Wortell, Microsoft en meer...

Over Cloud Computing

Vandaag ontving ik een exemplaar van het boek "Over Cloud Computing". Hiervoor heb ik een tekst geschreven over de Microsoft Business Productitity Suite. Heb het boek nog niet door kunnen lezen maar het ziet er leuk uit!

Over Cloud Computing

Waarom een taxi kopen, als je alleen vervoer nodig hebt?

Cloud computing. Wat is het en welke mogelijkheden biedt het? Dit boek geeft antwoorden over dit fenomeen. Op heldere wijze ontsluiten achttien experts hun kennis over dit onderwerp. Een kijkje in de techniek wordt afgewisseld met een meer strategische verhandeling, waarna u een concreet stappenplan voor mogelijke toetreding tot de cloud krijgt aangereikt.. Experts tonen aan dat betrouwbare ict ivoor iedereen betaalbaar en bereikbaar is, via cloud computing. Het is niet langer nodig grote investeringen te doen. Want inderdaad: waarom een taxi kopen als je alleen vervoer nodig hebt?

192 pagina's

Prijs: € 26,50 euro (incl. 6% btw en excl. verzendkosten)

Te bestellen bij www.uitgeverijtiem.nl

Online debat: Microsoft Partnerstrategie versus SalesForce.com

Vanaf vandaag zullen Stephen Elop, President van de Microsoft Business Division, en Mark Benioff, DEO Salesforce.com, een debat met elkaar voeren. Onderwerp van het debat: Is de cloud daadwerkelijk te vertrouwen.

Microsoft gelooft in een strategie waarbij de Cloud een belangrijke positie zal innemen. Daarbij zijn volgens Microsoft echter de meest belangrijke factoren dat er een mix model mogelijk moet zijn voor klanten (Cloud / On Premise) en dat klanten ondersteund moeten worden door een stevig partnermodel.

Mark Benioff van SalesForce.com spreekt dat tegen.

Het debat zal de hele week wordt gehost door de Economist.com. Gisteren was de opening, vandaag hebben beide partijen de eerste statements geplaatst en vanaf de 13^de zullen partijen de mogelijkheid hebben commentaar op elkaar te geven, waarna op de 18^de de slotstatements gemaakt moeten worden.

Je kan actief meedoen in het debat. Dit door jezelf in te schrijven en op de stellingen van de 2 topmannen te stemmen.

URL: http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/157/Cloud%20Computing

SkyTeam Alliance over op Microsoft Online

Vanmorgen heeft Microsoft een persbericht uitgestuurt waarin ondermeer is aangekondigd dat SkyTeam Alliance is overgestapt op Microsoft Online, BPOS. HIeronder een klein uittreksel uit het persbericht over de migratie die door Wortell is verzorgt.

 

SkyTeam Alliance

SkyTeam is de wereldwijde alliantie van luchtvaartmaatschappijen met negen leden – Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, Aeroflot, Delta Air Lines, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines en Korean Air – plus twee geassocieerde maatschappijen Air Europa en Kenya Airways. Deze organisatie heeft gekozen voor het gebruik van de volledige Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite voor bijna 450 medewerkers. Dit zijn voornamelijk medewerkers die veel mobiel werken en die dankzij BPOS altijd en overal, makkelijk en snel toegang hebben tot hun bedrijfsgegevens. BPOS is bij SkyTeam geïmplementeerd door Wortell, de eerste Microsoft partner in Nederland die BPOS bij klanten heeft geïmplementeerd.

 

Bruno Faccini, verantwoordelijk voor IT bij SkyTeam: “SkyTeam heeft voor BPOS gekozen omdat we het IT-beheer willen minimaliseren. We hoeven nu niet te investeren in serverinfrastructuur, softwarelicenties en IT-personeel. Hiermee denken we ongeveer 30 procent van de kosten te besparen, ten opzichte van een traditionele omgeving. De bekendheid met de tools - zodat er geen tijd verloren gaat met het leerproces - en de probleemloze integratie met onze IT-omgeving waren voor ons belangrijke redenen om te kiezen voor het online-aanbod van Microsoft. Momenteel gebruiken we al Exchange Online, Office Communications Online en Live Meeting. Volgende week gaat SharePoint Online wereldwijd live met een training bij KLM.”

