Microsoft Online Services Team Blog : Business Productivity Online Suite

Mac Sign-In Application Released, Available for Download

paulenglis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:42:00 GMT

The Mac Sign-In application has been released and is now available for download from the Microsoft Download Center.

The Sign-In Application provides a convenient way for users with computers using the Apple Macintosh operating system to access their e-mail and data on the Microsoft Online Services platform. The Mac Sign-In application was announced with the October Service Update as part of the expanded Mac support for the Business Productivity Online Suite, and the application was made available as part of a preview program for early adoption and testing.

More information about the expanded support for Mac can be found in the Microsoft Online Services Macintosh Support Service Description, which also can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.

Mac Single Sign-On Application Usability - Different Default Browsers

Ryan J. Phillips — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:18:00 GMT

The Mac Sign-In Application provides Mac users with similar capabilities as that of their Windows counterparts. The Mac Sign-In Application, in addition to being a launch pad for the Business Productivity Online Suite, provides the ability to collect and submit user credentidals signing in to Microsoft Online Services, such as:

Exchange Online e-mail

Entourage 2004/2008/2008 EWS
Outlook Web Access (Browser Based Email)

Live Meeting
My Company Portal

The My Company Portal link in the application has a requirement to use Safari 4.0 or higher in order to successfully log the user into an organization's SharePoint Online site collections without prompting for credentials.

If the user's machyine is configured to use FireFox as their default browser and they click the My Company Portal link, they will be taken to the Login.aspx page. They can click the Go Directly to the Company Portal button, however they must enter their Microsoft Online Services credentials when prompted:

If the user instead has Safari 4.0 or higher configured as the default browser, the user will be automatically directed to the MyCompany Portal with the user's credentials silently passed under the covers when requested, and the user is automatically signed into the MyCompany Portal without being prompted for credentials:

Microsoft Online Services at TechEd Europe

paulenglis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:48:00 GMT

TechEd Europe kicks off Monday, Nov. 9 at the Messe Berlin Convention Center in Berlin, Germany. More than 5,600 IT Pros and Developers are expected to attend, and the event is sold out.

The Microsoft Online Services team is partnering with the Windows Azure group to deliver conference sessions in the Cloud Computing and Online Services virtual track.

Following are the planned sessions for Microsoft Online Services technologies:

Monday, Nov. 9
Timeslot	Code	Room	Session Title	Speaker	Session Type
09:00-10:15	UNC203	New York 1 – Hall 71a	Implementing and Administering Microsoft Online Services	Cyril Sultan	Breakout Session
Tuesday, Nov. 9
17:00-18:15	OFS209	Europa 2 - Hall 7-3b	Microsoft SharePoint Online Overview: Today's World	Kimmo Forss	Breakout Session
Wednesday, Nov. 11
10:45-12:00	SIA08-IS	Interactive Theatre 6	Security Services in the Cloud	Mike Chan	Interactive Theatre
17:00-18:45	UNC205	Berlin 2 – Hall 7-3a	Tips and Tricks for Planning, Deploying and Troubleshooting the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service	Cyril Sultan	Breakout Session
Thursday Nov. 12
13:30-14:45	UNC310	London 3- Hall 7-1b	Migrating Data, Co-Existence, and Directory Synchronization with Microsoft Online Services	David Anderson	Breakout Session
17:00-18:15	ITS213	Europa 1 - Hall 7-3b	Critical Infrastructure and Operations for Delivering Secure, Enterprise-Class Software Services	Gail Warren	Breakout Session

Visit Microsoft Online Services in the TLC

The Technical Learning Centers provide the heartbeat of TechEd events, where attendees have one-on-one interaction with speakers and subject matter experts and get personal product demonstrations.

If you’re attending TechEd Europe, make sure you visit the Microsoft Online Services pavilion. The Windows Azure and Microsoft Online Services teams will be providing product demonstrations. Plus, attendees can sign up for 30-day trial accounts of the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Follow us on Twitter

Those not attending TechEd Europe can follow activities at the conference via the Microsoft Online Services account on Twitter. The @msonline account will have regular updates from Berlin.

