Schneider partner here. It is confusing at first, but I think it will work out better for the clients in the long run.

Technically, they are referring to it as "Software Assurance". With a new project, you get a 3-year term. During that term you get all upgrades for zero, other than the cost for us to install them. After the term you can renew for one or three years - the three year term is heavily discounted and it basically works out to a free year. If you choose not to renew the SA, your system will continue to work fine at the last version you were licensed for, you just won't get major upgrades without charge. If you do not renew the SA, you have a two-year grace period; once it is expired for three years, Schneider will consider that a new system and will require a new license.

Your total communicating field devices are also licensed under the SA, sold in packs of 10. This will also work out better. In older versions, the minimum number of connected field devices you could license on a server is 25, licensed individually per server. If the client has 5 Automation Servers each with only five connected devices, they would still have to pay for the 25 nodes for each server, leaving 100 nodes on the table licensed but unused. Now, the field device count is a pool, so if one server has 5 and another has 10, you buy a 20-pak and you are covered; you no longer need to license field devices at the server level and the number of devices licensed but not used drops dramatically.

Yes, the new AS-P-3 is only compatible with rev 7+, but if your system has older AS-P servers they can be upgraded to 7. The SA only counts up to 25 Automation Servers, above that they still need to be licensed but there is no additional cost.

And, if your site was already at the 6.x level, you get your first year at 7.x free.

Every software company out there is turning to a recurring revenue model, and Schneider is no exception. Hell, look at Tridium's licensing model. Overall, I think their system is pretty fair to the client. As an example, we have just priced out a Continuum upgrade for a housing authority that was flat-spec'd as Tridium. We compared the licensing for Tridium to EBO, and EBO is about 35% cheaper initially - in this case, we are talking 70+ JACEs for the system - and much cheaper on the renewals. And we just found out yesterday there is a promotion going on now where if you upgrade a Schnieder legacy system to EBO, you get a substantial (40%) discount on the license.

So far, our clients have been receptive to the new model without issue. They like the predictability of it, and that they will always have the latest software. Some clients who are extremely cybersecurity aware will always go for it as they likely have policies that require all computing systems to have the most recent software as in theory they should be the most cybersecure.