Welcome to another round of featured news items from around the web. Each week, we handpick articles for our community related to cloud and enterprise technology. We welcome your suggestions for next week’s round-up— share your links in the comments section or tweet a link to us at @msproductivity.

Microsoft Shares Video Tour of its Cloud Datacenters 

We have come a long way since our first datacenter in 1989. The server count, power efficiencies and number of facility locations have grown dramatically. Microsoft’s cloud is now comprised of a globally distributed datacenter infrastructure supporting hundreds of online services, including Windows Azure, Office 365, Bing, MSN, Windows Live, Hotmail and Xbox Live.  More than a billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 70 countries use these services each year.

The 5 Biggest IT Security Mistakes

Like cleaning the windows, IT security can be a thankless task because they only notice when you don't do it. But to get the job done in the era of virtualization, smartphones and cloud computing, you've got to avoid technical and political mistakes. In particular, here are five security mistakes to avoid:

Cloud Security Fears Exaggerated, Says Federal CIO

Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, has made cloud adoption a priority for federal agencies. But the agencies moving in this direction seem enthusiastic about it as well, and not simply because the president's top IT appointee thinks it's a good idea. But Kundra also believes that cloud security issues have been used to discourage cloud adoption. "I think there's been an exaggeration," Kundra said. Doubts about cloud security were expressed by some U.S. lawmakers at a recent hearing by the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "A lot of people are sort of driving this notion of fear around security," Kundra said. "And the reason I think that's been amplified, frankly, is because it preserves the status quo."

CIO Issues: The Search for Relevance

In an interview, Vivek Kundra, chief information officer for the federal government, explained that the data center consolidation was part of a broader strategy to embrace more efficient, Internet-era computing. In particular, the government is shifting to cloud computing, in which users use online applications like e-mail remotely, over the Internet. These cloud services can be provided by the government to many agencies or by outside technology companies.

One of my favorite things about camping is that it enhances my appreciation of all the day-to-day luxuries I normally take for granted. After a few days roughing it in a tent, it’s easy to appreciate even the small amenities like turning on lights with the flip of a switch or filling a cup with clean water via a faucet. The beauty of these services is that they’re always there when we need them. The infrastructure already exists. To tap into it, we simply sign up and then pay as we go for the quantity we consume.

Microsoft Office 365 works much the same way. Organizations can access the enterprise-grade productivity software they’re already used to with Microsoft Office. No upfront infrastructure investment is required. Just like water, enterprises simply turn on the faucet whenever they need it – and pay for only what they consume.

The beauty of Office 365 is that it can increase productivity while also lowering costs. Employees can tap into the sophisticated messaging and calendaring features they’re already familiar with. They can also facilitate collaboration with features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, and document sharing. At the same time, organizations can significantly reduce costs by eliminating the need to purchase and maintain servers and software.

Take Patagonia, a global provider of apparel and gear, for example. Executives wanted to improve productivity by making it easier for employees to communicate with each other and with outside vendors and suppliers. Patagonia pilot tested Office 365 and found that it’s helping to increase efficiency. Says Casey Stoops, Network Operations Manager at Patagonia: “We believe Office 365 capabilities, like video conferencing, will help our employees drive real-time decisions, which will help us reduce problem resolution time and potentially accelerate our products to market.”

At the same time, Patagonia expects Office 365 to help it reduce costs. Patagonia anticipates saving $300,000 in server and software upgrades. It also expects to save thousands of dollars in administrative costs by reducing the need to maintain servers and install software updates. “If you look at the Office 365 price point, we could not provide this same level of IT service, at the same cost, ourselves,” Stoops says.

If you are looking for ways to increase productivity and reduce costs, please check out our Office 365 Cost Estimator and see the savings first-hand. If you’ve already signed up for Office 365, please share your experience. In what ways is it raising productivity and reducing costs? Your feedback is appreciated!

Many IT professionals are familiar with the German proverb, “Trust is good, but control is better."  As the father of two children, I understand that sentiment. Like most parents, I feel protective of my children and want to steer them out of harm’s way. Yet to be a good father, I actually believe what’s required is the right balance of trust versus control. Too much trust, and I’ll be the last to know if my children veer down the wrong path. Too much control, and I’ll turn their lives into a police state. Not good!

That same balance of trust vs. control also applies to information security. Too much trust, and an organization’s data may become unsafe. Too much control, and employees won’t have access to the information they need. We’ve paid close attention to achieving the right balance with Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 puts IT administrators in control through an easy-to-use administration console that lets administrators manage users, security groups, and domains, while monitoring service health – all from a single dashboard. Employees receive access to the information they need, while IT administrators maintain the proper level of control over sensitive information. 

