What Can Cloud Services do For You–#bpos | #msonline

This animated video describes what cloud services can do for customers and partners... for enterprise, med, small business and consumer at the most basic 101 level.

Source : Microsoft Showcase

Microsoft Online Services: Domain Validation Tips and Tricks #bpos #msonline

The Microsoft Online Services Team Blog features a post on Domain validation. Since we get a lot of questions about this topic it seems useful to share :

Domain Validation and BPOS
Tips and Tricks

By Brett Hill of Advaiya, Inc. for Microsoft Corp.

When you sign up for an email service like Exchange Online, you’re probably planning on using your own domain name for signing in and for your email addresses. I can actually validate a domain in about 2 minutes or less, but there are a couple of things to know.

When you first signup for BPOS, you’re asked to provide a domain name. This is used to create a base domain like “myverycooldomainname.microsoftonline.com”. You’re issued a microsoftonline.com domain (sometimes called the Microsoft Online Default Routing Domain [or MSODRD for the real trivia geeks out there]) as it is certain to be unique to the Microsoft Online AD and you don’t have to immediately prove ownership. In this way Microsoft can immediately configure your BPOS account. …

Continue at source : Domain Validation Tips and Tricks

Microsoft Online Services + Partners = TurboBoost - #wpcnl #bpos #msonline

What do you get when you combine Partners, Innovative Microsoft Online Services and ‘the cloud’ ?

The Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is always an important event for making big announcements. This year is no exception and this is

this year more than ever WPC is focused on the cloud.

Microsoft is looking back on a very successful year with Microsoft Online Services (BPOS), especially with partners :

In fact, every week, more than 100 partners join us in the cloud, adding to the 16,000 already selling our Microsoft Online Services. It’s the world’s largest partner ecosystem for the cloud - and the number of partners backing our Online Services has more than tripled since this time last year!

Partners are participating in rigorous training (Over 800 events this year!), gaining customers in droves, and making money. The cloud has been good to our partners.

To give you a feel for this rapid growth in our cloud partner ecosystem, here are a few snapshots of activity:

• Today, we’re announcing the addition of three new communication service providers – Bell Canada, BT, Telenor, TDC and PGi. These partners find strong synergies with our Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS). Since last year, BPOS has also launched with Vodafone, Orange, Telecom New Zealand, and Telstra. These communications services partners have seen steady growth in a short time frame. For example, since launching in Germany in April, Vodafone, the largest communications service provider in the world, added more than 1,000 BPOS customers.
• To extend our reach with BPOS even further, we have signed global agreements with Ingram Micro and Tech Data, the two largest technology distributors in the world. Our partner ecosystem has now expanded to over 50 distributors worldwide!
• Slalom, a national business and technology consulting firm, grew its revenue with BPOS, citing $5 million in new revenue last year alone. Going into the next year, Slalom already has more than 50 prospects in the pipeline, approaching $10 million in revenue. http://www.slalom.com/
• Wortell, our Online Services Partner of the Year, launched a new division focused on online strategies and profit margins close to 60%, with diverse customers including a national bank and a national postal service. Wortell also found new market opportunities in the law enforcement industry; one recent Wortell project helps international police agencies collaborate using Microsoft Online Services. http://www.bposrocks.com/
• To help partners join the cloud successfully, Pinpoint, our technology marketplace for partner applications and services, is going global. It’s now live in 16 countries and 9 languages. Pinpoint has also been updated to make it easier to discover partner applications online and in other Microsoft applications, with the help of in-application discovery - giving partners wider global reach for their solutions and services. http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/getlisted
  

Continue at source: here

Microsoft also announced a whole list new capabilities coming in the new release of Microsoft Online Services :

New capabilities coming to BPOS in the near future

Today, we kick off our Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC. Among the many cool announcements happening this week, we are excited to be sharing more information about some amazing new capabilities coming to BPOS in the near future. We want to make sure that you, our customers, have this information early enough to get ready and make the most of the new stuff that’s coming.

…

New Capabilities

Office Web Apps Updates

• Word Web App
• Excel Web App
• PowerPoint Web App
• OneNote Web App

Exchange Online Updates

• Voice mail with Unified Messaging
• Integrated archiving
• Retention policies and legal hold
• Transport rules
• Multi-mailbox search
• Conversation View
• MailTips
• Enhanced Web-based administration
• Role-Based Access Control
• Remote PowerShell
• Free/busy between cloud and on-premises
• Cross-premises management
• Native migration tools

SharePoint Online Updates

• Portal site templates
• Extranet access
• Anonymous Access
• Multi-Lingual UI
• Office 2010 integration
• Tagging, Rating, Tag Cloud
• Activity Feed, Social Networking, Note Board
• Improved Wikis & Blogs
• Content publishing
• Navigation controls
• Cross site-collection search
• Phonetic search
• People search
• Visio Services
• Excel Services
• Sandboxed Solutions
• Improved workflows
• Improved SharePoint Designer 2010
• Access Services
• Better controls of FQDNs

Office Communications Online Updates

• P2P A/V across firewall
• File transfer across firewall
• Presence with pictures
• Federation
• IM with Windows Live

Additional features will be available based on Communications Server “14” as part of ongoing service updates.

Platform Updates

• Free/Busy co-existence
• Single Sign On
• Identity federation
• Redesigned admin interface
• More administration and access control
…

Continue at source: here

Microsoft’s vision on the modular datacenter is now a fact

Modular datacenters running Microsoft Cloud Services, in this case Windows Azure, is no longer just a vision in a very nice video animation, but an actual solution for actual clients :

Microsoft and eBay Team Up for Cloud Computing Bliss

At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, D.C., Microsoft isn’t just “hardcore” about tablets, the company is also ramping up its cloud computing efforts and has announced that eBay will be one of the first customers of Microsoft’s new Windows Azure platform appliance.

The appliance is designed to be a turnkey cloud platform aimed at large enterprises or service providers who already have their own datacenters. Rather than storing data off-site, customers can take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud computing infrastructure on their own existing datacenters.
eBay will be one of the first partners to take advantage of this solution with two of its datacenters.

Microsoft and eBay have already tested Microsoft’s public Windows Azure platform as a way to deploy certain apps and functionality on a public cloud (i.e. making them accessible externally) while still being reliable. Windows Azure hosts eBay’s iPad listings page, for instance.

Check out this video from the eBay Ink blog, in which eBay VP of Technology James Barrese talks about eBay, cloud computing and how the new arrangement with Microsoft will work.

Continue at source : Microsoft and eBay Team Up for Cloud Computing Bliss

There is also a Microsoft press release on the eBay solution.

Microsoft has formed an alliance with Fujitsu, HP and Dell for delivering this type of Windows Azure based solutions to customers.

Microsoft Education Labs is taking Live@edu to the next level

Microsoft Live@edu is a very strong solution on itself, when looking at The Netherlands it is the most widely used cloud services solution in education today and growing at a very rapid rate.

One of the most asked ‘feature’ is integration with 3rd party platform and with the Microsoft platform (i.e. SharePoint, Exchange, etc.). Microsoft Education Labs addresses this need .. big time. Just take a look at some of the most recent projects in here :

Moodle is obviously a widely used platform in education, also in The Netherlands. Integrating Moodle with Office, SharePoint and Live@edu means institutions get much more return on investment and much better use of the platform(s) all together.

Go check out Microsoft Education Labs

Gartner Webinar : Google vs. Microsoft: A Battle for the Clouds

This is a recorded session. Its free but you have to register …

Google and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars every year, building out data centers to support their cloud offerings, and hoping to be No. 1 in a world where the cloud is central to computing. We'll focus on the differences between their strategies, and who is likely to succeed most at what.

Please join VP and Gartner Fellows Tom Austin and David Mitchell Smith

What You Will Learn:

• Where do Microsoft and Google stand today?
• What will be the effect on markets as a result of Microsoft/Google competition?
• How will enterprise IT decisions be affected by the battles between Microsoft and Google?

Microsoft takes off the gloves with a Google Apps switchers campaign #BPOS #msonline #gonemicrosoft

 

Mary Jo Foley reports of a switchers campaign for Google Apps users. In the recent months a number of organisations switched from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services. The article also highlights some new “switches”.
#gonemicrosoft

… Remember Apple’s “switchers” campaign — the one where they highlighted Windows users who dumped their Windows PCs for Macs? Microsoft is taking a page out of that book in reverse — touting customers that are switching from Google Apps to Microsoft’s Online hosted services.  …

Continue at source : Microsoft takes off the gloves with a Google Apps switchers campaign

Wired Magazine reviews Microsoft Office Web Apps #windowslive #live@edu

If you haven’t seen or used Office Web Apps you can check it out at http.office.live.com

Microsoft's New Web Apps Will Have Your Head in the Cloud

With Office 2010, Microsoft has taken an important (and inevitable) step into internet-stored media. That's right; MS is all up in the cloud now.