Service Update: November 2009 Release Availability, Features Announced

paulenglis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:08:00 GMT

The Microsoft Online Services Service Update for November 2009 is currently being deployed into production data centers and is scheduled to be available to all customers in early December. Updates to the deployment status will be posted to the comments section of this blog post.

Upgrades and Enhancements
The following features and capabilities are included in this Service Update:

Mailbox Access Permissions

PowerShell commandlets will be added to provide a range of mailbox permission setting, including granting Full Mailbox Access permissions plus Delegate Send As and Send on Behalf permissions. These mailbox permissions provide administrators a range of capabilities, such as setting up shared mailboxes, granting “send as” permissions for administrative assistants, and enabling full mailbox access for third party applications, such as archiving applications and fax servers.

Previously, granting these permissions required opening a ticket with Microsoft Online Services Technical Support.

Mailbox permission commandlets added in this Service Update are:

· Add-MSOnlineMailPermission

· Remove-MSOnlineMailPermission

The mailbox permission commandlets require an update to the Microsoft Online Services Transporter Tools (aka Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools), which will be made will be available for download at the Microsoft Download Center upon completion of the deployment of this Service Update into production data centers for all regions. Please watch this Team Blog for the availability of the updated Transporter Tools.

Bulk User Management

Adding and removing users is streamlined with the addition of another set of PowerShell commandlets. The bulk user management commandlets give administrators a new option for adding groups of users. Together with the bulk activation commandlets provided in the previous Service Update, administrators have a rich set of tools for automating user management.

Bulk user management commandlets added in this Service Update are:

· Add-MSOnlineUser

· Set-MSOnlineUser

· Remove-MSOnlineUser

· Get-MSOnlineUser

The bulk user management commandlets require an update to the Microsoft Online Services Transporter Tools, which will be made will be available for download at the Microsoft Download Center upon completion of the deployment of this Service Update into production data centers for all regions. Please watch this Team Blog for the availability of the updated Transporter Tools.

SharePoint Auditing

The SharePoint Auditing feature is being enabled for SharePoint Online. This feature gives administrators the ability to view data and report about activities occurring within a site collection, such as items added to a shared documents list, changes to permissions, and documents that have been viewed and read.

Partner Name on Microsoft Online Services Invoice

Customers that have a relationship with a Microsoft Online Services Partner and have designated that partner as their “partner of record” will now see the name of their partner on their subscription invoice. Partners are technical and business professionals who specialize in Microsoft products, and they are an important part of Microsoft’s delivery of your software services.

New countries for trials and commercial availability

As was announced earlier this week, customers in the following 14 countries can sign up for Microsoft Online Services trial accounts: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Taiwan.

In addition, customers Singapore can purchase Microsoft Online Services subscriptions.

Microsoft Online Services Expands Globally, Adds New Customers, Reduces Pricing

paulenglis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:20:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft announced the availability of the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite for trial in 14 additional countries and the commercial availability of the suite in Singapore coming later this week.

In addition to the geographic expansion of Microsoft Online Services, today’s announcement highlighted key customers adopting and transitioning to the services, expansion in the Microsoft Online Services partner eco-system, and new reduced pricing for the Business Productivity Online Suite and its components.

Starting Nov. 7, organizations in the following countries and regions will be able to set up trial accounts: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Taiwan. In addition, Singapore, which has been offering BPOS trials for months, will launch the service commercially.

Today’s news was highlighted by the announcement of the following new Microsoft Online Services customers as well as this video Q&A with Tony DeGregorio, CIO of Tyco Flow Control:

Organizations including Aon Corporation, Aviva PLC, Hofstra University, Lions Gate Entertainment, McDonald’s Corporation, Rexel Group, SkyTeam Alliance, Swedish Red Cross, Tyco Flow Control, the University System of Ohio and hundreds of others have chosen the Business Productivity Online Suite in recent months.

