Company introduces 'Online' services and Microsoft Office Live Workspace,
solutions that combine client, server and services offerings to deliver
connected computing options for people and businesses.
REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today
laid out the next phase in its strategy for online services, offering a
road map for new offerings that synthesize client, server and services
software for people and businesses. These offerings will combine elements
of client-based programs with software that runs large servers and new
services delivered over the Internet.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)
The offerings announced expand Microsoft's existing portfolio of
software plus service solutions -- solutions that weave together the best
of software and Internet services to provide a new generation of rich,
seamless experiences that are personalized, integrated and available online
anywhere. This approach gives individuals and organizations greater freedom
of choice in how they interact with the people, information and activities
they value most.
Microsoft plans to deliver a wide variety of new solutions during the
coming months under two key families of service offerings: "Live" and
"Online."
"Live" services from Microsoft are designed primarily for individuals,
business end-users and virtual work groups. Live offerings span
entertainment, communication and productivity. These services emphasize
ease of use, simplicity of access and flexibility, and are ideally suited
for situations where people either don't have access to professional
technical expertise or don't require high levels of system management.
"Online" services are for organizations with more advanced IT needs
where power and flexibility are critical. Online services from Microsoft
give businesses the ability to control access to data, manage users, apply
business and compliance policy, and meet high availability standards while
providing performance, scalability, enhanced security, management features
and service-level capabilities to support mission-critical applications and
systems. Microsoft is providing business customers with the flexibility to
choose between traditional on-premise implementations, services hosted by
Microsoft partners and now Online services that reside in Microsoft's
datacenters.
"This new era of connected computing is about empowering people and
businesses to balance the power of the Internet with the rich interactivity
and high performance of client and server software," said Jeff Raikes,
president of the Microsoft Business Division. "With today's announcements,
we are taking a significant step forward by combining our deep client and
server software experience with our strong commitment to delivering
flexible services offerings for our wide variety of customers and their
unique needs."
Today Microsoft also unveiled the following:
-- Microsoft(R) Office Live Workspace, a new Web-based feature of
Microsoft Office that lets people access their documents online and
share their work with others
-- Microsoft Exchange Labs, a new research and development program for
testing next-generation messaging and unified communications
capabilities in high-scale environments
-- Continued customer and partner support for Microsoft Dynamics(TM) Live
CRM
-- The renaming of the Microsoft Office Live hosted small-business
service, a service dedicated to addressing key small-business pain
points, including core IT services and sales and marketing services, to
Microsoft Office Live Small Business
-- Microsoft BizTalk(R) Services, a building block service that enables
developers to rapidly and cost-effectively build composite
applications, to help enable greater cost efficiencies and thereby open
up new business opportunities for enterprises of all sizes
Raikes further detailed the Microsoft Business Division services
strategy and offerings in a Q&A session with Microsoft PressPass, available
at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/sep07/09-30raikesqa.mspx.
Online Services for Businesses
Online offerings are now available to any enterprise with 5,000 or more
seats and include the following new services:
-- Microsoft Exchange Online
-- Microsoft Office SharePoint(R) Online
-- Microsoft Office Communications Online
The Online services provide businesses and organizations with more time
to focus on business-critical projects while working toward meeting their
business, compliance and high availability requirements.
Online services will be delivered through Microsoft. Hosted services
will be delivered through Microsoft partners as another choice for
customers in how they use Microsoft software.
Partners can also add value through subscription fees for solutions
built on top of Online services through on-premise integration services and
through referral and resell fees.
Office Live Workspace: New Web Functionality for Microsoft Office
Office Live Workspace is among the first entries in the new wave of
online services. Available at no charge, Office Live Workspace lets people
do the following:
-- Access documents anywhere. Users can organize documents and projects
for work, school and home online, and work on them from almost any
computer -- even one not connected to the company or school network.
They can save more than 1,000 Microsoft Office documents to one place
online and access them via the Web.
-- Share with others. Users can work collaboratively on a project with
others in a password-protected, invitation-only online workspace,
helping to eliminate version-control challenges when e-mailing drafts
to multiple people. Collaborators who don't have a desktop version of
Microsoft Office software can still view and comment on the document in
a browser.
-- Extend Microsoft Office. Users can easily connect to Microsoft Office
Word, PowerPoint(R), Excel(R) and Outlook(R) on their PC via the Web.
Anyone can pre-register for the English language beta of Office Live
Workspace today at http://www.officelive.com.
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM
Today more than 11,000 customers, including 475,000 users, enjoy the
benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise and partner-hosted solutions.
A new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM code-named "Titan," which uses a
single multitenant code base to deliver on-premise and on-demand
deployments, will allow customers to choose the right deployment model for
their needs at any point in time.
As part of an early access program that was launched this month, more
than 100 customer and partner organizations are already using the new
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. Participants in the early access
program get a better, more familiar user experience centered on Microsoft
Office and Outlook; a lower total cost of ownership compared with
traditional on-demand vendors; and the option to switch between on-demand
and on-premise models if their business needs change. Those interested in
joining can find out more at http://www.crmlive.com.
Microsoft Exchange Labs: Evaluating Next-Generation Messaging and
Unified Communications Features in High-Scale Environments
As part of Microsoft's software plus services strategy, the company is
advancing the way it builds, tests and delivers products to meet the needs
of customers. Today Microsoft opened Exchange Labs, a new research and
development program for testing next-generation messaging and unified
communications capabilities in high-scale environments. Initially, the
Exchange Labs program will include select universities and school
districts. These participating institutions involve high-scale environments
where students, faculty, staff and alumni have unique requirements that
blend digital work with digital life.
As a generation that uses technology to communicate differently than
those before them, this group of users will provide feedback that drives
new capabilities to advance the operational efficiency, operational
flexibility, anywhere access* and advanced protection technologies of
Microsoft Exchange Server.
Microsoft BizTalk Services
Today Microsoft introduced an update to BizTalk Services, an
early-access offering of a next-generation business integration capability,
optimized for cross-organizational integration and high scale. BizTalk
Services enables companies to interconnect their businesses systems
together, with greatly increased simplicity, via identity and network
federation technologies. New types of connected applications can be created
simply, where before they were impractical or impossible. BizTalk Services
is currently supporting developers and applications for testing and
evaluation. Microsoft plans to announce plans on pricing and commercial
licensing by the end of the year.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
* Anywhere access requires Internet connectivity. Outlook Voice Access
requires phone connectivity.
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