In addition to releasing its new native Office suite, which gives you the option to save your files on the Intertubes, Microsoft has rolled out free, lightweight web versions of Office apps accessible through Windows Live.

We took several Office apps for a test ride: Word, PowerPoint and Excel. The verdict? For the most part, this is a decent web suite that works well with the native Office apps, though it's still a little unrefined. …

Continue at source: Wired Magazine

De NGN mag best wat kritischer zijn op de inhoud van haar nieuwsbrief

Vandaag was ik bij een partner voor een presentatie over onze online diensten. Een van de aanwezigen wees mij op een recente nieuwsbrief van de NGN.

Het item gaat over  een “de introductie van de nieuwe Windows Live Hotmail en een vergelijk met de competitie, maar is gebaseerd op verkeerde aannamen.

Nu respecteer ik een ieders mening en we kunnen niet allemaal Microsoft fans zijn, maar je hoeft het er ook niet duimendik bovenop te leggen toch.

Een “nieuwsitem” over Windows Live Hotmail vullen met verkeerde informatie en vage conclusies is onnodig en voegt voor niemand iets toe.

De auteur (RO ?) van het stuk vraagt of iemand van Microsoft commentaar wil geven … Nou graag ! Loopt u even mee ?

Microsoft probeert een antwoord te formuleren op Google's Gmail, door diverse verbeteringen aan te brengen in Windows Live Hotmail.

Microsoft probeert geen antwoord op Google's Gmail te formuleren. Windows Live Hotmail is sinds 1996 de  marktleider in webbased email en is een factor 3 groter dan de runner up.

Microsoft blijft haar online diensten natuurlijk constant innoveren omdat deze bij moet blijven met de laatste trends. Die trends hebben vandaag de dag veel te maken met integratie met social networking, delen van foto's en ook voor consumenten meer productiviteitsoplossingen zoals Office in de browser. Zie ook de upgrade van Hotmail in de context van het hele Live Platform. Ook de nieuwe versie van Windows Live Messenger is een echte metamorfose

Daarnaast wordt Hotmail een stuk veiliger door volledig SSL te ondersteunen, komt er een slimmer junk mail filter, en een functie van 'Trusted Senders'. Hotmail krijgt een 'conversation view', waarmee een e-mail discussie beter in beeld wordt gebracht (een functie die Gmail al bezit).

De vraag hier is natuurlijk hoe het zit met de beveiligingen in Gmail dat lijkt me ook belangrijk. Daarnaast zie ik nog atijd veel meer SPAM in mijn Gmail dan in Hotmail, ook erg irritant. Daarnaast zijn 9 van de 10 spamcomments op mijn weblog afkomstig uit Gmail boxen nog irritanter …

Internationaal leveren Hotmail en Gmail in de markt voor webmail een gevecht om de tweede plaats; beide hebben meer dan 40 miljoen gebruikers in de VS. Marktleider Yahoo heeft er meer dan 80 miljoen. Meer info, blogbijdrage en video, hier.

Je trekt je de verkeerde conclusies en noemt iets een “gevecht” .. gebaseerd waarop ?  Hierbij even wat links met de juiste feiten ter informatie :

• Hotmail vs Gmail in Nederland
  http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry
  
  Deze data is iets meer dan een jaar oud, maar recentere info  wijkt niet veel af. Kijk niet alleen naar het absolute aantal emailaccounts, maar ook naar de minuten online. Zoals je ziet significante verschillen tussen Hotmail en Gmail.

(Ik vraag me af hoe die marktverhoudingen liggen voor de zakelijke gebruikers in Europa. Ik vermoed dat Gmail daar marktleider is, en dat Hotmail en Yahoo op grote afstand volgen, misschien zelfs een marginale rol spelen.

Is er iemand van jullie die beschikt over die gegevens? Als je het mij vraagt heeft Hotmail een enorme slag te maken om zelfs maar in de buurt te komen van Gmail.

Ja hoor die cijfers zijn bekend :

• De educatiemarkt wereldwijd : 
  Google 7 Miljoen gebruikers, Microsoft 50 Miljoen : Link
  
• Interessante statistieken over de Windows Live omgeving : Link
  
  Dit geeft wat meer context aan de omvang van deze diensten. Als je dit afzet tegen de ontwikkelingen van Google en er van uitgaat dat Gmail verreweg hun grootste dienst is(naast search natuurlijk) roept dit misschien wat respect op ?
  
• En dan Hotmail …
  

  Hotmail is a gigantic service in all dimensions. Here are some of the highlights:

  • We are a worldwide service, delivering localized versions of Hotmail to 59 regional markets, in 36 languages.
  • We host well over 1.3 billion inboxes (some users have multiple inboxes)
  • Over 350 million people are actively using Hotmail on a monthly basis (source: comScore, August 2009).
  • We handle over 3 billion messages a day and filter out over 1 billion spam messages - mail that you never see in your inbox.
  • We are growing storage at over 2 petabytes a month (a petabyte is ~1 million gigabytes or ~1000 terabytes).
  • We currently have over 155 petabytes of storage deployed (70% of storage is taken up with attachments, typically photos).
  • We’re the largest SQL Server 2008 deployment in the world (we monitor and manage many thousands of SQL servers).
    Bron : http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry
  Inmiddels telt Windows Live Hotmail meer dan 400 Miljoen gebruikers wereldwijd.Los van de cijfers zie je dat Microsoft ook transparant is in haar communicatie over de online diensten.
  Ping me even als je dit soort informatie van via Google ergens ziet over hun omgeving .. ik ben ze nog niet tegengekomen.Je vermoeden is dus niet juist.

Technisch zou het misschien nog lukken, maar de reputatie van Hotmail is toch heel anders dan van Gmail. 'Hotmail' heeft al een 'mindere' klank over zich... al dan niet terecht. Bovendien snoept Gmail momenteel klanten af van Exchange.

Even voor de duidellijkheid .. Google tranformeert haar consumer emailplatform naar een oplossing voor zowel consumenten als zakelijke klanten. Nu is dit vanuit een branding optiek wel sliim maar zakelijk klanten stellen andere eisen aan hun mailplatform. Je zou kunnen zeggen  dat er meer moet zijn dan een goede ‘klank’.

Windows Live Hotmail is primair gericht op consumenten. De zakellijke emailoplossing van Microsoft is Exchange (Online).

Er zijn een paar voorbeelden van bedrijven die hun oude Exchange omgeving inruilen voor Gmail, dat is een fact of life. Maar het is wellicht goed te zien dat de ‘magic’ voor sommige bedrijven snel is uitgewerkt. Bedrijven geven massal de voorkeur aan Outlook als email client en zoals ik al zei stellen zware eisen aan hun bedrijfsemail en collaboration platform.
Een goed voorbeeld is Serena software .. eens voor korte tijd een Google klant en nu aan het migreren naar Microsoft Online Services : Link

Misschien niet in grote getale, maar toch. Hoeveel bedrijven zullen er zijn die zijn overgeschakeld van Exchange naar Hotmail? De vraag alleen al klinkt lachwekkend. :-)

Lachwekkend misschien niet, maar je voelt denk ik zelf al aan dat Windows Live Hotmail primair gericht is op consumenten. De online oplossing voor zakelijke klanten is Exchange Online : Link.

Tot slot nog wat goede informatie voor met name zakelijke gebruikers in hun afweging Microsoft vs Google : Why Microsoft

Nederlandse versie van de Microsoft Cloud Services Brochure #BPOS #MSonline #Azure

... Microsoft cloud services betekenen vrijheid voor ondernemingen. De vrijheid om de technologie te gebruiken die u nodig hebt, waar en wanneer u maar wilt. De vrijheid om de laatste technologie te gebruiken, geboekt als kapitaalkosten of operationele kosten. De vrijheid om u te richten op uw bedrijfsactiviteiten en niet op het laten draaien van IT-systemen.

Microsoft cloud services zijn uitbreidingen van Microsoft: ze bieden u de mogelijkheid de Microsofttechnologieën die u al kent en vertrouwt, ten volle te benutten, met een 'pay-as-you-go'-betalingsmodel. Voor een enkele afdeling of een wereldwijde organisatie. Wel of niet in het bedrijfspand, of misschien een combinatie van beide mogelijkheden, afhankelijk van de behoeften van uw bedrijf.

