Live updates on days 1 and 2 from Microsoft Inspire in Washington DC.

So another year has passed by and we find ourselves once again at the newly rebranded World Partner Conference event, now known as Microsoft Inspire.

The past two days have been packed with a variety of announcements, most notably the huge restructuring that Microsoft is undertaking within its organisation in a bid to bring partners and customers closer together. Having specialists aligned to set verticals certainly goes some way to achieving this objective, facilitating more meaningful conversations between partners and end users.

THE PRIVATE VS PUBLIC CLOUD DEBATE IS OVER

Opening the conference Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, spoke about the Private vs Public cloud debate being “over”, declaring hybrid infrastructure to be the ultimate winner. This sentiment will resonate with most organisations who may typically be engaging various cloud and ‘on-prem’ workloads such as Office 365 or Azure coupled with some local authentication, storage and/or legacy application hosting.

Nadella outlined the firm’s focus in the cloud era, ruling that hybrid infrastructure is the only winner in the private versus public cloud duel.

“It’s no longer the debate even of is it private versus public?” he said. “In fact, it’s clear as day that what is needed is more distributed computing infrastructure – that true hybrid computing fabric – so that you can manage your smart city, smart factory, and smart car as well as take advantage of the public cloud.”

This announcement came as Microsoft unveiled more details of its Azure stack with integrated systems on hardware from Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo set to begin shipping from September. Huawei and Cisco alliances are set to follow.

MICROSOFT 365 UNVEILED

Nadella also announced Microsoft 365, which bundles together Office 365 with Windows 10 and EM & S (Enterprise Mobility & Security) as a monthly subscription.

Microsoft 365 will be launched over the coming months including both Enterprise and Business editions, targeting large organisations and SMBs respectively. Delegates heard that this new platform, which will be “infused with AI”, represents a transformation in how Microsoft takes its commercial offerings to market.

Nadella stated: “Microsoft 365 represents a fundamental shift in how we will design, build and go to market to address our customers’ needs for a modern workplace.”

“It’s a more cohesive approach and reflects the shift our partners and our mutual customers are making — from viewing productivity, security and device management as individual workloads to seeking a comprehensive approach to secure productivity.”

Here is what we know so far about Microsoft 365:

MICROSOFT 365 ENTERPRISE

• Offered in E3 and E5 levels and available for purchase as of 01 August 2017
• Unlocks creativity by enabling people to work naturally with ink, voice and touch, all backed by tools that utilise AI and machine learning.
• Provides the broadest and deepest set of apps and services with a universal toolkit for teamwork, giving people flexibility and choice in how they connect, share and communicate.
• Simplifies IT by unifying management across users, devices, apps and services.
• Helps safeguard customer data, company data and intellectual property with built-in, intelligent security.

MICROSOFT 365 BUSINESS

• Available in public preview on 02 August 2017 with general availability later in 2017
• Helps companies achieve more together by better connecting employees, customers and suppliers.
• Empowers employees to get work done from anywhere, on any device.
• Protects company data across devices with always-on security.
• Simplifies the set-up and management of employee devices and services with a single IT console.

We also know that customers will be offered three new applications for their suite of software in Microsoft 365 Business:

• Microsoft Listings – a simple-to-use email marketing service.
• Microsoft Connections – an easy way to publish business information on top sites.
• Microsoft Invoicing – a new way to create and deliver professional invoices.

Stayed tuned for more updates here and on our Twitter feeds: @Utilize_PLC and @Fawke101.

 

FOOTAGE FROM MICROSOFT INSPIRE