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In line with its Software+Services strategy, Microsoft has launched its Online Services in India
By Varun Aggarwal, NC, November 6, 2009, 1100 hrs
After a 100 days trial run in the country, Microsoft has officially announced the availability of its Online Services including BPOS and Deskless Worker Suite in India.
The Business Productivity Suite comprises of Exchange Online Standard, SharePoint Online Standard, Office Communications Online Standard, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting Online.
The Deskless Worker Online includes Exchange Deskless Worker and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker. Customers can access the suite directly from www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices and via a pay-per-use monthly subscription fee.
HCL Infosystems, Wipro, and Infosys are amongst the top partners to market and offer value-added services around the Microsoft Online Services.
Stephen Elop, President, Microsoft Business Group, said, “Cloud computing is a fundamental shift in the way technology will be deployed in the near future. Customers who have already started using the services are realizing savings from reduced hardware and software investments and are also benefiting from flexible payment models.”
When asked whether Microsoft is competing with Google, Elop said, “Google offers only a few consumer services that are grouped together and offered like an enterprise offering. Microsoft Online Services, on the other hand, are true enterprise-class services.”
The launch of the Microsoft Online Services in India also marks a significant reduction in the online services price offering from Microsoft.
While the individual services start from USD 2 per user per month, the entire BPOS suite comes at USD 10 per user per month down from the previous USD 15 per user per month.
Microsoft also slashed the price of the standalone Exchange Online offering from USD 10 to USD 5 per user per month and boosted mailbox capacity from 5 GB to 25 GB.
Globally Microsoft has already sold more than one million seats for Microsoft Online Services including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communications Online and has about 1,800 companies running the trial version in India since the beginning of the trials in July this year.
With its new service offering, Microsoft is also threatening Google’s business which offers e-mail and other services at USD 50 per user per year. This is evident from the example of Gujarat Enviro Protection and Infrastructure, which plans to move away from Google Apps. Gunjan Sangoi, DGM-R&D, GEPIL (IT Division) said, “Microsoft Online Services offers much more than just e-mail. We are planning to switch from using Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services solution, which is also our first mail server. We think it will give us excellent results as the online services combine e-mail (Exchange) with IM, Presence (Office Communications Server) and collaboration portals (Microsoft SharePoint Server) that provide an integrated and holistic collaboration solution.”
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