{"id":9579,"date":"2009-04-02T10:44:00","date_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=9579"},"modified":"2009-04-02T10:44:00","modified_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","slug":"microsoft-ireland-bpos-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=9579","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Ireland BPOS Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft Ireland launched Business Productivity Online Services today in the Morrison hotel in Dublin.\u00a0 This is Microsoft\u2019s online, pay-per-user, alternative to SBS.\u00a0 I\u2019ve used the demo and it\u2019s very cool.\n<\/p>\n<p>BTW, met Eamon Breen for the first time since 2005.\u00a0 He used to be in MS and is responsible for getting me into the whole System Center world: SMS 2003\/MOM 2005.\u00a0 He owns Inspired Software &amp; Services, a company specialising in SharePoint.\u00a0 Eamon is a good guy \u2013 he helped us out a lot when he was doing pre-sales with us back in the day.\n<\/p>\n<p>Kelly Waldher, Director of Online Services, Microsoft USA spoke.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>What MS Hears From Customers<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Save me money: does a small business want to buy an SBS server, CAL\u2019s, backup hardware, etc?\n<\/li>\n<li>Increase our productivity\n<\/li>\n<li>Help us grow our business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Forces of Change<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Internal trends:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blending worlds: new generation of staff expect more than current staff.\u00a0 They\u2019ve grown up with the latest technologies and delivery mechanisms.\n<\/li>\n<li>Increasing complexity: IT is not getting easier.\u00a0 Increased integration and possibilities.\n<\/li>\n<li>Strategic IT: Businesses are <em>starting<\/em> to see IT as an enabling force, not a cost centre.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>External Pressures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Globalisation: The internet allows global marketing and sales \u2026 and competitors\n<\/li>\n<li>Security: We now understand network and physical security\n<\/li>\n<li>Evolving business models: We need to be more flexible and mobile\n<\/li>\n<li>Emergent competitors: Agile start-ups and new global competition\n<\/li>\n<li>Regulation: Data protection, etc.\n<\/li>\n<li>Environmental Concerns: Reduce the carbon footprint\n<\/li>\n<li>Global financial turmoil: No money for IT capital expenditure\n<\/li>\n<li>Local issues: The recession is hitting everyone differently, e.g. Ireland is getting a double whammy at the moment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Industry Debate<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Security and privacy: where is my data?\u00a0 Is my computer room secure?\u00a0 Is my hosting solution compliant?\n<\/li>\n<li>Cusomisability? Can I customise a hosted solution?\n<\/li>\n<li>Visibility and Control: Can I see everything and manage everything?\u00a0 DO I want to?\n<\/li>\n<li>Data accessibility: Access it from anywhere<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Would a managed hosted solution be better?\u00a0 Do I want or <em>need <\/em>complete control and customisation?\u00a0 The long and short of this is that BPOS will be great for lots of people but not for everyone.\n<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft still trying to sell a local installation of Office \u2013 despite Office Live.\u00a0 Office + BPOS is their Software + Service offering in this market.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Strategy<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Take their best internal services (data centres and systems management) and mix them with their best customer products:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exchange\n<\/li>\n<li>Windows SharePoint Services\n<\/li>\n<li>LiveMeeting\n<\/li>\n<li>Communicator<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note:\n<\/p>\n<p>BPOS consists of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hosted Exchange\n<\/li>\n<li>Hosted SharePoint\n<\/li>\n<li>Hosted LiveMeeting\n<\/li>\n<li>Hosted Communicator<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Microsoft Isn\u2019t Alone<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Apple, SAP, Salesforce, EBay, Oracle, IBM, Sun.\n<\/p>\n<p>We at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinfinity.ie\/services\/hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\">work<\/a> would also agree with this argument but we have a slightly different take on things, i.e. stressing data protection and compliance plus giving you the management services to guarantee uptime and availability.