlimited meeting rooms per host
Customise domain name
Have 100 participants.
Brand the login area

However, based on what I can see all those features are there on the Adobe Website, plus the Adobe website has 200 participants.

Lastly, the “Adobe Connect Learning” on Adobes website says price "Starting at £297.38/month", what other things would I need to pay for if its a starting or from price?

I realise I have asked a number of questions here. I would genuinely appreciate any advice you can give me or even if you able to answer one or two of my questions. Thank you.

Ryan

alistairlee

Re: General Questions Before Purchasing Adobe Connect

Hi Ryan,

I'll do my best to answer your questions.

Adobe Connect is usually sold per host. Each host can create multiple rooms and host meetings with up to 100 participants (or 200 for the Virtual Classroom/Learning solution you're looking at). We do also offer a concurrent user model if that's preferable - but the numbers you're comparing are all per host.

There are some differences between Adobe Connect Meeting licenses sold on the website versus through partners, but I don't believe that's the case for Adobe Connect Learning. The offerings are identical. If you're located in Europe, the account will also be located in Europe regardless of how you purchase.

If you're purchasing the Adobe Connect Learning license from a partner, it will also include a capacity of 200 participants. Perhaps they copied and pasted the benefits from a standard meeting room accidentally.

In terms of other things to pay for - there's really only additional host licenses. While some of our competitors charge for VOIP or storage, it's all included with Adobe Connect. There are no additional fees and we include even include the Events functionality in the Learner license.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Alistair

Jorma_at_CoSo

Re: General Questions Before Purchasing Adobe Connect

Ryan,

I'll add a bit more information to what Alistair gave. Sorry in advance for the novel.

Welcome to the confusing world of Adobe Connect licensing. Before I get into answering your specific questions, I want to provide a page with a plain English (as close as I could get to that at least) explanation of the licening available with Connect. http://realeyes.com/blog/2015/03/adobe- … censing-2/

With that out of the way, let's see if we can clarify a few things.

The version on Adobe's website and the version available from the reseller are functionally the same. Different licensing and customization is available from the reseller, and you usually get better value for the money from the reseller.

Adobe's Website
The version on Adobe's website has a very limited capacity and can only have a certain number of licenses.

There are three differnet types of licensing available on Adobe's website, and each meets a different need. While not always clear, this is how the options are laid out on the website.

All my pricing will be in USD and I'll only give retail pricining. This gives the best apples to apples comparison of your options. If you purchase in enough volume other pricing options may be available to you, but that is something only the reseller you are working with can offer. The offering in GBP may differ due to exchange rates or pircing policies that Adobe has presented to the resellers in Europe. I've never be part of the resale ecosystem in EMEA so me giving pricing for that market would be in poor judgement.

Adobe Connect Meetings
This is intended for smaller organizations that are looking to have small online collaboration sessions. You can have an unlimted number of meeting rooms and sessions, but each Meeting Host is licensed to run one meeting at a time. The meeting rooms hold up to 25 attendees. No customization or branding is available.

$50/ month per Meeting Host License or $450/ year

Adobe Connect Webinars
Functionally the same as Meetings, Webinars have larger seating capacity. You can purchase Named Host liceses for the following seating capacities. No customization or branding is avialble. Does include access to the Event Module for the Named Host accounts.

Named Webinar Manager 100
$130/ month per Named Host or $1,250/ year

Named Webinar Manager 500
$470/ month per Named Host or $4,500/ year

Named Webinar Manager 1000
$580/ month per named Host or $5,500/ year

Adobe Connect Learning
Adobe's solution for live or syncronus online training. While this type of live meeting room, called a Virtual Classroom, does have the ability to bring in Courses (single learning objects in Connect) and track the individual attendee's progress and pass/fail status, if applicable, it doesn't provide any licensing for on-demand eLearning delivery and tracking. Virtual Classrooms have a seating capacity of 200 attendees. No branding or customization is available.

Named Virtual Classroom Manager
$370/ month per Named Manager or $3,500/ year

The difference between these options and what your reseller offers is as follows.

Enterprise/reseller Version

Connect Meetings

The Named Host license from a reseller will give the ability to host up to 100 concurrent attendees per meeting room. Unlimited rooms can be created but a Named Host must be in the room for it to have full funcationality. A Named Host can only host one room at a time. Branding and customization is available.

$500/ year per Named Host

Connect Webinars
This is virtually the same. There is the option for 100 seat Named Webinar Host licenes, but all you really gain over the Named Host license (above) is the ability to use the Events tool. Through a reseller there is also an option for a Shared Webinar license, where anyone can host the Webinar session. These options are more flexible, but also more expensive. Branding and customization is available. Gives access to the Event module of Connect.

