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Two months after first announcing its Software+ Service plans, Microsoft launched its BPOS offering in the US and promised a Spring 2009 date for UK rollout.
"The size of an organisation is no longer a barrier to deploying enterprise-level software," explained Peter King, Microsoft’s UK office server manager. "We’re launching with four products initially in the US – Exchange Online, Sharepoint Online, Office Communications Server Online and Live Meeting – with more arriving in time for our UK launch.
"These would traditionally have been products only enterprise customers would have had access to, but thanks to cloud technology our partners can now offer them to two-man businesses, right the way to through to companies with hundreds of thousands of employees," added Microsoft’s IW audience marketing manager Gill Le Fevre (pictured).
However, the key thing for both Le Fevre and King is that choice is paramount. "Scalability and choice are pivotal to Microsoft’s proposition and what set us apart from the competition," said Le Fevre. "The key is that our partners can offer the solutions their customers need, in a method they want," added King.
"If they only want Exchange, that’s possible; if they want everything, then again, that is an option. In the same way, if they want it entirely cloud based, we can offer that, while if they want Exchange on their in-house server and Sharepoint to be cloud-based, again, we can do that. It is designed to be flexible around their needs, not ours."
Any resellers wanting more information can visit Microsoft’s website.