While Office 365 puts IT administrators in control, there’s a certain amount of trust that’s required when moving one’s business productivity applications to the cloud. Will your organization’s data be secure? Will it be available whenever employees need it? Microsoft has worked hard to guard against these concerns by implementing a multi-layer approach to security that includes enterprise-grade reliability, continuous data back-ups, disaster recovery capabilities, globally-redundant data centers, and a strict privacy policy. For example, when you store your data in a Microsoft data center, it’s actually housed within two separate data centers located hundreds of miles away from each other. That way, if a catastrophic event occurs in one location, your data remains fully safe and accessible.  By applying enterprise-grade best practices such as these, we’re able to guarantee our customers 99.9 percent scheduled uptime.

To a lesser degree, trust is required by giving up certain tasks IT administrators were previously required to perform themselves.  With Office 365, IT professionals transfer some of the mundane tasks to Microsoft. No longer are you required to install updates or upgrade your Office software. Microsoft takes care of these tasks, managing the risk and complexity of the backend. The payoff is that IT administrators are freed up to focus on more strategic business initiatives. 

Another way in which we put IT administrators in control is by offering 24x7, IT-level support. This enables IT staff to get the support they need whenever they need it, in turn providing the highest level of support to their users. To better understand the control Office 365 offers, take an interactive tour of the Office 365 administrator portal.  As always, please share your thoughts and experiences. We would like to hear from you.

Welcome to another round of featured news items from around the web. Each week, we handpick articles for our community related to cloud and enterprise technology. We welcome your suggestions for next week’s round-up— share your links in the comments section or tweet a link to us at @msproductivity.

Microsoft: Building Businesses in the Cloud

Emphasizing that cloud computing is the biggest shift ever seen in the IT, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella said that together with the company’s partners, Microsoft will help customers through the transition. “By betting on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to cloud computing, partners can embrace this transformation and build strong and vibrant practices that will advance how business gets done,” Nadella said. 

The New CIO – Embrace The Empowered Era or Step Aside

Many employees are no longer relying on IT to provision, manage, and run their technology because they feel IT is too slow and puts unnecessary restrictions on their use of technology. Many customers expect on-demand information, customized user experiences, and mobile apps that IT is expected to deliver quickly, cheaply, and reliably. Some CIOs have reacted to this shift by vigorously defending their turf from these encroachments. Others have ceded control to third-party service providers and business managers who now make their own technology decisions.

CIOs See Promise in Public Cloud Storage

Public cloud storage is like any outsourcing decision. Companies are faced with ever increasing storage requirements, many of which imply permanent retention of archives. So is it better to leave long-term storage management for generic applications like e-mail and CRM to external organizations whose primary business is providing those services, leaving IT more time to focus on critical business applications? Clearly, many CIOs and CTOs believe it is.

U.S to Close 800 Computer Data Centers

In an interview, Vivek Kundra, chief information officer for the federal government, explained that the data center consolidation was part of a broader strategy to embrace more efficient, Internet-era computing. In particular, the government is shifting to cloud computing, in which users use online applications like e-mail remotely, over the Internet. These cloud services can be provided by the government to many agencies or by outside technology companies.

Last week in front of an audience of 13,000 partners who attended the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), Steve Ballmer called this a special year for Microsoft Lync, the centerpiece of our unified communications solution. He quoted Microsoft COO Kevin Turner who has referred to Lync as “the Kinect of the Enterprise.”

That statement rang true for those of us who use Lync on a daily basis. For our partners, customers and users like me, it is a tool that is present across all of the productivity programs that we use on premises or in the cloud with Office 365.

If you are not familiar with Lync, it gives you rich presence information and communication tools across the PC, phone and browser. If I want to collaborate with a colleague, I have a lot of options – I  can start an instant message conversation, talk on the “phone” (via VOIP), chat on a video conference call, brainstorm on a virtual whiteboard, or share my desktop. And I can do all of this using the Lync interface itself, or through Office, SharePoint and other applications. It has redefined how I think about integration and collaboration, as I no longer send emails to colleagues for “quick questions.” I find it much faster to send an instant message and have a real-time conversation.

One of our customers, Nikon Corporation, found that deploying Lync not only saved the company money on conferences and travel costs, it boosted productivity in some areas by 30 percent, while increasing responsiveness to customers. Michiko Noborisaka, General Manager of the Information System Planning Department at Nikon sees the benefits firsthand. “With Lync, communication is much more efficient because people do not have to switch programs to make a call or join a meeting.”

If you haven’t deployed Lync in your company, it is time to consider it. It is a game changer for communication and collaboration. Your employees, regardless of their work style, will thank you for it. And, if you are using Lync, please share your thoughts. Has it had a significant impact on your business?