Reduced pricing for the Business Productivity Online Suite is now US$10 per user per month, with a five seat minimum purchase. In addition to new pricing for the Suite, pricing for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communications Online is also reduced when purchased individually. Details of the new pricing can be found here.

Read the full announcement, view a recording of Stephen Elop's call with media, and find related materials on Microsoft Press Pass. Also, check out these customer case studies:

· Credit Immobilier de France

· GlaxoSmithKline

· REEDS Jewelers

Send and Receive POP E-Mail with Exchange Online

JimGlynn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:41:00 GMT

Exchange Online now supports POP e-mail, so you can send and receive Exchange Online e-mail using any POP e-mail client. For information about other recently announced features, see Service Update: October 2009 Release Availability, Features Announced.

NOTE: POP e-mail does not provide Free/Busy, presence, calendar, tasks, and other rich features normally associated with Exchange Online e-mail. Additionally, POP e-mail access cannot be enabled for Deskless Worker accounts.

Prerequisites

· If you are a Microsoft Online Services administrator, you can contact Microsoft Online Services Technical Support to request POP service, and provide them with the list of e-mail addresses to POP enable. You can specify a list of individual mailboxes or every mailbox in your organization. You can track the status of your service request on the Support tab of the Microsoft Online Services Administration Center.

· Any POP e-mail client.

· Microsoft Online Services user account with a Standard (not Deskless) Exchange Online license.

· Port 995 in through your company’s firewall.

Configuration

When Support notifies you that POP e-mail has been enabled, follow your POP e-mail client instructions to configure your e-mail client. You’ll need to provide the following information:

· Port number: 995

· Security protocol: SSL

· User account: For example, jim@example.com

· User account password

· POP Server: select from POP Servers by Location table below.

NOTE: If you want Exchange Online to keep a backup of your e-mail, select the configuration option that allows you to keep your e-mail messages on the server.

POP Servers by Location

Asia Pacific (APAC)

pop.mail.apac.microsoftonline.com

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

pop.mail.emea.microsoftonline.com

North America

pop.mail.microsoftonline.com

Service Update: October 2009 Release Availability, Features Announced

paulenglis — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:36:00 GMT

The Microsoft Online Services Service Update for October 2009 is currently being deployed into production data centers and is scheduled to be available to all customers before the end of October. Updates to the deployment status will be posted to the comments section of this blog post.

Upgrades and Enhancements
The following features and capabilities are included in this Service Update:

Bulk Activation of Users
PowerShell commandlets will be added to streamline the activation process, enabling administrators to easily automate the activation of a set of users. Most commonly, these commandlets will be used to activate a set of users that have been migrated from an Active Directory forest to Microsoft Online Services via the Directory Synchronization Tool. Previously, administrators were required to activate users one-by-one with the User Administration tools in the Microsoft Online Services Administration Center.

Commandlets added in this Service Update are:

· Enable-MSOnlineUser

· Get-MSOnlineSubscription

· Set-MSOnlineUserPassword

A new version of the Microsoft Online Services Transporter Tool supporting these commandlets will be available for download at the Microsoft Download Center upon completion of the deployment of the October Service Update into production data centers for all regions. Please watch this Team Blog for the availability of the updated Transporter Tool.

POP Mail Clients
Supported e-mail clients for Exchange Online are being expanded to include POP-based clients. Previously, Exchange Online supported only Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and 2007.

To enable POP e-mail client support for your organization, administrators should contact Microsoft Online Services Technical Support to open a Service Request.

Please note: Service Requests for POP enablement will be accepted upon completion of the deployment of the October Service Update into production data centers for all regions. Please watch this for deployment updates. Additionally, POP e-mail access cannot be enabled for Deskless Worker accounts.

Support for 30,000 Users

The Microsoft Online Services Administration Center will support as many as 30,000 users, improving management and administration for larger organizations. Previously, Microsoft Online Services supported up to 10,000 users.

