Microsoft Announces Cloud "Office 365": Will Skype Be Next?
Well it looks as though we may be entering the doldrums of a long hot summer with no exciting news to spark our interest. And then Stuart J. Johnston’s article in Small Business Computing.com entitled “Microsoft Launches Office 365 for SMB Markets” and its companion article in Small Business Computing.com entitled “Is a Low-cost Calling Plan in the Works for Office 365” comes to save the day. Actually, I think we have to give Microsoft a bit of the credit as well, because after all it was their recent announcement that the cloud applications suite known as “Office 365” was ready for GA (“General Availability”) to the SMB market place.
The enterprise suite will contain the following applications in the CLOUD:
· Exchange Online for email
· SharePoint Online for collaboration
· Lync Online for unified communications
· Web versions of its Office applications -- called the Office Web Apps
The price is right. Microsoft will be offering an optional monthly subscription fee for those SMB’s without a full-time or even part-time IT department. A Microsoft Spokesman stated:
“With Office 365 for small businesses, customers can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website in minutes, for $6 per user, per month. These tools put enterprise-grade email, shared documents, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing, portals and more at everyone’s fingertips.”
Microsoft is building an infrastructure of service providers to help service the SMB market place which include: AppRiver, Intuit, Premier Global Services, CDW, Bell Canada, Telefonica, Telstra, and Vodafone. Microsoft Spokesman stated:
“These companies will package Office 365 with their own services -- from Web hosting and broadband to finance solutions and mobile services -- and bring those new offerings to millions of small and midsize businesses globally"
Is Skype Next?
Back in May 2011 Microsoft announced its purchase of the low-cost calling service Skype for $8.5 billion. Microsoft’s purchase has obtained US Regulatory approval. What remains is obtaining such approval globally. Sharon Pian Chen, technology reporter for the Seattle Times, quotes Kurt Delbene, president of Microsoft’s Business Division:
“Office 365 will be the first place Skype will be added to a Microsoft product when Microsoft closes its purchase of Skype"
The cloud version of Lync 2010, Lync Online, a key component of Office 365, provides instant messaging, voice, and video calling. Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, envisions huge benefits to be obtained by combining the Lync’s unified communications server and Skype.
