This Week in BPOS News 1/7/2011

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. Happy New Year! We are back with not only the New Year, but two new BPOS stories. For this week in BPOS news we take a look at how the largest education institution in the world is increasing their productivity, and we view a chat with Microsoft’s CIO about how employees are testing the Cloud. 1. SUNY to get Microsoft’s Live@edu program SUNY stands for the State University of New York. SUNY universities across New York State feature the largest system of education institutions including universities, colleges and community colleges in the world. SUNY has 64 campuses that are a part of the Live@edu program and will allow more than 465,000 SUNY students to use Microsoft Online’s Live@edu productivity suite. In our first story, CNET discusses the new agreement between SUNY and Microsoft that brings more collaboration and productivity to students. Microsoft’s U.S. Education CTO, Cameron Evans, says that Live@edu will also help save SUNY colleges money. CNET reports that Monroe Community College, one of colleges in the SUNY system, will save $600,000 over five years. Students will also benefit from Microsoft Live@edu through new collaboration tools that will increase productivity campus wide. Is your school on Live@edu? Have you seen an increase in productivity? Leave your thoughts below. Related Stories: Kentucky Department of Education Chooses Microsoft’s Live@edu New York announces deal with Microsoft’s cloud 2. Microsoft CIO: We’re dog-fooding the cloud Infoworld.com features a discussion with Microsoft CIO Tony Scott, as they converse about Microsoft’s cloud and how employees are beta testing, or as we call it, dog-fooding. This article is a transcript of an intriguing conversation that covers topics ranging from what it’s like being a CIO of Microsoft, to how the internal beta testing, or dog-fooding, of the cloud is conducted at Microsoft. There is also some great information from Tony Scott about Office 365 and how Microsoft is beginning the internal dog-food process. Tony also discusses other cloud initiatives at Microsoft like Windows and SQL Azure. The entire transcript is 5 pages and provides some great insights and information into the mind of Microsoft’s CIO. I would recommend this piece from Infoworld.com to anyone interested in the cloud or interesting in learning more about Microsoft’s CIO. What questions would you ask Microsoft’s CIO? Are you testing Microsoft’s Cloud? Leave any of your thoughts and comments below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

This Week in BPOS News 12/17/2010

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we take a look at what opportunities SMBs are seeing in the cloud, and we learn about a new medical innovation that is utilizing cloud computing. 1. SMBs See Opportunity in the Cloud SMBs stand for Small and Midsize Businesses, and SMBs are seeing the benefits of cloud computing. A Microsoft-sponsored survey entitled, “Cloud Computing as an Engine of Growth” questioned SMBs about the cloud. The survey is highlighted in this InformationWeek post . The numbers from the survey reflect about one third of SMBs polled see the cloud as an opportunity for their IT department to be “more strategic” and SMBs view embracers of the cloud as “innovative.” About 12% of SMBs are “Born in the cloud” which means “the primary capability for their business is through cloud technology as the leading thing that enables them to do it.” There are many other interesting stats about SMBs and

This Week in BPOS News 12/10

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we welcome 120,000 users to the cloud and find out how Office Web Apps is expanding. USDA Moves 120,000 Users to Microsoft’s Cloud The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving 120,000 users to Microsoft’s cloud in one of the largest deployments ever. The Microsoft News Center focuses on the USDA’s migration in this week’s featured story . The USDA plans on moving users within the next month. There are some great quotes from Chris Smith, CIO for the USDA and pictured top right, that pinpoint the business and costs advantages for moving to Microsoft’s cloud. “This is really about increasing collaboration and communications across the breadth of 120,000 users in 5,000 offices across the country and 100 countries around the globe to better deliver on the USDA’s mission,” he said. “For us a move to the cloud was a question of performance, service, and cost, and this solution will help us streamline our efforts and use taxpayer dollars efficiently.” The USDA will use the breadth of Microsoft online cloud tools that include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting, to increase collaboration between its many employees. The article also touches on how the USDA will use a security optimized version of the cloud that meets the needs and compliance regulations for U.S. Federal Government agencies. Curt Kolcun, VP of U.S. public sector at Microsoft and pictured below right, is excited about the USDA joining Microsoft in the cloud and believes more government institutions will follow. “Nearly every federal agency trusts their productivity needs to Microsoft Office, Exchange, and SharePoint today,” he said. “From a momentum perspective, I think this announcement is going to be a phenomenal catalyst to drive more interest from the federal CIO community to think about moving their full messaging suite applications to the cloud with Microsoft.” Read the complete story about the USDA’s deployment to Microsoft’s cloud here . What are your thoughts? How does this change the landscape of the cloud? Leave your comments below. Office Web Apps Released in 15 More Countries Office Web Apps is the online suite of Microsoft Office tools that allow you to share and collaborate online in the cloud. With the recent cloud announcement of Office 365, Office Web Apps has also announced that it is now available in the following 15 additional countries : China Japan Italy New Zealand Finland Hong Kong Denmark Netherlands Norway Portugal Turkey South Korea Spain Sweden Taiwan That brings the total number of countries that have access to Web Apps to 26. Office Web Apps is free and more than 20 million people use it. Have you tried Office Web Apps? What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