Microsoft cloud services zijn als hulpprogramma's van Microsoft, maar het gaat om meer dan het gebruik van tools. Het zijn de toepassingen die u kent, de platforms die u kent en een datacenterinfrastructuur, en deze werken allemaal samen in een geïntegreerd geheel. Het is Microsoft wanneer u het nodig hebt. Microsoft zoals u het wilt. ...

Download de Nederlandstalige versie van de Microsoft Cloud Services :

Microsoft cloud service brochure nl versie - juni 2010

View more documents from dehaaspeter.

Zet je favoriete foto als achtergrond in Google

Bron: http://daringfireball.net/

Capgemini now partner for Microsoft Online Services #BPOS #msonline

Capgemini is expanded the partnership with Microsoft to ‘the cloud’ :

Today, we are announcing a new alliance with Capgemini that will bring the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), our cloud service for communication and collaboration, to Capgemini’s worldwide clients as part of their new Infostructure Transformation Services.

This news already is gaining traction with our customers. One example is C10, a French consumer-products distributor that has adopted BPOS for its entire organization. It did so because BPOS could deliver the security, enterprise-grade capabilities, and familiar experience the company wanted.

As part of our new relationship, Capgemini will train more than 1,000 people on BPOS, giving our joint customers a great source for cloud-computing expertise.  And Capgemini is developing a set of tools to help customers migrate to BPOS more easily from Lotus Notes or other platforms.  Capgemini will actively promote BPOS within its global client base. And it will offer “Journey to the Cloud” sessions, a condensed two-day workshop designed to help customers create their own customized roadmap for adopting cloud-computing solutions at a pace and scale that works best for their individual business needs.

Continue at source : Microsoft Blog

Serena Software migrates from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services #BPOS #msonline

In November 2008 it was all over the press : Serena Software is moving from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The motivation for this move was TCO so the articles said. November 16, 2008 I wrote a blogpost on this :

eWeek featured an article with the title : “Serena to Dump Microsoft Exchange for Google Gmail, the Cloud”.

The article ofcourse got my interest and when I started reading I thought this can’t be true. The article is one big confusing apples and oranges overview. I am quite sure that nor Mr Bister of Serena, nor the journalist has used Microsoft Excel to do their calculations …

And my (arrogant ?) recommendation back then :

My recomendation to Serena Software would be to do some homework, look into Microsoft Online Services and reconsider their options …

read the whole blogpost : here

No more than a year later Serena Software has made the choice to migrate from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services, and here is some of their motivation to do so :

… One of Serena’s core values is a deep, organization-wide commitment to customer success.  We work closely with our 15,000 worldwide customers to deliver solutions that help them be more successful.  As a result, we rely heavily on collaboration tools for our employees to share information and work together with customers and partners. 

This is one of the chief reasons we’ve chosen to adopt Exchange Online and SharePoint Online together with Office 2010.  They deliver trustworthy, enterprise-class solutions – with the performance, security, privacy, reliability and support we require. We know that Microsoft is a leader in the providing these kinds of solutions, and in our discussions with them, it became clear that they are 100% committed to Serena’s success and delivering solutions that drive the future of collaboration.

Using Office, SharePoint and Exchange will allow us to collaborate more effectively internally and with customers and partners, many of whom use the same technologies, and we can do so without having to deal with content loss or clients being unable to open or edit a document. In particular, Exchange is unchallenged in its calendaring and contact management abilities, mission critical functions for a global company such as Serena.

There are alternatives on the market that promise lower costs, but in our experience, this is a fallacy.  When looking at alternatives, CIOs should really evaluate the total cost of ownership as well as the impact on user productivity and satisfaction, as there can be hidden costs and higher TCO.  For instance, slow performance and/or lack of enterprise-class features (e.g., with calendaring and contact management) will torpedo the value of such a backbone system, and may get the CIO fired. …

Source : Microsoft Online Services Team Blog

Google’s prime argument for ‘switchers’ often is TCO (or plain cost is a better choice of words) and most often always comparing older versions of on-premise email systems to their online offering. Apples and oranges as I have explained more often.

Serena Software’s motivation for migrating from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services is one of value. The sheer value the Microsoft collaboration platform can bring to an organisation compared to just a cheap solution proves to be more valuable in the long run.

And Serena Software is not the only organisation switching from Google Apps :

• Vinci PLC leaves Google Apps for Microsoft watch the video interview http://bit.ly/9FBvl0
  
• Phaeton Automotive blogs on their decision to leave Google Apps for Microsoft

Upgrade coming for Windows Live Workspace

Windows Live Workspace will be upgraded in the coming months. Users can upgrade their accounts for free :

Your Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta account is about to become even better. You already know it’s a great way to store and share documents, and soon it will come together with Windows Live SkyDrive to become a great way to view, create, and edit documents from virtually anywhere.

In the coming months, you’ll receive notification when your Office Live Workspace account will be upgraded, along with further details. Until then, there’s no need for you to do anything.

With your SkyDrive account, you’ll get 25 GB of online storage for sharing both documents and photos. Your SkyDrive account is designed to work smoothly with other Windows Live services like Hotmail and Messenger. And you’ll be able to view and edit documents from virtually anywhere* using new Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Questions? Visit the Office Live Workspace upgrade center.

Source : Microsoft Windows Live Team

Microsoft Codename "Dallas" Whitepaper

Microsoft Codename "Dallas" is a new cloud service that provides a global marketplace for information including data, web services, and analytics. Dallas makes it easy for potential subscribers to locate a dataset that addresses their needs through rich discovery.

When they have selected the dataset, Dallas enables information workers to begin analyzing the data and integrating it into their documents, spreadsheets, and databases. Similarly, developers can write code to consume the datasets on any platform or simply include the automatically created proxy classes.

Applications from simple mash-ups to complex data-driven analysis tools are possible with the rich data and services provided. Applications can run on any platform including mobile phones and Web pages.

When users begin regularly using data, managers can view usage at any time to predict costs. Dallas also provides a complete billing infrastructure that scales smoothly from occasional queries to heavy traffic.

For subscribers, Dallas becomes even more valuable when there are multiple subscriptions to different datasets: although there may be multiple content providers involved, data access methods, reporting and billing remains consistent.

For content providers, Dallas represents an ideal way to market valuable data and a ready-made solution to e-commerce, billing, and scaling challenges in a multi-tenant environment – providing a global marketplace and integration points into Microsoft’s information worker assets.

Download at Source : Microsoft Codename "Dallas" Whitepaper

Get The Most Value From Social Computing For Business

New whitepaper by Microsoft on the benefits of Social Computing for Enterprises :

The whitepaper discusses the value of social computing for business, citing 2 customer references of large scale enterprise deployments, and the technologies that enable successful results from social computing.

The whitepaper also addresses the business and technical benefits from using SharePoint Products and Technologies and how the platform differentiates compared to other social computing vendors.

Social computing is not a passing trend, so organizations should think of this “new way of work” in context of a broader enterprise collaboration strategy.

Source : Get The Most Value From Social Computing For Business
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:50:23 GMT

Microsoft Online Standard Service Descriptions #msonline #bpos

Overview

Microsoft® Online Services offers hosting services for Microsoft productivity applications that are widely used by customers of all sizes today. This set of documents provides service descriptions for the Microsoft® Exchange Online Standard messaging service, the Microsoft® SharePoint® Online Standard collaboration service, the Microsoft® Office Communications Online Standard instant messaging and communications service, and the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Web conferencing service. Other documents in the set describe Microsoft Online components related to these services.

Microsoft Exchange Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Exchange Online is a hosted enterprise messaging solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exchange Online services include advanced e-mail features as well as calendaring, contact, and task management capabilities. This service description describes the services and features that are included with the Standard offering of Exchange Online.

Microsoft SharePoint Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Online is a collection of Web-based tools and technologies built on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that help you store, share, and manage digital information within your company. This document describes the services and features that are included with the Standard offering of SharePoint Online.

Microsoft Office Communications Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Office Communications Online is a hosted, enterprise-class communications solution based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Office Communications Online provides your organization with real-time communications capabilities including secure instant messaging and delivery of "presence" information. Presence enables users to see at a glance if someone is available online to receive an instant message. This service description is intended to help IT professionals and describes the features that are included with the Standard offering of Office Communications Online.

 
Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service Description—Microsoft® Office Live Meeting is an enterprise-class Web conferencing service. With Live Meeting, companies and organizations can engage customers through real-time meetings, training sessions, and events that are presented over the Internet. This document provides IT professionals with a description of the Live Meeting service offer available to organizations that are using standard products and services from Online Services.