Please note that SharePoint Online will retain previously established limits (e.g., 20 site collections per company, 50 gigabytes (GB) per site, and 1 terabyte (TB) per company).

Enhanced Support for Mac OS
The Service Update includes several enhancements that will provide a more efficient communication and collaboration experience for organizations with Mac users.

A new Sign-In Client for the Mac OS provides a single sign-in experience and auto-configuration of Office for Mac applications and the Safari browser for use with Microsoft Online Services.

Other Mac features in this Service Update include:

· Support for Entourage 2008 Exchange Web Services (EWS), including Global Address List (GAL), Calendar Free/Busy Lookup, and Out-of-Office notifications

· Global Address List support for Entourage 2004 and 2008 when using the Sign-In Client for Mac

· SharePoint Online support for Document Connection for Mac to improve the collaboration experience for users

· Improved Firefox and Safari support for My Company Portal

The Sign-In Client for Mac will be available for download at the Microsoft Download Center in early November. Please watch this Team Blog for the availability of the Sign-In Client for Mac.

Timeline
Deployment of the October Service Update into production data centers has started, with deployment to all regions anticipated to be complete before the end of October.

The deployment schedule is subject to change. Updates to the deployment schedule will be announced via the comments section of this blog post.

Notes from the Cloud: Oct. 13

paulenglis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:03:00 GMT

Notes from the Cloud is a new series for the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog bringing you a summary of news and blog posts related to Microsoft Online Services, cloud computing, and our competitors published by partners, blog writers, and news sources across our online community.

· InformationWeek’s Mary Hayes Weier writes about Microsoft’s movement toward cloud computing, including an interview with our own Ron Markezich, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Online Services.

In May, 2004, Markezich was Microsoft's CIO, and doing very CIO-type stuff, like overseeing HR and ERP applications, and running the overall IT Infrastructure. That was, until Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer called him into a meeting. They told him there was a major new strategy in place, and his experience in operational IT was critical to make it happen. "They said that the future of the company is not selling a license, but selling our software over the Internet as a service," Markezich recalls.

· More from Mary Hayes Weier in an InformationWeek cover story. Weier writes about the changing attitudes of CIOs toward cloud computing. Bill Louv, GlaxoSmithKline CIO and Microsoft Online Services customer, is quoted in the article:

Louv bristles at any notion that he's chasing a trend. "The evolution here isn't, 'Gee, let's do something in the cloud or SaaS,'" he says. "Our Lotus Notes platform was getting to end of life. The question came up innocently that, given we'll have to spend a lot of money here, is there something we can do that's smarter?" What he decided is to move all 115,000 employees worldwide to the online, monthly subscription Exchange and SharePoint offerings that Microsoft made available in April.

· In another post in the run up to the SharePoint Conference, Oct. 19-22 in Las Vegas, Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President, SharePoint Server, writes about the process of designing and building SharePoint, including this nugget about the impact of SharePoint Online on the engineering process:

In the last couple of posts I mentioned that SharePoint Online is big part of our development cycle. It is a way to reach many new customers. It also gives us a much larger scale environment than our own SharePoint intranet, extranet and internet apps to analyze and tune. This release, we created a dedicated team called “The Grid” team to analyze and optimize in great detail the total costs, time, reliability and other factors of a SharePoint deployment we hope to reach 10s and eventually 100s of millions of users. Almost all of what we learn there helps make the product more reliable for customers and partners hosting their own servers from a small company to a 250,000 employee enterprise.

· UK-based Microsoft Online Services partner The BPOS Business has posted a video with instructions for synchronizing your Apple iPhone with an Exchange Online email account.

· Microsoft and Germany-based T-Systems announced an agreement for T-Systems to sell the Business Productivity Online Suite Dedicated solution in Germany.

· A French-language blog dedicated to the Business Productivity Online Suite is now online and included in our blogroll. The blog is edited and managed by our friends on the Microsoft Online Services team in the Microsoft France subsidiary. Bonjour!