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Microsoft Strategy<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Desktop: Office Live\n<\/li>\n<li>Enterprise: Azure\n<\/li>\n<li>Online: Live\n<\/li>\n<li>Devices: XBox and phone devices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Your Choice for Microsoft Products<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>User Managed (Live) and traditional onsite installation\n<\/li>\n<li>Online or Microsoft hosted\n<\/li>\n<li>Online or Partner hosted managed\n<\/li>\n<li>Partner managed: Onsite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Microsoft Subscription Online Services<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Sold by partners and hosted by MS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exchange Hosted Services\n<\/li>\n<li>SharePoint Online\n<\/li>\n<li>Exchange Online\n<\/li>\n<li>Office Live Meeting\n<\/li>\n<li>Office Communications Online\n<\/li>\n<li>Dynamics CRM Online<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And of course, Business Productivity Online Service which bundles some of these with one easy to use interface \u2013 I\u2019ve used it and it\u2019s pretty easy.\u00a0 Administration is a bit funny and many companies may rely on partners for that.\n<\/p>\n<p>Note: He said that System Center will be going online in some way down the road.\u00a0 I also know that schools\/colleges have access to another bundled package of some of the above solutions.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Video<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Stresses that BPOS can integrate with your existing onsite installation.\u00a0 I recently posted links to the integration tools and documentation for enabling this.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Investments by MS for BPOS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anywhere access without VPN: desktop, mobile and web.\n<\/li>\n<li>Seamless use experience\n<\/li>\n<li>Collaboration and conferencing\n<\/li>\n<li>Real-time communications\n<\/li>\n<li>Always up to date tech\n<\/li>\n<li>Lower rollout cost\n<\/li>\n<li>SAS79 and Cyber-trust compliance\n<\/li>\n<li>Antivirus protection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>BPOS For the Branch Office<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>This is being used right now.\n<\/p>\n<p>The HQ has traditional onsite installation.\u00a0 The branch office uses BPOS for SharePoint and Exchange.\u00a0 HQ administrators create\/manage users in AD and that is synched to BPOS for the branch office.\u00a0 They get a shared Global Address List for Exchange.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Exchange Online<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Includes AV and spam filtering\n<\/li>\n<li>Runs Microsoft ForeFront for Exchange\n<\/li>\n<li>Add-on services: Encryption of mail and Exchange Hosted Archive (you can set retention period of up to 25 years)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Data Centre<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Geo redundant data centres\n<\/li>\n<li>N+1 architecture\n<\/li>\n<li>9 layers of data securiry\n<\/li>\n<li>CyberTrust certified\n<\/li>\n<li>SSL access\n<\/li>\n<li>ITIL\/MOF operations\n<\/li>\n<li>24*7*365 support\n<\/li>\n<li>99.9% uptime SLA \u2013 they\u2019ll give money back if they miss this<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Locations<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dublin \u2013 the new data centre is not built yet.\u00a0 Word is Redmond slowed down the construction.\u00a0 Are MS still co-located in Eircom?\n<\/li>\n<li>Netherlands\n<\/li>\n<li>Japan\n<\/li>\n<li>Singapore\n<\/li>\n<li>Washington State\n<\/li>\n<li>Virginia Sate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Demo<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>I love when MS Redmond folks leave the USA.\u00a0 Region codes confuse the heck out of them, e.g. the Windows deployment team still haven\u2019t figured out how to <em>not <\/em>set English USA as the default keyboard even though we set a different default in our unattended installation \u2013 after 15+ years!!!\u00a0 This poor guy couldn\u2019t change part of the URL from EN-IE to EN-US.\u00a0 He kept trying EN and it was an invalid URL.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, he\u2019s a good clear speaker.\u00a0 Pity he didn\u2019t start of by saying what BPOS actually was for the newbies to this service.\n<\/p>\n<p>The customer must either select a MS BPOS partner or enter the partners code (from MS partner site) to sign up to BPOS.\n<\/p>\n<p>You now get an admin username and password so you can log into the Admin portal.\u00a0 You can add your company domain to the service for Exchange, set up users, link users to services, set up SharePoint sites, enable LiveMeeting or Live Communicator.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>How MS Packages BPOS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Standard: multiple companies on the same service.\u00a0 Cheap and quick to deploy. No seat limit.\n<\/li>\n<li>Dedicated: Single customer per dedicated architecture.\u00a0 For &gt;5000 seats.\u00a0 More expensive.\u00a0 Longer lead times.\u00a0 Customer needs most of the server features.