We are pleased to announce the following expanded capabilities that will be introduced in early April, 2009:

• International availability in 19 new countries*
• Instant messaging and presence awareness with Office Communications Online
• Ability to customize your preferred language settings**
• Streamlined, low-cost email and collaboration services with Exchange Online and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker options
• Ability to configure mailboxes with up to 25 gigabytes of storage
• Support for Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Premium

This upgrade will include changes to some components. These changes include:

• Sign In application - Improved stability and added support for Office Communications Online. Your users will need to install the new Sign In application.
• SharePoint Online privacy links - Improved privacy link enforcement for international customers. If you modified your SharePoint master page or uploaded a custom master page, you will need to reset your site definition to the default master page while the upgrade is taking place. You will be able to customize your site collections again after the upgrade.
• Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool - Optimized communication with the service and added compression to reduce synchronization bandwidth requirements. If your company is synchronizing your on-premises Active Directory with Microsoft Online Services, you will need to upgrade this tool by the end of October, 2009.
• Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools - Improved stability and performance including support for multiple process threads when migrating from POP or IMAP mailboxes. Upgrading to the new version of the Migration Tools is optional.

Click here to get answers to your technical questions about using Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.

You can change your account by calling us or emailing us at Microsoft Online Sales Support.

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* Countries: US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand
** Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish