Microsoft Online Services

Microsoft Online Services is Microsoft's hosted-software offering and is a component of their software as a service strategy.[1] Microsoft Online Services are hosted by Microsoft and sold with Microsoft partners.[2]

The suite includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, Microsoft Forefront, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting.[3]

For businesses, the software as a service approach enables organizations to access the capabilities of enterprise software through on-premises servers, as online services, or a combination of both, depending on specific business requirements. Services also provide the option to add complementary capabilities that enhance on-premises server software and simplify system management and maintenance.[3]

Product Suite: Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)

The Business Productivity Online Suite Standard represents the first of a growing portfolio of Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Online Services are a component of the broader Microsoft software as a service strategy that includes both Live and Online services.[3]

Office 365

The successor of BPOS is Office 365. Where BPOS is based on Exchange 2007 and MOSS 2007, Office 365 was originally built around the 2010 versions of Exchange and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and now the 2019 versions, since one of the benefits of Office 365 is that it is 'evergreen'. For Instant Messaging, plus audio and video conferencing, Office 365 provides Skype for Business (formerly Microsoft Lync).[4]

Apart from these communications and collaboration applications, Office 365 will also have Microsoft Office Professional Plus included, which is the regular Office pack. On top of that, online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint are provided.[5]

Microsoft opened the Beta phase for this service in Q4 of 2010, and the service went live June 28, 2011.[6]

Support

Microsoft has established a specialized support department for its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), distinct from its standard Professional Support Services. The rationale for this separation is due to the varying types of support requests that may be made by customers. In contrast to the support requests for Microsoft products run on a company's infrastructure, such as when a support inquiry is made about mail-sending issues using Outlook and the customer's Microsoft Exchange Server, the technical aspects of support requests for BPOS may differ significantly. Additionally, customer expectations are different, as outsourcing services to Microsoft is done to avoid problems. Thus, when issues arise, customers anticipate a rapid resolution by Microsoft. To meet these expectations, Microsoft has established dedicated BPOS and Office 365 support desks in the United States and Ireland for the EMEA region. Hewlett-Packard (HP), Microsoft's primary support partner, has been engaged in identifying and training new Tier 1 and Tier 2 support engineers for this purpose. Currently, the EMEA support desk handles first-line and escalated BPOS cases and is expected to provide support for Office 365 cases after the product's launch in June 2011.[7]

Cloud computing and BPOS

On March 4, 2010, Steve Ballmer gave a speech focused on Microsoft's cloud computing commitment at the University of Washington.[8] Here is an excerpt from the Seattle Times, "The cloud fuels Microsoft and vice versa. 'About 75 percent of our folks are doing entirely cloud-based or entirely cloud inspired,' Ballmer said. 'A year from now that will be 90 percent.' This full embrace of the term cloud computing is new for Microsoft. Up until now, Microsoft was still pushing the term 'software as a service' to describe cloud software."[9]

References
  1. "Microsoft's cloud forms". Archived from the original on 2008-07-27. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  2. "Microsoft Online Services FAQ". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  3. "Microsoft Office International Availability". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  4. "Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) - Microsoft Store". www.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  5. "Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) - Microsoft Store". www.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  6. "Microsoft Targeting July 1 for Office 365 Cloud Launch? | MSPmentor Managed Services News & Blog". 2011-03-23. Archived from the original on 2011-03-23. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  7. HP Job site for BPOS engineers Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, visited 2 October 2010.
  8. "UW CSE News » Microsoft's Steve Ballmer at UW, Thursday March 4". Archived from the original on 2010-06-20. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  9. "Microsoft Pri0 - Steve Ballmer speech at UW: "We're all in" for cloud computing - Seattle Times Newspaper". Archived from the original on 2010-08-14. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
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