Microsoft Online Services Support and Service Management Service Description—The Microsoft® Online Services support teams are committed to helping customers quickly and efficiently resolve service-related issues that end users may encounter when using Microsoft Online Services. This document describes the support services that are provided for the Microsoft Online Services products available in the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Microsoft Online Services Enterprise Network Services Overview—This document describes the Microsoft Online Services networking infrastructure components and security features that support delivery of all Online Services for the enterprise that use the Internet for transport. These include all of the offerings that are part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and many others. The document is intended for network engineers and system integrators who work with Microsoft Online Services customers.

Microsoft Online Services Macintosh Support Service Description— This document focuses on the Apple Macintosh experience for Microsoft Office users that is available for three Microsoft Online offerings—Microsoft Exchange Online Standard, Microsoft SharePoint® Online Standard, and Microsoft® Office Live Meeting 2007.

Download : Microsoft Download Center

Nieuwe website Microsoft Online Services #msonline | #BPOS

Naast de bestaande website hebben we een nieuwe overzichtelijke website voor Microsoft Online Services gelanceerd. IK ben benieuwd wat jullie ervan vinden …

 

http://www.microsoft.nl/onlinediensten

Beyond Office 2010 - The Future of Productivity

Office 2010 is here. The most complete but also the most evolved version of the Office productivity suite. For many years the Office suite is no longer just about personal productity; it is about managing information in the broadest context posiible : interaction between individuals, teams and organisations, from an ad-hoc, project or any kind of social context.

Microsoft’s vision goes far beyond Office 2010 and for those who have not seen this vision yet, take a look at this video :

Now there's also a whitepaper available which puts a number of innovations / visions shown in the video into perspective :

… This paper illustrates how productivity software has evolved to make your work life easier and more productive, and explores some areas where Microsoft is using new technologies and approaches to drive even greater improvements in productivity and efficiency throughout your organization. …

Download Whitepaper : Beyond Office 2010 - The Future of Productivity
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:27:29 GMT

Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Interoperability between Microsoft’s Live@EDU platform (Online Services for education) and the institutiions back-office systems is key.
Microsoft’s prime online email offering for education is Outlook Live; Microsoft Exchange 2010 Online platform for, which is free to Students and staff. This paper outlines the adbanced options for integration of Outlook Live with the prime education systems.

… This whitepaper describes how live@edu Outlook Live customers can connect their school systems with Exchange Web Services (EWS).

Provide your school or university with seamless integration of campus applications, information systems and portals to Outlook Live using the Exchange Web Services (EWS) API and PowerShell. This whitepaper details a scenario of integrating a course registration system with Outlook Live using the EWS Managed API and explains the EWS Managed API with code snippets so that you can plan for a similar implementation. …

Source: Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Microsoft has released a new version of Active Directory Federation Services : ADFS 2.0 #federatedIdentity #msonline

The Microsoft “geneva” team has released a new version of Active Directory Federation Services : ADFS 2.0.

… We are very happy to announce the general availability of AD FS 2.0! It is our pleasure to offer this release for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 that makes it easier to work across companies, leverage the cloud, and develop secure applications all while using industry standard interoperable protocols. We listened to your feedback from the release candidate and have made AD FS 2.0 even easier to manage by simplifying proxy management. Finally, we’ve hammered this build to ensure you’ll see the rock solid reliability and screaming fast performance that you’d expect from Microsoft.

The setup package for AD FS 2.0 can be downloaded here.

The team behind making AD FS 2.0 can be seen in several Channel 9 videos discussing the features and capabilities of the release.

Check out the following resources to learn more about AD FS 2.0:

• Our official website
• AD FS 2.0 Getting Started Guide
• Step by Step Guide and VMs for Federated Document Collaboration Using MOSS 2007 and AD FS 2.0
• AD FS 2.0 Design, Deployment, and Troubleshooting Guides
• AD FS 2.0 developer documentation and PowerShell reference
• Resources for developing claims based applications with Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) …

Countinue at source : “geneva” Team Blog

Inter Access levert SharePoint Online aan Leiden

Een mooi voorbeeld van Microsoft Online Services in de gemeente markt …

… De gemeente Leiden neemt een nieuwe samenwerkingsomgeving in gebruik, die door Inter Access is ingericht en geleverd. Deze 'het nieuwe werken'-omgeving is gebaseerd op Microsoft SharePoint en biedt samenwerkingsportals waar medewerkers van de gemeente informatie delen, gezamenlijk documenten creëren en de voortgang van projecten en processen bewaken.

Inter Access voerde in 2009 bij de gemeente Leiden een proof of concept uit met Microsoft SharePoint als platform voor samenwerking. Hierdoor kon de gemeente zonder al te veel kosten ervaring opdoen met het platform voordat werd besloten er (gemeente)breed mee door te gaan. Inter Access maakte daarbij gebruik van IMPACT 2.0, een  methodiek om het nieuwe werken bij organisaties in te voeren.

De gemeente Leiden neemt de Microsoft SharePoint-omgeving af in een cloud-variant: Microsoft Online Services. Daardoor beschikken de medewerkers over alle functionaliteit op het gebied van SharePoint, Office Communication Server, Exchange en Live Meeting zonder dat de beheerlast toeneemt. Alle functionaliteit is via internet beschikbaar. Inter Access verzorgt het beheer van de omgeving. …

Bron: Channelweb.nl

Chris Dawson: Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

I regularly read Chris Dawson’s blogposts as he blogs about technology solutions in the education sector and that happens to be one of my areas of interest. Today he blogged about something that I hope to see and here more about … a different perspective on Microsoft … simply because there many good solutions coming from Redmond …

…I’m having an identity crisis. Regular readers of both this blog and my Education blog will know that I border on being a Google fanboi and Linux tends to work its way into my computer passions as well. I work almost constantly in the cloud and Linux obviously provides a cheap, stable platform [...] 

… And then there’s Microsoft. Microsoft was easy to hate a few years back when they were the antitrust bad guys. Then they released Vista and it was even easier to say that they’d sealed their fate. Apple and Linux were going to dominate the desktop! The 3000 pound gorilla was dead! And suddenly, the betas of Windows 7 were stable, fast, attractive, and everything that Vista should have been. Office Web Apps and other Windows Live properties started to appear and mature and were compelling bridges to the cloud. And if the cloud wasn’t your game, Office 2010 rolled into beta and was even better than Office 2007. Seriously, have you used the beta? It rocks out loud. I may spend a lot of time in the cloud, but I also often have to produce publication-ready documents. Besides, have you ever tried to do a mail merge in Google Docs? Of course you haven’t, because you can’t.

It’s gotten to the point where I actually look forward to hearing from Microsoft PR since they usually have something particularly cool to tell me about. In fact, Office 2010 just might be one of the more compelling reasons to buy a Windows PC. Then there’s Sharepoint 2010, the cloud-oriented meat of which has already appeared in Live@Edu and Office Live Workspace. …

Yes lot’s of cool stuff coming this year … hope to see more positive news coming from Chris’ blog soon

Source : Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

ICT-Office event : ICT 2010 - 2020 en de visie hierop van Microsoft, Google en Gartner

Today the ICT-Office event with Google, Microsoft and Gartner Group was held in Utrecht. Over 180 attendees.

We have done the Microsoft presnetation together with Unit4 and Capgemini. Check out our PPT :

Microsoft | Unit4 | Capgemini - The Cloud Ecosystem 2010-2020

View more presentations from dehaaspeter.

Microsoft Online Services | The Ultimate list | #BPOS #msonline

Microsoft Online Services and the Business Productivity Online Suite in particular have many aspects that (potential) customers and partners are interested in learning more about. Over the last years many websites, service descriptions, whitepapers and other sources of information have been created on all topics relevant to Microsoft Online Services.

This document is an effort to provide the “ultimate” list of this information. It is best effort and does not necessarily contain 100% correct or up to date information. Changes will be made to this document if and when time permits

I will place the document over on slideshare and refresh it over there as often as possible. If you’d like to receive the document in Microsoft Word .docx format please send me an email.

Microsoft Online Services The Ultimate List

View more presentations from dehaaspeter.

Microsoft Live@EDU close to 50 Million users

Good article by Zack Whittaker about the number of users supported in education by some of the online players :

… Microsoft and Google are still plotting away at each other in attempts to get colleges and universities on side with their own email, document and general productivity suites.

Google hasn’t got back to me with any of the questions I sent over in regards to this vague tweet:

Since then there has been an awful lot of email to’ing and fro’ing between myself and a number of public relations folk. My last post comparing the two suites was a few months ago; it’s time for a revision and seeing where universities rank the in-house email killers, by deconstructing the jargon and seemingly meaningless spin. …

Although the Live@EDU estimates of 50 Million + users is not an official Microsoft number it at least shows this is very, very large :

… Live@edu is used by more than 10,000 “schools”

Microsoft finally updated its press release to confirm that over 10,000 “schools” - which as Americans often describe school as “a form of education” not mutually exclusive to compulsory education but university/college also. Considering most universities have over 10,000 students, I would fairly say that there are definitely over 7 million users using Live@edu; it’s probably closer to 50 million if not even more. …

Source : ZDnet.com

Windows Azure : Microsoft Server Platform Als Een Service

In december 2009, naar aanleiding van de lancering van Microsoft Windows Azure, heeft IT Service Magazine een uitgebreid artikel gepubliceerd.

