Tag: Collaboration

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 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 :

image

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

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 Smile

… 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

&Samhoud | e-Office : een succesvol project–#BPOS #MSOnline

Een mooie referentiecase die heel goed de waarde van Microsoft Online services aangeeft.  “It’s not about the service, it’s about the user”

Gefeliciteerd &Samhoud en e-Office !

&samhoud ‘builds a brighter future’ door mensen en kennis met elkaar te verbinden

&samhoud realiseert doorbraken in haar verandertrajecten voor klanten door het inspireren en verbinden van mensen. Ook &samhoud, beste werkgever van Nederland en Europa ( volgens het Great Place To Work Institute) stelde zichzelf ten doel de verbinding tussen haar mensen en klanten te verbeteren. Een gesprek met Petra Vos, projectleider Work in Connection bij &samhoud, over het toegankelijk maken van kennis binnen de organisatie.

verbinden van mensen en kennis in de cloud
Petra Vos: ‘&samhoud is een ongewoon gewoon adviesbureau. Al drie jaar achtereenvolgend mogen wij ons de Great Place To Work (GPTW) van Nederland noemen en dit jaar zijn we ook de beste werkgever van Europa. GPTW houdt jaarlijks een onderzoek naar de tevredenheid van onze medewerkers. In de resultaten van dit onderzoek kwam naar voren dat, hoewel we een nummer 1 score hebben, de kennisdeling binnen onze organisatie toch beter kan. Wij vroegen ons af hoe we mensen en kennis optimaal met elkaar kunnen verbinden. We willen kennis toegankelijk maken voor onze medewerkers in Nederland, maar ook voor onze mensen in Spanje en vanaf volgend jaar in Maleisië.’
‘Wij gingen daarover in gesprek met Microsoft,’ vervolgt Vos haar verhaal. ‘Zij vertelden ons over de mogelijkheden van Microsoft SharePoint als virtuele kennisomgeving en hoe deze technologie effectief samenwerken en kennisdelen ondersteunt. Bij &samhoud hebben we één IT specialist in huis. Om deze reden past een standaard cloud oplossing, Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), ons het beste. De omgeving wordt extern beheerd en er worden automatisch updates uitgevoerd, dat ons investeringen in kennis en tijd bespaart.’  …

Ga naar de e-Office site voor de gehele casestudy

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 :

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 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

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 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:

Countinue at source : “geneva” Team Blog