Named Webinar Manager (NWM) 100
$1,875/ year per NWM

Named Webinar Manager 500
$4,500/ year per NWM

Named Webinar Manager 1000
$5,500/ year per NWM

Adobe Training/Learning
The Named Virtual Classroom Manager license also provides the ability to host meetings with up to 200 participants and the ability to bring Courses into the live meeting. Branding and customization is available and the individuals with this license will have access to the Events Module of Connect.

Namev Virtual Classroom Manager
$3,500/ year per Classroom Manager

So, as you can see, many of the pricing options are the same with a reseller as they are with Adobe's website. A couple larger advantages of purchasing through a reseller are the ability to have a custome URL and branding for your acount and the placement of your account on the closest server cluster to you. Adding your logos and having your accout at yourcompany.adobeconnect.com can make a huge difference in ensuring that the online sessions you hold look like yours. As the reseller your talked to pointed out, having the account on a server cluster close to you can make a big difference. If your account is in the EMEA cluster, you will likely see lesser latency and better overall performance as opposed to having an acount on a cluster on the West coast or Middle of the US.

Most resellers don't offer a monthly purchase option, as they don't really have that option from Adobe.

Now that I have written that novel, let me aswer a few of your questions directly.

My first question is, when you purchase Adobe Connect, are you purchasing on a per user basis? So does the  $370 a month (£297.38/month) Or does monthly cost allow you to create multiple logins? Or is it "concurrent" users etc. Please clarify if you know?

This only allows a single user to create and host live meetings. You can create as many logins or user accounts on your account, but only the named account (account added to the Meeting Host group) can create and run meetings.

Can you also please clarify for me the differences between “Adobe Connect Learning” that is sold through the website and what is sold by Adobe Partner Company. One of the differences I was told by the Adobe Partner was that they host on local UK servers which they say will make the video call quality much better than what is being offered by Adobe which would be based in the US. Is this true? Will there be a huge difference?

I hope I clarified this above, but all the options availble for Connect will be hostedon the EMEA cluster if you purchase through a reseller in the UK. The difference in the Learning option over the Meeting option is a larger seating capacity, abilit to load Corses into the Share pod and access to the Events Module in Connect.

The Adobe Partner is also telling they will give me the following benefits:

Unlimited amounts of Persistent Room URL’s
Unlimited meeting rooms per host
Customise domain name
Have 100 participants.
Brand the login area

However, based on what I can see all those features are there on the Adobe Website, plus the Adobe website has 200 participants.

The last three are what is missing from the option at Adobe.com. While there are options for a 100 seat Named Webinar license, it is much more expensive than the Meeting Host license and doesn't really make sense unless you need the additional functionality of the Events Module. Even if you did, you can look at getting an Event Manager license with a Named Host license and the pricing would be comparible to the Named Webinar license.

You can always get greater seating capacities, if you want to pay for it!

Lastly, the “Adobe Connect Learning” on Adobes website says price "Starting at £297.38/month", what other things would I need to pay for if its a starting or from price?

I hope I clarified this as well. Each licensing option had different features. If you need more than one type of license's function then you'll need to look at purchasing multiple licese types. But in most cases the Named Host license from a reseller would cover most use cases. Having a clear list of things you need to be able to do in Connect, as well as a list of things you'd like to do, will help the reseller focus on the licensing that best fits you. If you don't feel comfortable with what that reseller is putting in front of you, there is nothing stopping you from reaching out to a different reseller and seeing if there is a better connection there.

You can find the full list of resellers in EMEA here: http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconn … -emea.html

And you are always welcome to ask questions here too. Sorry for the long response, but I like to do what I can to clarify licensing confusion.

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CoSo Cloud
Adobe Certified Instructor

Kola

Re: General Questions Before Purchasing Adobe Connect

My Organisation want to purchase Adobe connect but we are unclear if we need to buy meeting licences and training separately? does Named Host licence has the 2 licences together or you have to pay for them separately.

Last edited by Kola (2020-04-06 06:18:02)

Jorma_at_CoSo

Re: General Questions Before Purchasing Adobe Connect

Kola, it all depends on what you need.

If you are trying to have the ability for two people to host virtual sessions, then you need two Named Host licenses.

The Training module of Connect fits some very specific needs, and if you don't need it, then don't buy it. The big things I look for when someone asks for the Training module are:

- Do you need to deliver asynchronous training that tracks user pass/fail status.
- Do you need to bring in that asynchronous training into a live session, have all attendees enrolled in that training, and track their pass/fail status
- Do you need the capacity for between 100 and 200 attendees in your live training

If you answer yest to any of these, then it may be worth talking about the licensing around the Training module. If they are all no, just go forward with the basic Meeting license.

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CoSo Cloud
Adobe Certified Instructor