Tag: microsoft

Microsoft’s ‘Planetary Computer’ switched on

Posted on April 20, 2020 by - News

Software King of the World, Microsoft, has been showing off its latest sustainability initiative.

Dubbed Planetary Computer, the project is an expansion on the vendor’s current AI For Earth initiative, which sees environmental organisations around the world use artificial intelligence to create solutions to environmental challenges.

Microsoft president Brad Smith gave specific examples of how the platform will work in a blog post, stating that it will provide searchable satellite imagery, machine learning tools and user-contributed data about forest boundaries, as well as leveraging predictive models to estimate global carbon stocks and inform decisions about land use that impacts the ability to address climate change.

Microsoft relaxes partner programmes

Posted on April 9, 2020 by - News

Software king of the world, Microsoft, has relaxed its partner programmes to provide more support to channel businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Writing in the company bog, Vole said it would offer companies several improvements, including upgraded incentives, additional go-to-market resources, as well as skills competency extensions for products such as Azure.

Microsoft said the changes should provide increased flexibility to channel firms, regardless of whether they plan to accelerate or slow down business during the coronavirus disruption.

Channel brings 10,000 ventilators to the NHS

Posted on March 31, 2020 by - News

A number of firms across the computer channel, led by Microsoft, Dell, Arrow Electronics, Accenture and PTC have banded together to form a consortium to deliver 10,000 ventilators to the NHS.

The consortium is headed by Dick Elsy, CEO of High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC), a group of manufacturing research centres in the UK and is made up of Airbus, BAE Systems, Ford, GKN Aerospace, Inspiration Healthcare, Meggitt, Penlon, Renishaw, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Smiths Group, Thales, Ultra Electronics, Unilever and a number of UK-based F1 teams.

Microsoft sorts out its supply chains

Posted on March 27, 2020 by - News

Rusty chain - Wikimedia CommonsMicrosoft’s supply chains are back on track, though the “bigger issue” is the demand for products in Western countries battling Covid-19, according to CEO Satya Nadella.

Having a chat with CNBC, the software king of the world said he was confident that product launches announced pre-outbreak would continue as planned, but said that he is concerned about demand in regions battling the virus.

Nadella said: “The supply chains are all coming back; right now that is not a real issue. I think the bigger issue is what happens in the US and Europe and other developed markets about the demand side, going forward.”

Nadella said that he feel good about where Microsoft was at the moment. 

Vole slows Windows 10 updates

Posted on March 26, 2020 by - News

Microsoft will no longer release non-essential updates to its line of Windows operating systems during the  coronavirus outbreak.

From May 2020, businesses will only receive the most important critical security updates for a swathe of Windows systems, including the recently-published Windows 10 version 1909 through to Windows Servier 2008 SP2.

K3 considers closure of ‘under-performing’ third-party solutions arm

Posted on March 25, 2020 by - News

Microsoft and Sage partner   K3 is “actively reviewing” the possibility of shuttering one of its under performing third-party solutions units.

It issued the warning as it announced it would be revealing its full-year results for its year ending 30 November 2019 at a later date, following advice from the FCA and AIM.

K3 is declining to forecast business operations for the current financial year, due to the impact of COVID-19. It intends to provide a further trading update in May.

Wipro opens Microsoft Business Unit

Posted on March 20, 2020 by - News

IT services firm Wipro has unveiled its new Microsoft Business Unit offering to push Microsoft’s enterprise cloud services.

The Microsoft Business Unit is made up of a team of Azure consultants and specialists that will aid digital transformation through Wipro’s glorious Empire.

Customers can Wipro’s range of domain-based offerings, including Cloud Studio, for migration of different workloads on Microsoft Azure, Data and Microsoft Dynamics 365 via its as a service model.

VIP UK is Microsoft OEM distributor

Posted on February 18, 2020 by - News

Microsoft campusMicrosoft has named VIP as its OEM distributor after taking away the role in an RFP process around seven years ago.

Managing director Rich Marsden said his outfit had spent four years rebuilding its direct relationship with Microsoft and had now regained its official status.

He said that Microsoft spent a lot of time evaluating what we can do for them.

Resellers risk Microsoft’s ire

Posted on February 3, 2020 by - News

Microsoft campusMore than 70 percent of resellers might find themselves shunned by the software king of the world Microsoft for failing to sign its latest Partner Agreement.

All cloud solution provider (CSP) indirect resellers were required to accepted Microsoft’s new Partner Agreement by the end of January, or else they will be restricted from transactions through Microsoft CSP programme.

According to SoftwareONE data, more than 70 percent of CSP indirect resellers haven’t completed the agreement or been added to Microsoft’s system.

Joe Macri retires

Posted on January 28, 2020 by - News

Joe Macri is retiring as Microsoft’s UK partner boss in June this year, bringing a 24-year stint with the vendor to an end.

Macri was appointed VP of Vole’s commercial partner division in the UK in July 2017 after a long history in other Microsoft roles.

On LinkedIn, Macri said he would “retire from Microsoft on 30 June”.

Ballmer was responsible for Microsoft’s cloud success

Posted on January 22, 2020 by - News

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is widely credited with reviving Microsoft with a move to the cloud, has said that Azure was the brainchild of the shy and retiring former CEO Steve Ballmer.

Nadella told CNBC that Ballmer played a key role in the refocus to cloud.

“The guy who gave me permission to do all this was Steve Ballmer. He wanted us to be bold and go at the cloud very aggressively and that is what we did”, Nadella said.

Microsoft backs down

Posted on November 4, 2019 by - News

Software King of the World, Microsoft, has backed down its much-criticised self-service scheme and made it possible for IT departments to switch off.

The move would have let employees within an organisation bypass their IT departments to buy licenses for three Office 365 products –  for Power BI, PowerApps and Flow using just their Azure Active Directory (AD) login details and own payment details, without having to consult with their IT departments.

Huawei has master plan but, beware the tiger!

Posted on September 25, 2019 by - News

Opinion Chinese multinational Huawei has revealed its plans to use its entire product reach to dominate the marketplace from mobile phones up through the desktop to the server level. Oh, and smart everything too, like motor cars and robots.

Last week, in Shanghai, your correspondent attended the Advanced Intelligence conference and attended a number of keynotes. You can find some of my coverage at Fudzilla.com.

It was pretty impressive stuff, and the keynotes spelled out the future.

Microsoft risks hacking off partners

Posted on September 23, 2019 by - News

Software king of the world Microsoft is risking hacking off its partners again with another range of unpopular changes to its benefits.

For those who missed it, Microsoft infuriated its partner community earlier this year by announcing it would ditch its internal use rights (IUR) benefits, only to change its mind after a backlash.

Now Vole has quietly announced it will scrap its Deployment Planning Services from February 2020, along with its Software Assurance training voucher scheme.