Notes from the Cloud: Oct. 6

paulenglis — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:54:00 GMT

· From Redmond Channel Partner Online, Stephen Swoyer writes Making the Most of BPOS, a profile of PointBridge, a Chicago-based Microsoft Online Services Partner and the 2009 Microsoft Online Services Partner of the Year.

· With the SharePoint Conference set for Oct. 19-22 in Las Vegas, Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President, SharePoint Server, looks at the history of SharePoint and provides an interesting retrospective on Microsoft’s collaboration standard bearer, including this hat tip to Microsoft Online Services:

Based on the SharePoint 2007 codebase, we released both a Dedicated (single tenant) version of SharePoint Online as well as a Standard (multi-tenant) version of SharePoint Online. This is all part of our Business Productivity Online Suite including SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Office Communications Online and Live Meeting. The response to both the dedicated and multi-tenant offering has been outstanding. Customers have told us they like getting access to the most comprehensive and flexible set of collaboration and communication tools with the reliability, security and manageability they need.

· The editors at Computerworld give their opinion on the Technical Preview of Microsoft Office Web Apps, important work that our colleagues on the Office team are doing to move these powerful productivity applications to the cloud.

· The University System of Ohio and Microsoft announced an Education Alliance Agreement that will bring cloud-based messaging and collaboration solutions, including Exchange Online, to Ohio’s higher education and K-12 communities. Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut is quoted in the announcement:

"The Education Alliance Agreement provides the University System of Ohio with major cost savings for messaging and collaboration products," said Chancellor Fingerhut. "This agreement advances Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education by supporting a common technology infrastructure through collaboration and group purchasing, which makes the University System of Ohio more efficient."

· ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley does some oranges-to-oranges comparison by measuring the Microsoft Online Services Deskless Worker Suite against IBM's LotusLive iNotes. Mary-Jo notes that most analysts are comparing LotusLive iNotes to Google Apps:

IBM’s announcement of a new hosted entry-level communications offering has led to lots of punditry around how it compares to Google Apps. But I’m not sure that’s IBM’s main competition here.

· In his post SharePoint in the Cloud – A Real World Experience Using BPOS, Philip Plimmer, at New Zealand-based partner Intergen, writes about recommending SharePoint Online for an organization needing a collaboration solution that extends to partners and potential partners. Philip provides this explanation of BPOS and cloud computing:

The BPOS solution is one of a growing number of “cloud” services – that huge cloud of connected servers called the Internet. Your system is not running in your corporate data centre – it just lives out there in the cloud. In a way cloud computing is nothing different to what you already do if you have a personal email account such as Windows Live Hotmail or Google’s Gmail.

The big difference is instead of talking about personal email, we are now taking the corporate data centre to the cloud.

We want to hear more stories like Philip’s. Do you have a real world BPOS story to tell? Share it with us.

TechEd Australia 2009 : Down Under and Online

paulenglis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:47:00 GMT

This guest post from Lee Hickin, a Microsoft Online Services Technology Specialist based in Australia, provides a preview of next week’s TechEd 2009 Australia Conference and opportunities for attendees to learn and experience Microsoft Online Services.

Next week, TechEd 2009 Australia kicks off at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in sunny Queensland. Running Sept. 8 to 11, attendees at this year’s event receive a free HP Mini 2140 Netbook – pre-loaded with Windows 7 RTM code and a host of other goodies.

For the Microsoft Online Service team – these Netbooks represent another first for TechEd. Every attendee will have the option of enabling a full BPOS account (including Live Meeting, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communication Online) on their Netbook for a full 90-day trial. Just come along to the Microsoft Online Services booth at the conference, or speak to any of the Microsoft staff.

During the event all Microsoft staff and speakers, as well as all attendees who sign up for the BPOS account, will be able to experience presence awareness and communicate with either other using the Office Communicator tied in with Office Communications Online. Think about it. Instead of spending time trying to hunt down a speaker to ask that burning question, attendees can simply look up the speaker with Communicator and send them an instant message.