Het artikel is beschikbaar via mijn slideshare :

Windows Azure - Microsoft Server platform als een service

View more documents from dehaaspeter.

Bron : IT Service Magazine december 2009

Engineering Messenger for real relationships : Very impressive Windows Live Stats

Piero Sierra is the Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail and he shares some impressive WL Messenger statistics :

…The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Windows Live Messenger is usually instant messaging – bouncing short text messages back and forth. But there are tons of things we've built into Messenger to make that experience more meaningful, and closer to a real face-to-face interaction. My name is Piero Sierra, and I’m the Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. Today I’m going to talk about how we've engineered Messenger to help people stay connected with each other in more meaningful ways.

Web-based social networks have had huge growth lately, and they're a great way to share and stay informed about what everyone that you know is up to. They let you reach out to large groups of people, including friends and family, but your social network usually also includes a broad group of acquaintances, co-workers, and people from your past that you may no longer be very close to. Messenger, on the other hand, is about the people that matter most to you – the ones you talk with frequently and share more personal moments with.

For several years now, this has been our North Star in building Messenger – helping people stay connected to their closest friends and express themselves in meaningful ways. I'd like to tell you a little more about how we're doing that. …

… Some key stats

Our goal is to allow you to have deeper, more meaningful conversations in Messenger. So how do we measure our success? One key metric we track is conversation length – having a longer conversation means you're generally going beyond lightweight exchanges of messages like “Are you coming?”

We also look at voice and video (our closest approximation to a true conversation), and how people interact with each other through photos. Some numbers:

• The average length of a Messenger session (a conversation) is 9-11 minutes
• About 59% of sessions are over 5 minutes, with about 10% over 20 minutes long
• 1.6 billion sessions per month are over 30 minutes long
• People use Messenger to exchange over 380 million photos a month —over 4.5 billion photos a year (this is in addition to the tens of billions of photos people also share each month via Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail)
• Messenger users have 230 million voice & video conversations per month
• Average voice session length is about 18.2 minutes
• Average video session length is about 13.3 minutes
• 9% of video calls and 13% of voice calls are longer than 1 hour
• Usage of international voice and video sessions differ geographically. Brazilians use voice & video only 13% of the time for international connections while users in other countries, such as Spain or Germany, use voice and video 50-75% of the time for long distance chats with friends and family.  …

Continue at Source : Engineering Messenger for real relationships

What’s New in the BPOS-Federal Offer

This document introduces new features and improvements that are now available in Microsoft® Online Services dedicated products under the BPOS-Federal offering. The features under this offering are specifically designed to provide security, privacy and regulatory compliance needs for both US Federal government agencies and commercial companies under ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) regulation. New features described apply to the following products:

• Microsoft Exchange Online Dedicated
• Microsoft Office SharePoint® Online Dedicated
• Microsoft Office Communications Online Dedicated

Download document : Microsoft Download Center

Microsoft Unveils New Government Cloud Offerings at Eighth Annual Public Sector CIO Summit #BPOS

Big announcement by Microsoft for Microsoft Online Services. The BPOS Services have just been extended with a Government focused solution “BPOS-G”

… Today, at the eighth annual Microsoft U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit, Microsoft Corp. unveiled a number of new enhancements and certifications for the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) that continue to raise the bar in cloud security and privacy. In a keynote speech addressing more than 300 public sector CIOs, Ron Markezich, corporate vice president of Microsoft Online, launched an industry first — a new dedicated government cloud offering based on the BPOS. For education, Microsoft also announced it is extending identity federation services to Microsoft Live@edu to help schools improve collaboration and security, as well as simplify identity management and support interoperability among disparate software applications.

The new Business Productivity Online Suite Federal is optimized to meet the security, privacy and compliance needs of U.S. federal government agencies. In addition, Markezich announced future capabilities and certifications that will continue to raise the bar in cloud security and privacy, including two-factor authentication, enhanced encryption and the expected attainment of Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification, an important requirement for government information technology, in the next six months.

“Microsoft is the first and only cloud provider to offer this level of protection and security for governments,” said Markezich. “We were able to achieve this industry first thanks to our experience providing dedicated cloud services for the past five years.”

Markezich also announced several new customers including the City of Newark and Florida State College at Jacksonville, one of the 10 largest U.S. universities. …

 

… Microsoft Online Services for Government

Microsoft Online Services are available for government customers of all sizes. These versions, and the security and privacy enhancements being announced today, include the following:

• Business Productivity Online Suite meets a wide variety of industry standards and certifications, including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001, Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 Type I and Type II, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Title 21 CFR Part 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2, and Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) compliance. Today, more than 500 state and local governments use Microsoft Online Services in the United States, including 48 of 50 states. These range from the largest entities with tens of thousands of seats to the smallest of municipalities.
• Business Productivity Online Suite Federal is launching today for U.S. federal government agencies, related government contractors and others that require the highest levels of security features and protocols. The new offering includes all the certifications and security features of the Business Productivity Online Suite and more. The service is housed on separate, dedicated infrastructure in secured facilities. Physical access to those systems is limited by biometric access controls to a small number of individuals who, in compliance with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), must be citizens of the United States who have undergone rigorous background checks, including fingerprinting.

Continue at source: Microsoft Unveils New Government Cloud Offerings at Eighth Annual Public Sector CIO Summit

Microsoft Outlook gets social – Linked In for Outlook

Linked In integration with Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2007 and 2003  is now a fact :

http://www.linkedin.com/outlook 

 

Microsoft Online Services - Enterprise Network Services Overview #BPOS

This document describes the Microsoft® Online Services networking infrastructure components and security features that support delivery of all Online Services for the enterprise that use the Internet for transport. These include all of the offerings that are part of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (Exchange Online, Office Live Meeting, etc), Dynamics, CRM Online, and many others. The document is intended for network engineers and system integrators who work with Microsoft Online Services customers. (Dedicated offerings are covered in a separate downloadable document, Microsoft Online Dedicated Service Descriptions and Service Level Agreements).

The components and features that are described include:

• Enterprise network architecture for Microsoft Online Services
• Microsoft’s Internet connectivity
• Network security Microsoft is constantly investing in new technologies, expansion, and innovation of its network infrastructure.

This document is updated regularly to reflect changes that are deployed to the network to support Microsoft Online Services.

Download @ source : Microsoft Online Services - Enterprise Network Services Overview

SkyTeam bespaart aanzienlijk met overstap op Microsoft online applicaties

Wortell, een van de Microsoft Online Services partners van het eerste uur is verantwoordelijk voor deze mooie BPOS implementatie. SharePoint Online wordt nu gebruikt door ongeveer 450 medewerkers van de luchtvaartmaatschappijen die binnen SkyTeam in werkgroepen samenwerken.

… SkyTeam, de wereldwijde alliantie van luchtvaartmaatschappijen, heeft gekozen voor de Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). BPOS is door SkyTeam in samenwerking met Wortell geïmplementeerd. Het centrale kantoor van de alliantie op Schiphol werkt al enkele maanden met de onderdelen Exchange Online, Office Communications Online en Live Meeting. Het laatste onderdeel van BPOS, SharePoint Online is nu ook in gebruik genomen. Door deze keuze wordt een kostenbesparing bereikt van ongeveer 50 procent vergeleken met een traditionele omgeving.

SkyTeam heeft negen leden – Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, Aeroflot, Delta Air Lines, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines en Korean Air – en twee geassocieerde maatschappijen Air Europa en Kenya Airways. Met 13.122 vluchten per dag vervoeren de SkyTeam-leden (www.skyteam.com) jaarlijks 384 miljoen passagiers naar 856 bestemmingen in 169 landen. Het centrale kantoor van de alliantie gebruikt nu de volledige Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite voor de bijna 20 medewerkers die veel mobiel werken. Zij hebben dankzij BPOS altijd en overal, gemakkelijk en snel toegang tot hun bedrijfsgegevens. Aangezien het centrale kantoor in Amsterdam staat, werd in Nederland gezocht naar een Microsoft-partner voor de implementatie van BPOS. Wortell voldeed het beste aan de eisen.