This Week in BPOS News 12/3

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we take a look at the history of Microsoft Online Services and how it came to be Office 365. We also look at why BPOS is right for you and your business. 1. The Road to Office 365: The Past , The Present , The Future Mary Jo Foley is the premiere writer about Microsoft News and information for ZDNet. She has close eye on the Microsoft Online Services front and has taken this week to write an in depth three part series entitled “The road to Office 365.” This series focuses on Office 365 and its past, present and future. In the first part of her series , Mary focuses on the history of Microsoft Online Services which goes back to the year 2003. The article features a comprehensive look at the history with Eron Kelly, Senior Director for Office 365. This is a very interesting read that lays the groundwork for her next article entitled “The Road to Office 365: The Present.” In her second piece , Mary Jo Foley takes a look at what is presently occurring with Office 365. This article examines how the engineering team is managing their workload with creating a new service offering, and also dives into the work the support team is doing to create a better experience for customers. In the final segment of her three part series, Mary Jo Foley peers into the future of Office 365 . This piece starts by discussing the possible release scenarios for Office 365. Mary provides insights on how she pictures customers moving to Office 365. The article then focuses on the community and communication effort that is going to be emphasized for Office 365. “It’s a whole different relationship with the customer now,” when it comes to services, Cole said. “The customer experience becomes the entire life cycle; it’s not just learn and try and buy. It’s a whole end-to-end solution.” We are excited to help bring Office 365 to customers in the near future. As part of the community team, I am thrilled to help make our customer experience better than ever. You can read more about Office 365 on the Office 365 blog . What are your thoughts about the road to Office 365? Would you like to learn anything else not covered in the three piece series? Leave a comment below. 2. Gobble Gobble….BPOS is no Turkey! For our second story we take a look at a Thanksgiving themed BPOS story. Although this article comes to us a week late, it still resonates today. Rich Blank, Management Consultant for Independent, answers a couple of questions that he himself has previously asked. “Is it [BPOS] any different than web hosting?” “Which version do you need?” “Why BPOS?” Rich dives into these questions will real life experience to support his answers. I highly recommend this article for anyone wondering if BPOS is right for them and their business. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

Introducing the UMT Project Financial Server 2010

Another awesome partner solutions UMT Project Financial Server 2010 built on the recently released Microsoft Project Server 2010, in their (Ben Chamberlain’s) own words: “The UMT Project Financial Server 2010 extends Microsoft Project Server 2010 to provide organizations with comprehensive cost and benefit management capabilities across the project life cycle.” I saw a recent demo beside the great capabilities I was impressed how it was seamlessly integrated with the familiar PWA interface, great job UMT! Don’t be shy and check out all the content available today on their site: webcast, brochure, datasheet, demo pack, demo scripts , etc… https://www.projectfinancialserver.com/newsevents/umt-project-financial-server-2010-demo-content-pack.aspx

Free Resources for Developers

Just in case you don’t receive the MSDN Flash Newsletter, there are three top stories this week: Free eBook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Still using Visual Studio 2008? Oops, you said 2005? Maybe 2003? We’re pleased to announce another free offering from Microsoft Press (336 pages). 31 Days of Windows Phone 7 Jeff Blankenburg is posting every day in October on Windows Phone 7 development. Check the topics he has covered so far. Watch PDC10, Live from the Redmond Campus, October 28 and 29 Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) is sold out, but you can still participate via the live broadcast, starting at 9:00 A.M. Pacific Time . Also: Attend a Microsoft PDC near you .

Latest Microsoft Project RSS Feeds & Welcome Jan Kalis!

Following this post in January: Latest Microsoft Project RSS Feeds – January 2010 and with the Microsoft Project 2010 excitement and enthusiasm as well as the multiplication of blogs, please find attached my latest OPML files (collection of RSS feeds I subscribe to from all regions of the world); I use this to stay on top of news and announcements around the product. It’s also exciting to see how many more blogs, RSS keep appearing every day. A very encouraging

Information Management – what do the real costs look like ?

As the cloud environment moves from its conceptual state to a real living breathing reality, it brings with it a deep dependency to an area of IT that I predict will become central to how effectively the capability of the cloud is utilized. This same dependency underpins datacenter growth and change as well. That area is information management.