Azure Business Model

Tijdens de WPC zijn de prijzen bekend gemaakt van Azure. Dit is vervolgens bevestigd in een post door Microsoft:

Today, during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 we announced the business and partner model for the Windows Azure platform including service level agreements and support programs.

Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services will be commercially available at the Professional Developer Conference 2009 and we hope you will continue building on the Community Technology Preview (CTP) at no cost today.    

Upon commercial availability we will offer Windows Azure through a consumption-based pricing model, allowing partners and customers to pay only for the services that they consume.

Windows Azure: O Compute @  $0.12 / hour                      O Storage @ $0.15 / GB stored O Storage Transactions @ $0.01 / 10K		SQL Azure: O Web Edition – Up to 1 GB relational database @ $9.99 O Business Edition – Up to 10 GB relational database @ $99.99	.NET Services: O Messages @ $0.15/100K message operations , including Service Bus messages and Access Control tokens
Bandwidth across all three services will be charged at $0.10 in / $0.15 out / GB

   

Windows Azure compute hours are charged only for when your application is deployed so while developing and testing your application you may want to remove the compute instances that are not being used to minimize compute hour billing.  Windows Azure storage is metered in units of average daily amount of data stored (in GB) over a monthly period.  Storage is also metered in terms of storage transactions used to add, update, read and delete storage data. These are billed at a rate of $0.01 for 10,000 (10k) transaction requests.  Bandwidth is charged based on the total amount of data going in and out of the Windows Azure platform services via the internet in a given 30-day period.

While consumption based pricing provides great flexibility we have also heard it introduces a level of unpredictability and some customers prefer other options.  At launch we will share details of subscription offers that provide payment predictability and price discounts that reflect levels of usage commitment. 

To support partners' and customers' complex business needs we are providing an enterprise-class guarantee backed by a service-level agreement that covers service uptime, connectivity, and data availability.  For compute, we guarantee that when you deploy two or more role instances in different fault and upgrade domains your Internet facing roles will have external connectivity at least 99.95% of the time. Additionally, we will monitor all of your individual role instances and detect within two minutes when a role instance's process is not running and initiate corrective action.   For storage, we guarantee that at least 99.9% of the time we will successfully process correctly formatted requests that we receive to add, update, read and delete data. We also guarantee that your storage accounts will have connectivity to our Internet gateway.  

As part of the Microsoft Partner Network, partners receive an additional 5 percent promotional discount on Windows Azure compute, SQL Azure and .NET Services.   As an added benefit of MSDN Premium we also announced we will provide subscribers with resources to build, test, and manage full scale cloud based applications.  We will also provide the Development Accelerator promotional offer for partners and customers who want to quickly develop and deploy applications with dynamic scaling, predictable pricing, and a deep discount. 

At launch we will have offers available in local currencies for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the United States.  In the March 2010 timeframe we expect commercial availability to expand to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, and Taiwan.  Additional countries and currencies will be launched as quickly as possible. 

Source:

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsazure/archive/2009/07/14/confirming-commercial-availability-and-announcing-business-model.aspx

Microsoft’s Popfly houdt op te bestaan

In 1997 heeft Microsoft een online platform in het level gebracht onder de naam Popfly. De online omgeving was bedoeld om ervaring op te doen met Mashups. Ontwikkelaars konden in de online omgeving op een redelijk eenvoudige manier mashups creeren die vervolgens op websites gebruikt konden worden.

Popfly heeft ongeveer 2 jaar bestaan. De omgeving is al die tijd een expiriment en in Beta gebleven. Nu na twee jaar stop Microsoft met Popfly. Mary-Jo Foley geeft in haar weblog aan dat de reden voor het stoppen van Popfly is dat er geen verdere ontwikkelingen in te maken zijn en de economische recessie de organisatie dwingt zich op andere zaken te concentreren.