SkyTeam heeft voor BPOS gekozen om het IT-beheer zoveel mogelijk te beperken. Dankzij de overstap op BPOS zijn geen investeringen nodig in de serverinfrastructuur, softwarelicenties en IT-personeel. Bruno Faccini, verantwoordelijk voor IT bij SkyTeam: “Ik denk dat we met de overstap op BPOS ongeveer 50 procent van de kosten besparen, vergeleken met de voorgaande situatie. De bekendheid met de tools - zodat er geen tijd verloren gaat met het leerproces - en de probleemloze integratie met onze IT-omgeving waren voor ons belangrijke redenen om te kiezen voor het online-aanbod van Microsoft.” SkyTeam heeft ook gekeken naar voor de hand liggende alternatieven. Maar de Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite sloot naadloos aan op de systemen die SkyTeam al in gebruik had. Ook kon BPOS in gebruik worden genomen zonder noemenswaardige IT-inspanningen.

Danny Burlage, oprichter en Technisch Directeur van Wortell: "De migratie naar BPOS is relatief simpel. Organisaties die hun hele e-mail infrastructuur migreren zijn doorgaans binnen enkele weken klaar met het complete project, waarbij de technische migratie veelal binnen enkele dagen is gedaan. Met BPOS kunnen we dus in zeer korte tijd een complete zakelijke online omgeving opbouwen, zonder na te hoeven denken over de technische infrastructuur. Het gaat dus voornamelijk om de bedrijfsmatige inrichting van de software, zoals we bij SkyTeam met SharePoint Online hebben gedaan." …

Bron en vervolg van persbericht : MCSonline.nl

Cloud Computing Security Considerations

Microsoft already published a number of papers on security privacy and compliancy in relation to online services and cloud computing. The following paper creates a good overview of all different aspects in using ‘the cloud’ in a secure way :

A high-level discussion of the fundamental challenges and benefits of cloud computing security, plus some of the questions that cloud service providers and organisations using cloud services need to consider when evaluating a new move, or expansion of existing services, to the cloud. This document presumes that the reader is familiar with the core concepts of cloud computing and basic principles of cloud security. It is not the goal of this paper to provide all the answers to the questions of security in the cloud or to provide an exhaustive framework for cloud security.

Source : Microsoft.com

SharePoint Online in the 2010 wave

2010 is an important year for Microsoft Online Services. The “wave 14” platform with all the new Office Servers (Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications) will also be part of the new major release of Microsoft Online Services / BPOS.

Arpan Shah provides a high-level overview of what’s to come with SahrePoint 2010 Online :

… I’m a big fan of SharePoint Online along with over one million other users out there. It’s a reliable, convenient service that allows companies to take advantage of SharePoint without having to host it themselves. It’s software-as-a-service at it’s best. 

SharePoint Online today, based on SharePoint 2007, does a good job providing some of the core SharePoint capabilities. In the second half of this calendar year, SharePoint Online will be updated to SharePoint 2010 at which point it will be even more powerful & provide even greater parity with SharePoint 2010 “On-Premises”. This is largely due to all the investments we’ve made in the 2010 wave around multi-tenancy and extensibility. …

… Fore more information, you can also check out a recent podcast I did on SharePoint Online @ http://www.sharepointpodshow.com/archive/2010/01/13/sharepoint-online-and-sharepoint-2010-ecm-episode-41.aspx

Continue at Source: SharePoint Online in the 2010 wave

Total Recall Is Coming

I just ordered Jim Gemmel’s and Gordon Bell’s book Total Recall.

I had heard a lot about this project over the last few years and after reading the article below became very curious about the details. The article shows where this can lead …

For the last 10 years, Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell of Microsoft Research have been scanning and digitising their entire lives: documents, phone calls, files, chat sessions, email, the web pages they read, the TV and radio shows they watched and listened to, where they want, what applications they had open…

Over the next 10 years, you’re going to do the same, Gemmell told the Storage Visions conference at CES 2010.

“What if you could remember literally everything you’ve ever read, everything you’ve ever seen, everything you’ve ever heard – and things that are not usually in human memory like what’s the temperature of the room, what’s the humidity. We’re entering a world where increasingly, if something can be instrumented it will be; there are sensors everywhere. We’re entering a world of total recall.”

“You will record way more of your life than in past history,” Gemmell says, because of three trends. “We’re already wandering around with digital cameras, phones with cameras that record audio and some of them know your location… as time goes by we get the sensed world.

“Storage is becoming so cheap and abundant that it blows our minds. And there’s the software; we have the technology to do something with all those bits. We have the technology to search, to analyse, to visualise the information.” …

Continue at Source : Total Recall Is Coming

Microsoft Presentation on Cloud Computing

New presentation from Microsoft about Cloud Computing

Microsoft enables organizations to embrace the cloud to help increase agility and reduce costs and carbon footprint while having the confidence of enterprise-class service accountability, reliability, and security.

Our platform enables a consistent, connected experience—for developers, who can quickly embrace the cloud with a consistent, cohesive platform/programming model, and for users, who can transition seamlessly from their PC to the Web or mobile phone. And with unmatched breadth and depth, we give organizations the power to choose whatever combination of enterprise-class software and services that works best for their business, plus the flexibility to change that combination whenever their needs change.

Designed for enterprise executives, this fully scripted presentation introduces Microsoft's vision for cloud computing in the enterprise. It includes external perspectives on the increasing interest in cloud computing, an overview of Microsoft's approach, and examples of customer success stories.

Download : here

CSC Signs Cloud Computing Agreement With UK Royal Mail Group

Very strong BPOS win for CSC. UK’s Royal Mail is moving to Microsoft Online Services with 30.000 users ..

… today announced that it has signed an agreement with the UK's Royal Mail Group to provide cloud computing information technology (IT) services. The new agreement expands the company's current contract signed with Royal Mail Group in 2003 to maintain its desktop computers and manage and develop its servers, mainframes and IT processes.

The new contract is an industry first, with CSC being the first Microsoft partner to lead and win a cloud computing services agreement of this scale. Under terms of the contract, CSC will provide Royal Mail Group's 30,000 employees with access to new IT services using Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), part of Microsoft Online Services. CSC will also provide first line helpdesk support. …

Continue at source : CSC.com

Microsoft Cloud Services Vision Becomes Reality With Launch of Windows Azure Platform

Yesterday, NOvember 17th 2009 Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Azure Platform, another major milestone in the execution of Microsoft cloud services strategy : Software + Services :

… Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows Azure platform at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). In his opening keynote address, Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, described Windows Azure and SQL Azure as core elements of the company’s cloud services strategy. The company also announced a set of new Windows Azure features, Windows Server capabilities, and marketplace offerings that will make it easier for developers to build profitable businesses from their Microsoft-based solutions.

“Customers want choice and flexibility in how they develop and deploy applications,” Ozzie said. “We’re moving into an era of solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the Web, and that are delivered from datacenters we refer to as private clouds and public clouds. Built specifically for this era of cloud computing, Windows Azure and SQL Azure will give developers what they need to build great applications and profitable businesses.”

In his keynote address, Ozzie described the company’s “three screens and a cloud” vision, where software experiences are seamlessly delivered across PCs, phones and TVs, all connected by cloud-based services. Underscoring the IT industry’s shift toward a hybrid approach of online services combined with on-premises software, Ozzie described the programming model for a powerful new generation of applications for both businesses and consumers, enabled by new Microsoft development tools and technologies. He also demonstrated customer and partner commitment to Microsoft’s development platform with Seesmic, WordPress and Cheezburger Network. …

Continue at Source : Microsoft Presspass

Gartner Fellows Interview With Microsoft's Ray Ozzie on Cloud Computing

Gartner recently did an interview with Ray Ozzie on Microsoft’s vision on “cloud-based computing” … Microsoft’s Software + Services vision and execution is comprehensive and well on track …

… Cloud-based computing will create the biggest discontinuity of the IT landscape since the Internet. We sat down with Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, to discuss his vision for cloud computing, and the impact on enterprise computing and the IT industry.

Overview

Cloud-based computing will fundamentally transform how enterprises procure and consume technology solutions. Vendors such as Microsoft, which rely almost exclusively on revenue from traditional shrink-wrapped software, are threatened by the shift, but must embrace the technological and business model discontinuities. At this critical transition point for Microsoft, and nearly a year after Microsoft publicly disclosed its cloud-computing strategy, Gartner Fellows Neil MacDonald and David Smith met with Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie to talk about how Microsoft and the industry have progressed during the past year, and to look ahead at what's next for cloud computing.

