At CeBIT on Monday, Microsoft announced that it is extending its enterprise cloud offerings to 19 countries and that it has signed a heavy hitter customer, GlaxoSmithKline. Microsoft said that trial versions of its Business Productivity Online Suite will now be available in those 19 countries, including the United States. Microsoft also said it will release Microsoft Office Communications Online, for instant messaging and presence, and the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite, a low-cost e-mail, calendaring and collaboration service.
The most interesting part of the news is that London-based drug maker GlaxoSmithKline is migrating 100,000 employees from IBM Lotus Notes, its current e-mail system used for seven years, to the Microsoft hosted suite including Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting. GlaxoSmithKline was reportedly also using Google Postini for spam filtering. The drug company says it expects to save 30% over time by making the switch.
Microsoft will make its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), available for $15 per user per month (£10) and offer a 99.9 per cent monthly uptime service level availability guarantee with a full refund if uptime falls below 95 per cent.
Microsoft is also announcing release dates for its extremely low-cost Deskless Worker Suite, which includes Exchange Online Deskless Worker and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker. This suite is also available to organizations in the 19 countries as of April. It is intended for occasional (not heavy) use and will cost about $3 per user per month (£2 pounds per user per month ).
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