\u00a0 Hmm, sounds like MS getting into traditional server hosting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two user packages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Information Worker: Requires a bit more resources.\u00a0 Uses a PC and possibly ActiveSynch\n<\/li>\n<li>Deskless Worker: Less reousrces.\u00a0 Uses only a web interface.\u00a0 Cheaper.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>License Conversion Deduction<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>If you own CAL\u2019s with Software Assurance then you can get a deduction for converting to BPOS.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Price (Ireland)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exchange online standard: \u20ac8.52\n<\/li>\n<li>Office SharePoint online standard \u20ac6.53\n<\/li>\n<li>Office Communications online \u20ac2.13\n<\/li>\n<li>Office Live Meeting \u20ac3.83\n<\/li>\n<li>Exchange online deskless worker \u20ac1.70\n<\/li>\n<li>SharePoint online deskless \u20ac1.70\n<\/li>\n<li>BPOS \u20ac12.78<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Support, Privacy And Compliance<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>I asked a few tough questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Data about users will be replicated to the USA for English language support.\n<\/li>\n<li>European customer data (files, email, etc) (at the moment) will stay in Europe.\u00a0 However, the US government still has the right to get into your data under the Patriot Act because (a) Microsoft is a USA company and (b) Microsoft does business in the USA.\u00a0 If you are concerned about data protection (especially for compliance) then Microsoft\u2019s online services are not for you.\n<\/li>\n<li>There is no archive solution for SharePoint at the moment.\u00a0 It is on the roadmap.\u00a0 No dates.\n<\/li>\n<li>There will be live support: instant messaging, email and phone where elected contacts from your company can get direct support from MS.\n<\/li>\n<li>There will be 30 days of backup data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This will all be fine for a lot of small companies.\u00a0 I think lots of European companies, especially those in regulated markets, won\u2019t be happy with this.\u00a0 This leaves an opening for hosting partners such as our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinfinity.ie\/services\/hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\">company<\/a>.\u00a0 In my reading on the subject and talking with them, Microsoft is usually quite open about this \u2013 it may take a little pushing on the subject \ud83d\ude09\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Eamon Breen: Inspired Software &amp; Services<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Eamon talked about how BPOS was used to provide services at minimal costs to Chernobyl Childrens Project International.\u00a0 Being mobile and being able to communicate is critical.\u00a0 Being a charity means money is tight and targeted at services to the children.\u00a0 BPOS is perfect for them.\n<\/p>\n<p>Eamon shows the Signle-Sign In Client \u2013 and gives me a shout out \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I reckon this tool is like a SBS domain that spans the Internet.\u00a0 You access your online services using any PC (even Home Editions) and sign in once to access all services.\u00a0 It even auto configures your Outlook, i.e. RPC over HTTPS.\n<\/p>\n<p>SharePoint: document stores, blogs, wiki\u2019s, workflows \u2026 all that stuff.\n<\/p>\n<p>Interesting idea: Use BPOS as a partner workplace, i.e. forget ADFS or Internet Connector Licenses.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Wrap-Up<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>There is a free trial for 30 days and 20 users.\n<\/p>\n<p>EDIT #1\n<\/p>\n<p>I said &quot;If you are concerned about data protection (especially for compliance) then Microsoft\u2019s online services are not for you&quot;.\u00a0 In fact, if you are European and data protection worries you then you should not place your applications\/data in either an American owned service or an American operated service.\u00a0 This also applies to service providers with an operating\u00a0presence\u00a0in the USA.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 These companies must comply with the Patriot Act and therefore will open the doors to your personl data whenever big borther comes knocking.\u00a0 Only by staying with a local service provider can you protect your data and stay compliant with regulators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft Ireland launched Business Productivity Online Services today in the Morrison hotel in Dublin.\u00a0 This is Microsoft\u2019s online, pay-per-user, alternative to SBS.\u00a0 I\u2019ve used the demo and it\u2019s very cool. BTW, met Eamon Breen for the first time since 2005.\u00a0 He used to be in MS and is responsible for getting me into the whole &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=9579\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Microsoft Ireland BPOS Launch&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}