Key Findings

• Ozzie's (and thus, Microsoft's) vision of cloud computing emphasizes hybrid enterprise/cloud computing, where organizations choose when and where computing takes place locally versus in cloud-based infrastructure, and emphasizes that the on-premises and cloud-based solutions work seamlessly together.
• As with early encryption issues, Ozzie believes that security and privacy issues will be addressed as the industry matures in a combination of legislative advances, as well as industry cooperation.
• Ozzie's vision for cloud computing includes system infrastructure, an application platform and finished applications being delivered as a service.
• Microsoft is investing in its own data centers because it must in order to provide its consumer-based services. It believes it is helping to lead the industry in providing innovations in data center architectures.
• Ozzie believes the future of cloud computing is in the experience delivered via a browser across multiple devices — mobile, PC and TV-type screens — which is a vision he refers to as "three screens and a cloud."
  …

Continue at Source : Gartner.com

Eenvoudig je hyves vrienden toevoegen aan Windows Live Messenger en Hotmail

Grote kans dat je een Hyves profiel hebt. Voeg in één keer al je Hyves vrienden toe aan Windows Live. Zo kun je chatten en mailen met al je Hyves vrienden vanuit Windows Live Messenger en Windows Live Hotmail! Al jouw vrienden overzichtelijk bij elkaar. Met de stappen hieronder voeg je jouw Hyves vrienden zó toe!

Microsoft is de nummer 1 op het web

Naar aanleiding van een recent onderzoek naar de tijd die gebruikers online besteden en met name met welke diensten ze dit doen komt Microsoft als nummer 1 uit de bus :

Microsoft staat boven Google en Yahoo

Het gebruik van Windows Live Messenger heeft ervoor gezorgd dat wereldwijd 14,5% van de tijd die online wordt doorgebracht men actief is op sites en programma’s van Microsoft. Volgens comScore verslaan ze daarmee Google, Yahoo en Facebook.

Bron: Dutch Cowboys

Microsoft levert populairste online-diensten

Wereldwijd wordt de meeste tijd op internet besteed aan diensten van Microsoft. De softwareproducent blijft Google en Yahoo voor, zo blijkt uit cijfers van comScore. Met name het chatprogramma Live Messenger zorgt voor veel bezoekuren voor Microsoft.

Bron: NU.nl

Microsoft blijkt nummer één op het web

Bijna 15 procent van alle tijd op het web wordt besteedt aan een van de online-diensten van Microsoft. Vooral Live Messenger trekt veel bezoekuren.

Bron: WebWereld

Parool : Thuiswerk moet mkb'ers uit de file lokken

Project Digitale Mobiliteit gaat van start in regio Amsterdam. Microsoft Online Services / BPOS maakt hier een belangrijk onderdeel van uit …

… Honderd Amsterdamse kleine ondernemingen gaan op proef hun personeel een half jaar vanuit huis laten werken. Met subsidie van de overheid krijgen de werknemers thuis snel internet en vergadersoftware.

Wanneer het experiment slaagt, krijgt het navolging in de rest van het land, aldus Kees Verhoeven, directeur van MKB Amsterdam.

De proef, in 36 gemeenten rond Amsterdam, moet uitwijzen of thuiswerken een oplossing tegen de files is. Uit onderzoek is gebleken dat veel kleine ondernemers vooroordelen tegen thuiswerken hebben. Zo denken zij dat de investeringen hiervoor in hardware en software hoog zijn en weinig opleveren.
Volgens de organisatoren van de proef, MKB Nederland en adviesbureau Boer & Croon, bedragen de kosten voor thuiswerksoftware slechts 13 euro per maand per werknemer. Voor dat geld wordt de thuiswerker voorzien van Microsoft-programma's voor e-mail, videovergaderen, tekstverwerken en een agenda. …

Bron: Parool.nl

Meer informatie over digitale mobiliteit :

www.digitalemobiliteit.nl

www.microsoft.nl/digitalemobiliteit

InformationWeek: Microsoft Offers Free SaaS To Salesforce, Oracle Customers

Microsoft is making a big push in Online Services this week, also Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online increases the competition …

… The offer for six free months of Dynamics CRM Online came a day after Microsoft dropped prices for cloud versions of Exchange and SharePoint.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), which has increased its focus on cloud computing in recent weeks, is now making a big push for its customer-relationship management software-as-a-service. Microsoft announced Tuesday that it's offering six months of free service to customers that switch from Salesforce.com or Oracle CRM On Demand to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

At the same time, Microsoft eliminated the two-tier pricing and feature structure of Dynamics CRM Online. When it introduced the SaaS in April 2008, it offered a base version with 5 GB of storage for $44 per user per month, and a more feature-rich version with 20 GB of storage for $59 a month. Now it just offers a single version, for $44 a month and 5 GB of storage, which includes 200 custom entities and 200 workflows. …

 

…By comparison, Salesforce.com offers a professional version of CRM for $65 a month, and an enterprise version (its most popular) for $125 a month. Oracle CRM On Demand starts at $70 a month. ..

 

Source : InformationWeek

Microsoft Online Solutions for Education - Live@EDU and BPOS - growing ver fast

The Microsoft Live@EDU team gives a great overview of the current status of Live@EDU … ten of millions of users worldwide and due to great free of charge services such as Outlook Live it is growing very fast at this moment.

Live@edu adoption continues to grow

We continue to gain huge traction with Microsoft Live@edu, our hosted email, communications and collaboration solution for students. In the past four months more than 5,000 schools have enrolled with Live@edu, joining the thousands of other institutions in more than 100 countries already providing Live@edu to tens of millions of students worldwide. Our growth in universities and colleges includes recent wins at the University of Washington and the University of Missouri, as well as:

• Seton Hall. The university chose Live@edu over Google Apps for Education to provide email and collaboration features for its 10,000 students and is currently rolling it out to 70,000 alumni. Read their case study here.
• University of Cincinnati (UC). UC has an extensive 55,000 Live@edu deployment, including user identity management and password synchronization with ILM, a single sign-on portal and more. Students can launch any of the Live@edu applications directly from their Blackboard home page and synchronize with their class schedules.
• Ohio University. Ohio is almost done activating more than 140,000 Live@edu accounts for current students and alumni. While the school is looking to reduce costs and improve communications with alumni, students cite the modern web interface, increased mailbox capacity and powerful search capabilities as top features.
• Colorado Community College System (CCCS). CCCS is comprised of 13 colleges, serving more than 115,000 students annually, and assigns all students Live@edu email accounts to use as a primary point of contact and to ensure timely communications.

New collaboration opportunities

We are also announcing new SharePoint Online-based collaboration and productivity services will be available for students as part of the Live@edu next year. These new SharePoint-based services will offer IT departments more flexibility and control to set up and manage their school’s collaboration and productivity tools in a security-enhanced environment…as well as the ability to access and manage permissions to sites, documents and content (pictures, videos) with enterprise-class control.

For students, these new services give them access to similar types of functionality that has made SharePoint the fastest growing server product in Microsoft history. It will enable them to create, edit and securely access content from their school’s site anywhere, whether at home, at the school library or even while on the road for holiday. It will allow them to organize, track and easily share classroom information, interests, expertise and easily find colleagues. By leveraging Office Web Apps that are currently in technical preview, students will have a new online space where they can securely upload, easily share, and collaborate on documents, including in-place editing. We believe this will better prepare them for the workforce through use of functionality and technology used every day in the workplace.

Microsoft’s software plus services model—which spans mission-critical datacenter availability and security, Live@edu, Microsoft Online Services collaboration and communication offerings, and Windows Azure—combines the reach and flexibility of the cloud with the power of on-premises software applications. Today, we see that people want to access information on the PC, in the browser and on a mobile device…and I think this the real value in moving to the cloud…having the flexibility and choice to run your solutions either in the cloud, on premises, or a mix of the two.

Schools adopting Microsoft Online Services

Universities are beginning to embrace the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite on campus, which is comprised of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting. These products have been traditionally on premise, but are now available in a paid-for, hosted environment in the cloud that Microsoft manages for you that you can buy through partners.  These online services offer streamlined communication, simplified management and business-class security and reliability…and new this quarter, we are increasing the mailbox size five-fold to 25 GB for every user.  Recent customer wins include:

• University System of Ohio. The state of Ohio has signed an Education Alliance Agreement with Microsoft that will bring a cloud computing approach to the entire state. Exchange Online is one of many products that will provide significant cost savings, increased productivity and improved performance while minimizing environmental impact.
• Hofstra University. Hofstra is moving its faculty and staff to Exchange Online. By using Microsoft’s security, spam filtering and archiving capabilities, the technical staff will be able to concentrate on providing other high-valued academic services to the University.
• Belmont University. Belmont is using Exchange Online to serve approximately 1,400 faculty and staff email accounts. The Exchange Online implementation supports the school’s green initiatives by saving space and energy costs. They anticipate saving about $30,000 a year by not having to hire additional IT staff to support.