Attendees can also stop by the Microsoft Online Services booth and register to win one of three HTC Touch HD Smartphones – just for trying BPOS. The phones are provided by our good friends at Telstra – a major partner in the delivery of Microsoft’s online technology in Australia. Attendees can check out T-Suite, the Telstra portal for delivery of all Microsoft Online Services technology.

Other great Microsoft Online activities happening at TechEd Australia include:

· Look out for Microsoft Online Services demos in the keynote session

· Hands-on demonstrations and subject matter experts will be available all week in the Microsoft Online Services booth.

· Don’t forget to bring your Netbook to the booth (or ask any of the volunteers) to get it BPOS-enabled. If you don’t have the Netbook, you can still bring your own laptop, and we can configure BPOS on your machine.

· Two sessions dedicated to Microsoft Online Services are on the agenda:

o OFC250 Collaboration in the Cloud and the Datacentre

Join Lee Hickin and William Cornwill as they discuss in detail the evolution of SharePoint into an online service. See what can be delivered via SharePoint Online and get a glimpse into the future with SharePoint Online 2010.

o UNC308 Migration and Co-existence with Exchange/Non-Exchange and Exchange Online

Lee Hickin digs into the details of the technology and skills you need to smoothly migrate email to Exchange Online. With demos and real world examples, this session walks through the tools and processes involved. Also, we look into the capabilities around co-existence and how Exchange 2010 Online is changing the game in terms of mail structure, deployment and management. Walk away from this session with a new set of skills in the expanding world of Software + Services.

· We will have a number of Hands On Labs designed to give you the skills you need to administer and run Microsoft Online Services, including migration, synchronisation and management of the technology.

Follow TechEd Australia on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/auteched

Service Update: August 2009 Release Availability, Features Announced

paulenglis — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The Microsoft Online Services Service Update for August 2009 begins deployment into production data centers this week and is scheduled to be available to all customers by the end of August; updates to the release deployment status will be posted to the comment section of this blog post.

No scheduled downtime is planned for the Microsoft Online Administration Center or the availability of the services in the Business Productivity Online Suite.

The following features are included in this Service Update:

New Language Options for Microsoft Online Administration Center (MOAC)

The Microsoft Online Administration Center is adding eight new language options: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

SMTP Relay Support

Exchange Online is enabled to support for SMTP relay, allowing SMTP-enabled applications to send e-mail via Exchange Online.

Exchange Online Journaling

Exchange Online journaling is enabled, allowing email to be journaled to third-party archiving solutions, including Exchange Hosted Archive. Journaling can be enabled by contacting Microsoft Online Services support and opening a Service Request.

While Exchange Online journaling allows email to be journaled to third-party archiving solutions, Microsoft Online Services does not support or certify these third-party solutions. It is the customer’s responsibility to configure their archiving solution to work with Exchange Online journaling.

Microsoft Online Services Publishes Public Folder Data Migration White Paper

paulenglis — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:36:00 GMT

The Microsoft Online Services team has published a new white paper that provides guidance for migrating data from Exchange Public Folders to the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite.

Exchange Public Folders are widely used in on-premises Exchange environments. However, Exchange Online does not support Public Folders. As a workaround, SharePoint Online and some capabilities of Exchange Online can accommodate many of the processes and data for which organizations typically use Public Folders in their on-premises Exchange deployments.

This white paper addresses common usage scenarios for Public Folders and provides recommendations for accommodating and migrating the Public Folder processes and data to the Business Productivity Online Suite. Scenarios covered in this white paper include:

· Basic Sharing of Events, Tasks, and Contacts

· Archiving E-Mail Messages or Discussion Lists

· Document Sharing

· Manual Workflow

· Automated Workflow

· Custom Applications

· Free/Busy Lookups, OAB Distribution, and Outlook Security Settings

· E-Mail Delegates, Send As, and Shared Mailbox Scenarios

The white paper can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.