In een e-mail die Microsoft heeft verzonden geeft ze aan dat ontwikkelaars die verder willen gaan met het ontwikkelen van Mashups zich kunnen richten op het Microsoft web patform. Ontwikkelaars die zich willen bezighouden met ontwikkeling voor de XBOX kunnen zich wenden tot Microsoft XNA of Microsoft Kodu (Kodu is overigens echt het bekijken waard).

BPOS Artikel in NetOpus

In de NetOpus van Juli 2009 is een door mij geschreven artikel gepubliceerd over de Business Productivity Online Suite. In het artikel beschrijf ik wat BPOS kan, hoe het gebruikt en geactiveerd kan worden en wanneer je het in kan zetten. Je kunt het blad bestellen op http://www.netopus.nl/.

Wil je een kopie van het artikel, laat het mij even weten.

Blackberry met BPOS

Voor iedereen die dat zou willen, en eerlijk gezegd zou ik niet weten waarom, is het mogelijk om de Blackberry aan te sluiten op Exchange Online (onderdeel BPOS). Om dit te kunnen doen dient een aanvulling op de bestaande dienstverlening aangeschaft te worden. Met die uitbreiding op de bestaande dienstverlening is het mogelijk om een Blackberry met Exchange online te configureren.

De kosten voor het opzetten van Blackberry support voor Exchange online bedragen euro 42,60 per account (eenmalig), met een minimum van euro 1000. Daar komen de maandelijkse kosten van euro 8,52 per gebruiker bovenop.

De dienst wordt niet standaard aangeboden maar moet apart worden aangevraagd.

Even ter referentie. Indien Windows Mobile of zelfs de Apple iPhone op Exchange Online wordt aangesloten is het niet noodzakelijk van de Blackberry server (waar uiteindelijk de extra kosten voor betaald moeten worden) te betalen. Dit is geheel gratis en werkt direct.

Voor iedereen die het toch niet kan laten hieronder de beschrijving:

Mobile Device Solutions Feature Summary

Device Type	Exchange Online	SharePoint Online	Licensing Details	Special Offers
Windows Mobile	Push e-mail, calendar, contacts with global address list (GAL) integration, tasks Password reset and device wipe	Access SharePoint Online sites securely View and act on SharePoint Online content Requires third-party browser	Available at no additional fee Not available with Deskless Worker license	Try: Free Palm Treo trial Buy: Palm Treo "Buy 9 get 1 free" Subscribe: Enterprise Mobile
Exchange ActiveSync*	Push e-mail, calendar, contacts with GAL integration, tasks Password reset and device wipe	Access SharePoint Online sites securely View and act on SharePoint Online content Consult individual device description for browser capabilities	Available at no additional fee Not available with Deskless Worker license
RIM BlackBerry	Push e-mail, calendar, contacts with global address list (GAL) integration, tasks Password reset and device wipe See RIM BlackBerry Devices for complete details.	Access SharePoint Online sites securely View and act on SharePoint Online content Access via BlackBerry browser	Three Solution Options: BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) Microsoft Hosted BlackBerry Service Partner Blackberry client solutions Not available with Deskless Worker license Require additionalservices fees (except BIS)	Try: Free NotifySync trial Buy: 10 percent off NotifySync partner offer

NOTE: For all solution options, it is the customer's responsibility to procure, deploy, manage, and support mobile client software and compatible devices, and manage relationships with wireless carriers. Microsoft Online Services does not provide end-user device support.

Mobile Device Solutions Cost Estimates

Costs	Windows Mobile Devices	Exchange ActiveSync Devices	BlackBerry Devices
			BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS)	Partner Solution (NotifySync)	Microsoft Online Hosted Blackberry Service
Microsoft Service	None	none	none	none	$5/user/month plus $50/user setup fee
Application License (sold by application provider)	None	none	none	Based on volumes, about $4/user /month	Based on volumes, about $2-$9/user/ month over three years (server and client licenses and support agreement)
Mobile Data Connectivity (sold by mobile operator)	$30 per user per month (requires mobile data plan)	$30 per user per month (requires mobile data plan)	$30 per user per month (requires BIS data plan)	$30 per user per month (requires BIS data plan)	$45 per user per month (requires BES data plan)
Total Estimated Cost	$30 per user per month	$30 per user per month	$30 per user per month	$34 per user per month	$53-$60 per user per month

RIM BlackBerry Devices

Microsoft Online Services provides three paths for Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry device users to access Exchange Online and SharePoint Online.

• BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS)
• Microsoft Online Serves hosted BlackBerry service
• Partner solutions for BlackBerry devices

The following sections detail these offerings for Exchange Online. For Sharepoint Online, BlackBerry users can simply use the browser on their BlackBerry device to access SharePoint Online sites.

BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS)

BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is available through mobile operators around the globe and enables push e-mail to your BlackBerry device at no additional cost beyond the BIS connection from your mobile operator. Other Exchange Online information – such as Contacts and Calendar – are not pushed to the device through BIS. You can update this type of information on your device using a wired connection.

To set up BIS to use with Exchange Online, your mobile operator, will request your Outlook Web Access (OWA) address, which is determined by the storage location of your Microsoft Online Services data. The storage location is generally the one closest to your company headquarters. The following table provides URLs for storage locations.

Exchange Online Addresses for BIS Setup

Location	Address
Asia Pacific (APAC)	https://mail.apac.microsoftonline.com
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)	https://mail.emea.microsoftonline.com
North America	https://mail.microsoftonline.com

For information on BIS capabilities and fees, please see your mobile operator.

Microsoft Online Hosted BlackBerry Service

For customers who already have or prefer to purchase their own BlackBerry client and server licenses, Microsoft Online offers a Hosted BlackBerry service.

Service Delivery Model

With the Hosted BlackBerry service, customers bring the BES licenses they have already purchased to Microsoft to provide hosting and operational support within the Microsoft Online Services data centers. The customer has the following responsibilities:

• Provide Microsoft with RIM BES Server Routing Protocol (SRP) Identifier, BES license, and client access licenses (CALs) to enable deployment of BlackBerry services in Microsoft Online Services data centers.
• Include Microsoft its existing RIM support agreement of level TX2 or higher as a "named caller" to enable Microsoft to contact RIM on the customers' behalf for support services.

Microsoft has the following responsibilities:

• Host and operate Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) in the Microsoft Online Services data center(s)
• Provide technical support to customer's IT administrator(s), including interfacing with RIM on troubleshooting as needed using customer's existing RIM support agreement

This delivery model may evolve with customer needs and Microsoft capabilities.

Service Features

The Hosted BlackBerry service features encompass the most commonly requested BlackBerry capabilities for Microsoft Online Services customers.

• Email and Personal Information Management (PIM):
  • E-mail
  • Calendar
  • Contacts with GAL integration. Contact integration supports lookup across multiple domains for users in a single Microsoft Online account.
  • Tasks
• Device management
  • Device wipe
  • Password reset
• BlackBerry handsets supported
  • Blackberry operating system version 4.2 or later
    • Future Blackberry operating system versions are supported shortly after release by major carriers
• Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) supported
  • BES 4.1.6
  • All BES upgrades done at Microsoft's discretion and standardized across customers

Service Settings

As with other Microsoft Online Services, Hosted BlackBerry is a standardized service and is not customized per customer. All service policies and settings are as listed in the Policy Reference Guide at http://na.blackberry.com/eng/deliverables/3801/Policy_Reference_Guide.pdf with the exception of the choice of password and no-password policies. Settings for these policies are detailed here:

• No password required policy. Default policy that is applied unless a customer specifically requests the password protected policy.
  • Device-Only Items: Password Required = False
  • Global Items: Allow Browser = False
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable PIN Messages Wireless Sync = True
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable SMS Messages Wireless Sync = True
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable Phone Call Log Wireless Sync = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable MDS Runtime = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable Activation With Public BlackBerry MDS Integration Service = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable User-Initiated Activation with the BlackBerry MDS Integration Service = True
• Password required policy
  • Device-Only Items: Password Required = True
  • Device-Only Items: User Can Disable Password = False
  • Global Items: Allow Browser = False
  • Password Policy Group: Set Password Timeout = 15
  • Password Policy Group: Set Maximum Password Attempts = 5
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable PIN Messages Wireless Sync = True
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable SMS Messages Wireless Sync = True
  • PIM Sync Policy Group: Disable Phone Call Log Wireless Sync = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable MDS Runtime = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable Activation With Public BlackBerry MDS Integration Service = True
  • MDS Integration Service Policy Group: Disable User-Initiated Activation with the BlackBerry MDS Integration Service = True

Service Pricing and Conditions

The Hosted BlackBerry Service is purchased and billed separately from Exchange Online Standard or the Business Productivity Online Suite Standard through a separate month-to-month auto-renewing agreement. Pricing is $5.00 (USD) per user per month. There is a $50 per useruser one-time setup fee and a minimum of 20 users.

Customers must purchase their BlackBerry server and client licenses and support agreement separately from RIM.

To purchase the Hosted BlackBerry Service, contact your Microsoft representative or Microsoft Online Services partner to request a Hosted BlackBerry service agreement. If you do not have a Microsoft partner or representative, you may request a Hosted BlackBerry service agreement through customer service for Microsoft Online Services. See http://www.microsoft.com/online/support.mspx for contacts.

Met Live Meeting naar Canada en Brazilie

Bij het Elde college, waar Wortell het hele netwerk heeft gemigreerd naar een Microsoft platform, wordt komende schooljaar elke (leer)grens overschreden.
 
Met een school in Canada en één in Brazilie, wordt in 2010 een school musical opgevoerd. Nu is dat niet heel erg vreemd, maar in dit geval wordt het hele concept met elkaar gedeeld, voorbereid en uitgevoerd via.......... OCS en Live Meeting.
 
Anytime, anywhere, anyplace met "het nieuwe leren".

BPOS: Jurisdiction and Location of Data for EU

Many of our customers ask us the question in which country BPOS is hosted for the EU. Next to this we often get the question under which country legislation / jurisdiction is arranged for the Microsoft Online Services.

For the European Countries BPOS is hosted in Ireland. There is a backup environment in Holland.

Legislation / Jurisdiction would be the country where provisioning occurs. For European countries this would therefore be Ireland.

Why is this so important? The largest impact is the European privacy law. This law differs greatly from the American law. A good article about the main differences can be found here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221111/

Microsoft Online Services (BPOS) USA krijgt update

Over the next few days BPOS usa will get an update. This update will provide some extra functionality but does require some changes to SharePoint Online and the Directory Synchronization tooling. Next to this you’ll have to update the SSO tool.

The message send by the BPOS team is copied below:

Upgrade Timeline

3/26 The new version of the Sign In application is available for download 4/15 Optional upgrade notifications appear in the Sign In application 5/15 Mandatory upgrade notification appears in the Sign In application

We are writing to inform you of three changes to the service that may require updates to your environment.

1. Sign In Application

In mid-May, Microsoft Online Services will require an update to the Sign In application. The options for deploying this upgrade are:

Allow users to automatically upgrade the Sign In application when prompted (no administration required) Suppress the display of update notifications until you are ready to upgrade Deploy the Sign In application to your users’ computers

See Upgrade Your Sign In Application to assist you in planning for this change to your environment.

2. SharePoint Online Update

Have you customized your SharePoint Site Collections? If you have changed the SharePoint Online master page or uploaded a custom master page, you will need to take action before the April upgrade. See Update Your Microsoft SharePoint Online Site Collections for more information.

If you have not customized your site collections, no action is needed.

3. Directory Synchronization Update

Do you use the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool? If so, you will be interested to learn that Windows Update recently released a high priority update that will stop your Directory Synchronization service. After installing this update, you will need to restart Directory Synchronization. For more information, see Directory Synchronization Update.