Source : Microsoft Education Insights

 

Get started with Live@edu today

http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/free-hosted-student-email.aspx

Inside one of the world's largest data centers

Microsoft is very serious about the online services business, very large obviously datacenters play a very important role.

The article also includes some nice pictures

 

CNET gets a tour of Microsoft's 700,000-square-foot Chicago facility--a data center the company says just might be the biggest on the planet.

On the outside, Microsoft's massive new data center resembles the other buildings in the industrial area.

Even the inside of the building doesn't look like that much. The ground floor looks like a large indoor parking lot filled with a few parked trailers.

It's what's inside those trailers, though, that is the key to Microsoft's cloud-computing efforts. Each of the shipping containers in the Chicago data center houses anywhere from 1,800 to 2,500 servers, each of which can be serving up e-mail, managing instant messages, or running applications for Microsoft's soon-to-be-launched cloud-based operating system--Windows Azure.

Upstairs, Microsoft has four traditional raised floor server rooms, each roughly 12,000 square feet and consuming, on average, 3 megawatts of power. It's all part of a data center that will eventually occupy 700,000 square feet, making it one of the world's largest.

"I think, I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think this could be the largest data center in the world," said Arne Josefsberg, general manager of infrastructure services for Microsoft's data center operations.

Even with only half the site ready for computers, the center has 30 megawatts of capacity--many times that found in a typical facility.

On a hot day, Microsoft would rely on 7.5 miles worth of chilled water piping to keep things cool, but general manager Kevin Timmons smiled as he walked in for the facility's grand opening in late September. It was around 55 degrees outside. …

Continue at source

Source : Inside one of the world's largest data centers

Organisaties over op Microsoft online-applicaties

Vandaag heeft Microsoft een aantal belangrijke aankondigen gedaan met betrekking tot Microsoft Online Services en specifiek de Business Productivity Online Suite. Een paar highlights :

• De prijs van de BPOS Suite wordt verlaagd van €12,78 naar € 8,52 per gebruiker per maand.
• De prijs van Exchange Online gehalveerd en kost vanaf nu € 4,26.
• De standaard mailboxgrootte verhoogd van 5GB naar 25GB

Schiphol, 3 november 2009 – De Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) - software voor communiceren en samenwerken, aangeboden als dienst – komt later deze week in meer landen beschikbaar en krijgt vanaf nu elk kwartaal nieuwe functies. Verder heeft Microsoft de prijzen van de online suite en een aantal onderdelen ervan verlaagd. De Business Productivity Online Suite maakt deel uit van de Microsoft Online Services.

De afgelopen maanden hebben honderden organisaties gekozen voor de Business Productivity Online Suite. Dat zijn onder meer McDonald’s, Aon Corporation, Hallmark Cards, het Zweedse Rode Kruis en in Nederland NOC*NSF, Helvoet, RET, RWG (Maasvlakte 2) en SkyTeam Alliance. Zij hebben voor BPOS gekozen vanwege de uitgebreide mogelijkheden, de flexibiliteit en de waarde die deze oplossingen bieden - online, binnen het bedrijf of een combinatie van beide. In een jaar tijd biedt Microsoft nu in 36 landen BPOS aan, met in totaal meer dan een miljoen gebruikers.

Sinds de beschikbaarheid van BPOS in Nederland (april 2009) hebben zich inmiddels 172 partners als BPOS-reseller aangemeld. Zij kunnen klanten helpen om de Microsoft onlinediensten snel in gebruik te nemen. Partner TamTam vergaarde wereldwijd faam met de implementatie bij annatommie. Partners ITSP en Wortell wonnen zelfs internationale Microsoft awards voor hun projecten, waaronder Procore. Diverse nieuwe partners, zoals Sparked en Worktivity, richten zich specifiek met Microsoft onlinediensten op het kleinzakelijke segment.

SkyTeam Alliance
SkyTeam is de wereldwijde alliantie van luchtvaartmaatschappijen met negen leden – Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, Aeroflot, Delta Air Lines, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines en Korean Air – plus twee geassocieerde maatschappijen Air Europa en Kenya Airways. Deze organisatie heeft gekozen voor het gebruik van de volledige Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite voor bijna 450 medewerkers. Dit zijn voornamelijk medewerkers die veel mobiel werken en die dankzij BPOS altijd en overal, makkelijk en snel toegang hebben tot hun bedrijfsgegevens. BPOS is bij SkyTeam geïmplementeerd door Wortell, de eerste Microsoft partner in Nederland die BPOS bij klanten heeft geïmplementeerd.

Bruno Faccini, verantwoordelijk voor IT bij SkyTeam: “SkyTeam heeft voor BPOS gekozen omdat we het IT-beheer willen minimaliseren. We hoeven nu niet te investeren in serverinfrastructuur, softwarelicenties en IT-personeel. Hiermee denken we ongeveer 30 procent van de kosten te besparen, ten opzichte van een traditionele omgeving. De bekendheid met de tools - zodat er geen tijd verloren gaat met het leerproces - en de probleemloze integratie met onze IT-omgeving waren voor ons belangrijke redenen om te kiezen voor het online-aanbod van Microsoft. Momenteel gebruiken we al Exchange Online, Office Communications Online en Live Meeting. Volgende week gaat SharePoint Online wereldwijd live met een training bij KLM.”

Nieuwe prijzen
Vanwege de snelle acceptatie door klanten, de wereldwijde schaal en de verbeterde efficiency dankzij software zoals Exchange 2010, verlaagt Microsoft de prijzen van de Business Productivity Online Suite en ook van Exchange Online, SharePoint Online en Office Communications Online. Na deze verlaging bedraagt de prijs van BPOS € 8,52 per gebruiker per maand. De onderdelen kunnen ook afzonderlijk worden afgenomen, Exchange Online bijvoorbeeld voor € 4,26. Klanten kunnen kiezen uit een reeks oplossingen met Microsoft Online Services, van Deskless Worker voor incidentele gebruikers tot de volledige BPOS voor kenniswerkers. Meer informatie over beschikbaarheid en de prijzen is te vinden op www.microsoft.nl/online.

Nieuwe mogelijkheden
Elk kwartaal komt Microsoft met nieuwe mogelijkheden voor Microsoft Online Services. Dit kwartaal betreft deze update een mailbox van 5 GB naar 25GB voor elke gebruiker en nieuwe scriptingmogelijkheden voor het beheer. …

Bron : Microsoft Nederland persberichten

Channel 9 Interview with David Thompson About Microft Online Services - BPOS

 

Dave Thompson, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Online Services, kicks off the Microsoft Online Services Executive Video Series on MSDN's Channel 9. Dave began building the Microsoft Online Services team about three years ago and delivered the first version of the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) in November of 2008.

Watch the interview to hear Dave's thoughts on building and running software services. He talks about the challenges encountered while building BPOS v1, and what’s on the top of his mind while working with his team to provide the best possible customer and partner experience in future versions of Microsoft Online Services.

Post your comments to the video or to this blog post and Dave will respond in a future video.

The Microsoft Online Services Team

Source : Channel 9 Interview with David Thompson

Guy Creese : BPOS at Coca-Cola Enterprises – some great statistics

Guy Greese of Burton Group is covering a number of sessions at the SharePoint Conference. This blogpost is about Coca Cola Enterprises who has moved from Lotus Notes / Domino to Microsoft Online Services. Lot’s of statistics in Guy’s post so make sure you head on over to his blog for all the details.

Notes from the Coca-Cola presentation at Microsoft’s SharePoint Conference 2009.

The Need

73,000 employees: 30,000 knowledge workers. 40,000+ employees that work out of factories and depots. 2.4 vending machines and coolers. 30Is the largest marketer and distributor of Coca-Cola products.

Business Challenge

• Needed a more effective way to collaborate
• No robust and integrated enterprise solution
• Too many partners providing dozens of communication and collaboration solutions
• Move from being support focused
• Lack of governance

A Lotus Notes shop.

Vision: Establish digital communications as a key enabler to engage employees with the company, drive effectiveness and efficiency and improve collaboration and innovation.

Goals

• Deliver the next generation Intranet
• Create a more collaborative environment
• Simplify integration
• Create two-way communication
• Consolidate multiple technical infrastructures
• Leverage existing infrastructure

… Continue at Source : BPOS at Coca-Cola Enterprises by Guy Creese

Where’s Microsoft in the Forrester Wave for Collaboration platforms Q3/2009 ?

This one is just too funny not to show. In an IBM presentation about all things great about Lotus the presenter did his atmost best to hide the competition. Or maybe this is Lotus Symphony’s “hide the competition” feature ?

Can you guess where Microsoft is ?

Source  : IBM.com