Key Partner Features and Partner Momentum Announced at WPC09

paulenglis — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:25:00 GMT

This morning at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft Online Services announced several new features that enable partners to assist and manage their customers who trial and buy the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Two key features are available today as part of the newly announced Microsoft Partner Network:

· Partner Order on Behalf. Partners can now place Microsoft Online Services orders on behalf of their customers. The feature allows partners to initiate trials, specify the services and quantities they recommend for their customers, pre-configure orders for their customers to complete, and ensure they are the Partner of Record for their customers’ trials and orders placed in the system.

· Partner Commerce Dashboard. The new Partner Commerce Dashboard provides a consolidated view of Microsoft Online Services orders and commerce, such as the status of trials and subscriptions, for customers that have the partner specified as their Partner of Record. Partners can work within the Commerce Dashboard or export the information to Excel to be imported into a CRM system.

Microsoft Online Services also announced Q4 availability of Delegated Administration for partners. Customers will be able to delegate administrative privileges to partners for some tasks in the Microsoft Online Services Administration Center.

Also announced for Q4 rollout is a new partner Distributor Model and integration of partner information on customer invoices. More information about the new partner program and features will be available through Quickstart for Microsoft Online Services.

Announcement of these features highlights the importance of partners to Microsoft Online Services. Since the Microsoft Online Services Partner Program was announced at WPC08, more than 5,000 partners have enrolled in the program. Additionally, 4 of 5 orders for the Business Productivity Online Suite have come through Partners, and Partners have built more than 100 custom solutions exclusively for Microsoft Online Services. Examples of these solutions are available via the Solutions Showcase.

More information from WPC09 can be found on the Microsoft Press Pass site.

Partner Migration Series: Metalogix

paulenglis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:43:00 GMT

This post is part of a series profiling Microsoft Online Services migration partners. The series is from Brett Hill, Technical Evangelist with the Microsoft Online Services Partner Readiness team. This profile is cross-posted to Brett's blog BPOSitive.

Metalogix focuses on building and delivering migration, archiving and management tools for Microsoft technologies, and they are a migration partner for Microsoft Online Services. I recently interviewed Rasool Rayani, Co-Founder and Director of Metalogix, about their tools for migrating content to SharePoint Online.

Q: How did you get started in the migration tools business?

A: In 2001, Metalogix started focusing on migration tools to Microsoft. At first we were focusing on migrating existing web sites and content to an XML based “map” that allows the user to transform the content and migrate the resulting data set to the Microsoft content management platform. When SharePoint came along, we already had an engine created for content migration and the SharePoint environment provided a new opportunity.

Q: Do you still focus on web site migration to SharePoint?

A: We currently support migrating to SharePoint Online from NTFS shares; on-premises SharePoint installations, including Windows SharePoint Services version 2.0 and 3.0 and SharePoint Server 2003 and 2007; eRoom; Vignette; as well as Oracle content server. You can do some sophisticated manipulations using our SharePoint-to-SharePoint Content Management and migration solution such as copy permissions, split or merge lists, promote sub-sites and more. In the near future we will be offering migration from Exchange Public Folders and a SharePoint archiving solution.

Continue reading Partner Migration Series: Metalogix

Going Mobile with Microsoft Online Services

paulenglis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:11:00 GMT

Mobile computing and mobile device connectivity is a more popular topic that generates questions for the Microsoft Online Services team. To help answer some of those questions, we’ve launched a Mobility Solutions page on the Microsoft Online Services Web site.

This site contains information about various mobile devices, including:

· Mobility Solutions Description, providing background on all supported mobile devices

· Windows Mobile devices

· RIM BlackBerry devices

· Exchange ActiveSynch devices, such as Nokia and Apple iPhone devices

The site also includes information about promotional offers.

Watch this Team Blog for follow up articles on instructions for setting up and configuring mobile devices to work with Microsoft Online Services.

Asia Pacific (APAC)	pop.mail.apac.microsoftonline.com
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)	pop.mail.emea.microsoftonline.com
North America	pop.mail.microsoftonline.com