A support contract gives a system the newest release
In the portal, a licence entitles a system to the release it was licensed for; a support contract in force entitles it to the current one.
The Product Management portal now draws the line between a licence and a support contract, and shows each account exactly where it stands.
A licence gives a registered system the release it was licensed for, and the
codes that go with it. A support contract in force gives that system the
newest release instead. Contracts carry a reference of the form
XC-XXXXXXXXXX, and the portal matches them to the systems they cover.
What it means in practice
The question "can this machine take 1.9.4?" is now answered on screen rather than by asking us. Sign in, look at the system, and the releases it is entitled to are the ones listed against it.
It also means a renewal does something visible on the same day it is processed: the systems it covers start showing the current release immediately, with no request to raise and no wait.