Microsoft Online. You choose

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[red line indicates our direction of movement]

Just as I left London last week, Microsoft announced the expansion of Microsoft Online to customers with less than 5000 seats (PC's). Although only available in the US in beta for now, this is a big step forward and brings the enterprise tested Exchange, SharePoint and OCS products delivered from Microsoft datacenters. It will be compared to Google (GAPE) I'm sure and partners will be keen to understand their role in this. I've spent the best part of the last 3 months working with the teams in Redmond to get this news out and it's part of a bigger Software plus Services push this year. This addition has profound implications for customers that ultimately boil down to one word -

CHOICE. Lets take Exchange as an example:

 

  • Choice of running your own Exchange Server on premise
  • Choice of buying a hosted Exchange solution from a host of Microsoft partners
  • Choice of having Microsoft provide your Exchange services and host in Microsoft datacenters

 

Each choice has upsides and downsides of course but one of the biggest upsides with the hosted model is speed of delivery and upgrade. With services in the cloud, the upgrade cycle can be increased. That's one of the biggest pain points for large customers. For the smaller businesses, they can effectively outsource their IT meaning they can concentrate on their core business.

My guess is this is going to raise many questions though so check out www.microsoft.com/online for more information or post your questions here.

This is just the beginning and as Robert Guth said in the Wall Street Journal

The Microsoft services come as Google Inc. and other companies are investing in similar services that in coming years could compete with Microsoft's products. The new offerings, called Microsoft Online Services, are an early salvo in that emerging battle.

Game on :)

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