Our firm has an MSDN subscription, which is pays for, obviously. A colleague says that when you request a product key for an operating system, you get multiple 'activations' as he puts it, but he doesn't know exactly how many, and we can't find the answer on Google, or from Microsoft.

Anyone know ? I believe its only one, meaning for each time you want to install an OS you request another key and download the .ISO. He says the keys are like 'mini VLK's and you can do multiple installs up to a point.

Anyone know, and this question is not linked to any dodgy activity, the firm has a valid MSDN subscription.

Depends on what sort of MSDN it is.

If it's just plain MSDN then everything is retail.
If it's part of being a Certified Partner or Gold Partner then you'll get VLK's for Office, Server & Vista Business & retail for all the others (some like exchange are keyless as the keys built in)

I honestly don't know as I asked someone and they didn't know. The type it is (if this is any help) has things like Expression Web and they are keyless, the key is already 'built in'. They also have, a VLK of XP Pro as I saw someone using it. Thanks for the info !