Microsoft Online Services
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Online Services is Microsoft
's hosted software offering and a component of their Software plus services
strategy. Microsoft Online Services are hosted by Microsoft and sold "with" Microsoft partners.
The suite includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, Microsoft Forefront
, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
For businesses, the Software-plus-Services
approach enables organizations to access the capabilities of enterprise software through on-premises servers, as online services, or a combination of both, depending on specific business requirements. Services also provide the option to add complementary capabilities that enhance on-premises server software and simplify system management and maintenance.
The Business Productivity Online Standard Suite represents the first of a growing portfolio of Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Online Services are a component of the broader Microsoft Software-plus-Services
strategy that includes both Live and Online services.
. Where BPOS is based on Exchange 2007 and MOSS 2007, Office 365 is built around the 2010 versions of Exchange and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). And for Instant Messaging Office 365 will use Microsoft Lync.
Apart from these communications and collaboration applications Office 365 will also have Microsoft Office Professional Plus included, which are the online versions of Word
, Excel
and Powerpoint
Microsoft opened the Beta phase for this service in Q4 of 2010 and the service went live June 28th, 2011
Note: there are two different Exchange-related Online Services: "Exchange Online" and also "Exchange Hosted Services."
the technical side of such a support request is totally different than when the customer uses BPOS. Also the expectations of the customer will be different: they have outsourced the services to Microsoft to avoid problems, thus when it doesn't work they expect that Microsoft solves their problem quickly. For that reason a dedicated BPOS and Office 365 support desk is in place in the USA and in Ireland for the EMEA
region. Microsoft's main support-providing partner HP has been busy finding and training new Level1 and Level2 support engineers for this desk. The EMEA support desk currently handles 1st line and escalated BPOS cases and is expected to support Office 365 cases after the product went live in June 2011.
gave a speech focused on Microsoft
's Cloud Computing
commitment at the University of Washington
. Here is an excerpt from the Seattle Times,"The cloud fuels Microsoft and vice versa. 'About 75 percent of our folks are doing entirely cloud based or entirely cloud inspired,' Ballmer said. 'A year from now that will be 90 percent.' This full embrace of the term cloud computing is new for Microsoft. Up until now Microsoft was still pushing the term 'software as a service' to describe cloud software."
announced it would use Microsoft Online Services to provide 18,000 faculty and staff members with the online collaboration tool BPOS. Selecting BPOS is similar to the announcement by three universities in the UK who recently chose Microsoft’s cloud platform. Chris Randle, IT director at UCL summed it up “Microsoft could tell the university exactly where its data would be held and said that it would keep the content of all emails private.”
These statements offer a stark contrast from the discussions being had at the: University of California-Davis, UMass and Yale University, regarding deep privacy and security concerns related to the use of other solutions, namely Google Apps
.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's hosted software offering and a component of their Software plus services
Software plus services
Software plus Services combines hosted services with locally running software in a variation on cloud computing. Such composite applications combine traditional software with remote services to provide a consistent user experience across devices and form factors.There are various reasons for this...
strategy. Microsoft Online Services are hosted by Microsoft and sold "with" Microsoft partners.
The suite includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, Microsoft Forefront
Microsoft ForeFront
Microsoft Forefront is a family of line-of-business security software by Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Forefront products protect computer networks, network servers and individual devices....
, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
For businesses, the Software-plus-Services
Software plus services
Software plus Services combines hosted services with locally running software in a variation on cloud computing. Such composite applications combine traditional software with remote services to provide a consistent user experience across devices and form factors.There are various reasons for this...
approach enables organizations to access the capabilities of enterprise software through on-premises servers, as online services, or a combination of both, depending on specific business requirements. Services also provide the option to add complementary capabilities that enhance on-premises server software and simplify system management and maintenance.
Product Suite: Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS)
The Business Productivity Online Standard Suite represents the first of a growing portfolio of Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Online Services are a component of the broader Microsoft Software-plus-Services
Software plus services
Software plus Services combines hosted services with locally running software in a variation on cloud computing. Such composite applications combine traditional software with remote services to provide a consistent user experience across devices and form factors.There are various reasons for this...
strategy that includes both Live and Online services.
Office 365
The successor of BPOS is Office 365Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft Office 365 is a commercial software plus services offering a set of products from Microsoft Corporation, with the initial plan including a Professional subscription and an Enterprise subscription...
. Where BPOS is based on Exchange 2007 and MOSS 2007, Office 365 is built around the 2010 versions of Exchange and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). And for Instant Messaging Office 365 will use Microsoft Lync.
Apart from these communications and collaboration applications Office 365 will also have Microsoft Office Professional Plus included, which are the online versions of Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
, Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
and Powerpoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
Microsoft opened the Beta phase for this service in Q4 of 2010 and the service went live June 28th, 2011
Individual Products
- Dynamics CRM Online - the online version of Microsoft DynamicsMicrosoft DynamicsMicrosoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software applications developed by Microsoft. Microsoft Dynamics applications are delivered through a network of reselling partners who provide specialized services...
- Exchange Hosted Services - hosted version of Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
- Microsoft Office Live Meeting
- System Center Online Desktop Manager
Note: there are two different Exchange-related Online Services: "Exchange Online" and also "Exchange Hosted Services."
Support
Microsoft has set up a dedicated support department for BPOS outside their standard Professional Support Services. One reason can be that the type of support requests will differ from service requests for Microsoft products the customer runs on his own infrastructure: when a company opens a support question because they have problems with mail-sending using Outlook and their own Microsoft Exchange serverMicrosoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
the technical side of such a support request is totally different than when the customer uses BPOS. Also the expectations of the customer will be different: they have outsourced the services to Microsoft to avoid problems, thus when it doesn't work they expect that Microsoft solves their problem quickly. For that reason a dedicated BPOS and Office 365 support desk is in place in the USA and in Ireland for the EMEA
EMEA
EMEA may stand for:* the previous acronym of the European Medicines Agency, an EU regulatory agency for the evaluation of medicinal products* Europe, the Middle East and Africa...
region. Microsoft's main support-providing partner HP has been busy finding and training new Level1 and Level2 support engineers for this desk. The EMEA support desk currently handles 1st line and escalated BPOS cases and is expected to support Office 365 cases after the product went live in June 2011.
Cloud Computing and BPOS
On March 4, 2010, Steve BallmerSteve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
gave a speech focused on Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Cloud Computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
commitment at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. Here is an excerpt from the Seattle Times,"The cloud fuels Microsoft and vice versa. 'About 75 percent of our folks are doing entirely cloud based or entirely cloud inspired,' Ballmer said. 'A year from now that will be 90 percent.' This full embrace of the term cloud computing is new for Microsoft. Up until now Microsoft was still pushing the term 'software as a service' to describe cloud software."
Education Live@edu
On May 25, 2010, The University of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
announced it would use Microsoft Online Services to provide 18,000 faculty and staff members with the online collaboration tool BPOS. Selecting BPOS is similar to the announcement by three universities in the UK who recently chose Microsoft’s cloud platform. Chris Randle, IT director at UCL summed it up “Microsoft could tell the university exactly where its data would be held and said that it would keep the content of all emails private.”
These statements offer a stark contrast from the discussions being had at the: University of California-Davis, UMass and Yale University, regarding deep privacy and security concerns related to the use of other solutions, namely Google Apps
Google Apps
Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Groups, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and...
.