Microsoft is pushing to the Cloud. Not as the first but very convincing. BPOS’s successor facilitates organizations to engage in Online Services. This article answers 10 questions on philosophy, security, migration and costs. Offcie365 will be an integrated part of the Qwise Nebula Worqspace, a DaaS solution co-architected by the author.
Introduction
Office365 will be the new standard for Cloud Based Office applications for either large enterprises as for the small entrepreneur. Licenses are available “per single user” whereas in BPOS the minimum was 5 seats so the offering is now also appealing for those real small companies. Costs starting as low as $ 5 up to a good $ 25 depending on services needed, a mix of the different options is also possible for detailed info on pricing: http://www.microsoft.com/office365/enterprise/subscription-plans.aspx
Microsoft continues to use Software + Services in which the actual user application is still a locally installed application (Office) and the Services reside in the Microsoft Datacenters.
Office365 will become General Available by June 28.
The Ten Truths about Office365
1. Security is the Key
Data security is the most discussed topic on Cloud Computing and so it is with Office365. Of course Microsoft cannot permit to allow even the faintest doubt is this area and is working hard on achieving and maintaining multiple NEN and ISO Certifications (amongst others) on its Datacenters and security procedures. For Europe the Primary Datacenter is Dublin and the Secundary is Amsterdam.
2. Anytime, anyplace, anywhere (whatever, wherever, whenever)
Availability from any device, from each place at every moment. There is a financially backed guarantee of 99.9% uptime. More and more apps are being developed to optimize connectivity to the Office365 Services, like Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and the upcoming BlackBerry BES Server integration.
3. Migration deserves to be done by Professionals
Although the migration process is not rocket-science, Mail is very, very important for organizations and its users. So it has to be done the way it is supposed to be done right from the start. The size of the organization and the individual mailboxes will have an impact on the total migration period. And, there is a nice option for keeping mailboxes both on premises and in Office365. Either way, let IT Professionals do the tricky bits.
4. Office365 miles ahead of Google Apps
Because we all know how to work with the Microsoft Office Suite, user will hardly now the difference between a Cloud-based Collaboration solution and an on premises based solution. No documents conversions, no loss of mailbox profiles.
5. Office365 lowers TCO
Office365 is really cheap when you compare it with licensing models for the services in an on premises infrastructure. And then there is still the hardware, the maintenance, connectivity and design to be taken into account. Office365 takes that al out of your hands.
6. Office365 and integration with other Cloud Services
One of the most fancy things in Office365 is de Single Sign On through AD Federation Services. This method of authentication, on premises with AD user credentials, opens up the world for other targets capable of using Federated Identities. Identity Management will become crucial in the coming years with all those user connecting from whatever, wherever, whenever.
7. Office365 is a logical name
The standard client tools for Exchange and SharePoint are the Office Suite applications, 35=65 refers to being always available. But for some it suggests that it is “Office in the Cloud”. That is not the case, it is still no SaaS but S+S. Or something hybrid because op Outlook Web App and Office Web Apps.
8. Office365 suits any organization
Whether you need to have 2 mailboxes or 20.000 mailboxes, it will all fit within some of the various Licensing options of Office365. Mixing license types can further reduce the TCO for organizations.
9. BPOS was version 1.0, Office365 is 4.0
With the launch date approaching we will all see very soon that Microsoft skipped some version; Office365 is really mature and ready for market. The Wave 14 Services plus the Federated Identities make the product really Enterprise ready.
10. Microsoft is a frontrunner in the Cloud
Don’t forget that Microsoft has been in the Cloud for 15 years with Hotmail! So MS is not late, as some people say looking at Google Apps. And next to Office365 there is already Windows Intune, Azure, CRM and Dynamics. With the acquisition of Skype we’ll see what the future will bring us on the Lync platform.