BWI: Microsoft Launches Online Services to Provide on-demand e-mail and Collaboration Solutions for Customers in India

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Microsoft
Thursday, November 05, 2009 05:00 PM IST (11:30 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Information technology, Major diversified industrial groups; Technology
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Microsoft Launches Online Services to Provide on-demand e-mail and Collaboration Solutions for Customers in India


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Thursday, November 05, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- -- Subscription available upwards of $2 per user per month
-- HCL, Infosys, Wipro among leading partners to provide value added Services
-- Over 1800 Indian businesses on board in the 100 day trial period!
-- Helps reduce IT-related costs by 10 - 50%

As a part of its continued emphasis to enable easy access to its cost effective business productivity software, Microsoft today announced commercial availability of Microsoft Online Services in India. Offering very attractive prices starting $2 per user per month, (excluding applicable taxes) this will allow SMBs and enterprise customers to access Microsoft's popular e-mail, collaboration, conferencing and productivity capabilities online. Customers can access the suite directly from www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices, and pay a use-based monthly subscription fee, and thus manage their IT needs efficiently and more cost effectively (lower capex). HCL Infosystems, Infosys and Wipro are amongst leading partners to market and offer value added services around the Microsoft Online Services.

This launch is part of Microsoft's Software plus Services strategy which aims to provide flexibility and choice of accessing and using software in a flexible model, i.e. both on premise and off the Internet as a service or as a combination of both. "In today's competitive global market businesses need cost effective technology that allows flexibility and adds value to their organizations. The alternative delivery model of Microsoft Online Services will give businesses streamlined communication with high availability, comprehensive security and simplified IT management. Customers who have already started using the services are realizing savings from reduced hardware and software investments and are also benefitting from flexible payment models. In a nutshell, it allows them to do more with less", said Mr. Stephen Elop, President, Microsoft Business Group.

Microsoft Online Services Ready Reckoner

What: E-mail, collaborate, conference, IM facility online on a pay as you go basis

Where to access: www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices

How much it costs: (excluding applicable taxes)

-- The standard suite costs $10 /user/month
-- Individual offerings are available at:
- $5 per user/month for Exchange Online Sstd
- $5.25 user/month for SharePoint Online
- $2.00 user/month for Office Communications Online Std
- $4.50 user/month for Office Live Meeting
- $2 per user/month for Exchange Online Deskless Worker
- $2 per user/month for SharePoint Online Deskless Worker

Microsoft Online Services:6 easy cost saving steps

Step 1 - Go to www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices
Step 2 - Choose country and log in with Live id
Step 3 - Add chosen services to shopping cart
Step 4 - Choose the partner of choice
Step 5 - Start using the service (after you receive service setup notification)
Step 6 - A usage based monthly bill will be generated - just pay it online!

The Microsoft Online Services product family offers Exchange Online (for e-mail) and Office SharePoint Online (portals and collaboration) available separately or as a suite together with Office Live Meeting (for conferencing), Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services and Microsoft Office Communications Online (for instant messaging and presence). The services will be available in India from November 7, 2009 onwards.

Today both enterprises and SMBs in India are exploring online or hybrid models in order to realize improved bottomline. According to a study by Brown & Mohan the market for hosted email will grow at a CAGR of over 50 percent, and over 28 percent of email solutions will run on the hosted model by the year 2012. Further the enterprise segment will leverage a combination of on-premise and cloud-based solutions to bring about efficiencies and consistency in experience across diverse locations. The SMB segment is likely to embrace the cloud model even more readily to help them grow business and reduce IT-related capex.

Customers in India have experienced reduced IT costs

The commercial availability of Microsoft Online Services follows a trial launch announced in July 2009. More than 1800 customers in India have tried out Microsoft Online Services during this period, and have experienced increased operational efficiency. The savings are expected to return a potential impact between 10 to 50 percent on IT costs. In fact globally, Microsoft has already sold more than one million seats for Microsoft Online Services, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communications Online.

Indian customers speak about Microsoft online Services

Gunjan Sangoi, DGM - R&D, GEPIL (IT Division) - We plan to switch from using Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services solution, which is also our first mail server. We think it will give us excellent results as Microsoft products are user friendly and offer better integration with existing infrastructure. Further, Online Services combine e-mail (Exchange) with IM, Presence (Office Communications Server) and collaboration portals (Microsoft SharePoint Server) that provide an integrated and holistic collaboration solution.

Prasad Watve, System Administrator, Performix Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - We have used Microsoft Exchange Online Service and are impressed with features such as Global Address List (GAL) and the one window administration that it offers. We are particularly happy with the low cost of implementation and maintenance of Online Services that saves us a lot of time and effort.

Jasdev Singh, Sr. IT Manager, MRC India- Microsoft Online Services is an innovative product and is convenient to use for IT administration and users both.

Ecosystem sees business opportunity with Microsoft Online Services Since July 2009, more than 100 partners in India have signed on for Microsoft Online Services to market, customize and provide consulting, migration and managed services to both SMBs and enterprises in India. "Microsoft Online Services is a clear winner in helping Infosys deliver reliable business services such as desktop and mobile e-mail, calendaring and contacts, instant-messaging, audio and video conferencing and shared workspaces", said Mr. Saju Kutty, Practice Manager, Microsoft Cloud Computing Practice, Infosys Technologies.

"The SMB sector today is poised for growth and views IT as a strategic tool to achieve business goals. We are committed to innovate and constantly bring out cutting edge IT solutions to empower SMBs. Microsoft's Online Services will further expand our services portfolio and we believe HCL's scale and reach in the country will further facilitate the adoption of Online Services." added Mr -George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems Ltd.

"Wipro has created a strong platform to address the requirements emerging in the Cloud computing space. We're seeing strong customer demand for migration, customization and integration services. Microsoft Online Services gives us the agility to address this demand with fewer resources", said Mr. Venkatraghavan.S.K, General Manager, MSBU, Wipro Ltd.

"No other company matches the flexibility and the power of choice that Microsoft provides-the power of choice to select how customers deploy software either on premise, in the cloud, or a combination of both, and, of course, the power of choice in how the software is licensed across a wide variety of options. The success of Microsoft Online Services depends on our partners, who will sell, customize and provide consulting, migration and managed services for customers", said Mr. Elop. "While the smaller customer may choose to opt for the basic offering, in the mid-market upwards, partners have a tremendous opportunity in India, offering customers enterprise-class customized software delivered on a predictable, pay-as-you-go basis. In the end, both customers and partners win" he added.

Microsoft's S+S - Momentum in India: Microsoft is committed to delivering the power of choice to customers and partners in India, through technology solutions that leverage a software plus services approach. Some recent announcements in this context have been

-- Private and public cloud infrastructure by Reliance for enterprises and SMBs, on the Microsoft platform
-- Hosted CRM in India with Net4India
-- In-built, free service called My Phone that offers online storage to back up all contacts and phone information in Windows Mobile 6.5
-- Hosted Email and Collaboration solutions in partnership with airtel and BSNL

About Microsoft India

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation (India) Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in 13 cities - Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.

For more information on Microsoft:

Log onto: http://www.microsoft.com/en/in/default.aspx

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Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft's corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed.


CONTACT DETAILS
Tushar Makkar, Microsoft India, +91 9810437303, tmakkar@microsoft.com
Vidhya Aravamudhan, Text 100, +91 9910500220, vidhyaa@text100.co.in
Ruchi Chawla, Text 100, +91 9818903929, ruchi.chawla@text100.co.in

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, GROUPS, TECHNOLOGY

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