Tag: microsoft

Microsoft to jack up prices

Posted on July 27, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Software King of the World is feeling a bit short in the money department and thinks that the best way to remedy this is to jack up its prices on a range of on-premise and cloud products in October, the vendor has confirmed in a blog post.

The changes include a 10 percent increase in Office 2019 commercial prices, while the price of Windows 10 Enterprise will also be raised.

Microsoft said the changes will be implemented in October, with a preview set to be available in September.

Writing in his bog, a SpokesVole said: “On 1 October 2018, we will adjust pricing for our licensing programmes and make price adjustments to on-premise and cloud products.

“These changes will highlight the benefits of our pricing for a cloud-first world, help us move from a programme-centric to a customer-centric pricing structure, and create more consistency and transparency across our purchasing channels.”

It appears that the changes will simplify Microsoft’s licensing offering but on the downside prices will rise with Voles  Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) partners may be the most affected.

 

Microsoft gets all hybrid

Posted on July 23, 2018 by - News

Canalys 2018 Software king of the world Microsoft wants to work with partners around something it calls a “hybrid message” in the coming year.

While we thought it wanted to deliver press releases to its partners in a Prius, apparently it means something cloudy. Vole was talking a lot about  Azure and the move to cloud but the firm is working with partners to stress the benefits of the hybrid approach.

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella said that pushing hybrid was going to be a theme with the channel.

“I think that these hybrid used benefits are being sorted of best-kept secrets. So, I’m hoping that going into this next fiscal year, we do a much better job, and customers do a much better job, but they don’t benefit because the advantage Azure has because of the hybrid used benefits across the entire workload are pretty phenomenal.”

“We had a good set of sessions at our partner meetings this week just really making sure that everybody understands those benefits. So, I don’t think that, that is really played out. If anything, all the growth we have seen is in spite of that not being broadly revenue driving growth”, Nadella added.

The fourth quarter numbers for the three months ended 30 June showed that the firm had delivered $30.09 billion in revenue with net income of $8.9 billion slightly ahead of the same period last year.

Office commercial products and cloud services revenue increased by 10 percent with Office 365 driving that with an increase of 38 percent year-on-year.  Server products and cloud services were up by 26 percent with Azure improving by 89 percent.

Enterprise services revenue improved by eight percent and Windows OEM increased by seven percent. Windows commercial products climbed by 23 percent and Surface remains an important area delivering 25 percent growth.

For the full year the firm smashed through the $100bn barrier with revenues of $110.4 billion, a 14 percent improvement on fiscal 2017, with the cloud driving a lot of that growth.

 

AI does not mean the death of privacy says Microsoft

Posted on July 20, 2018 by - News

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEOMicrosoft supreme Dalek Satya Nadella has told partners that AI does not mean the death of privacy.

Addressing the assembled throngs in his keynote speech at Microsoft’s Inspire global conference in Las Vegas, Nadella said the tech could improve human relationships, but also warned that ethics must be implemented to ensure users’ privacy.

“We have to do our very best work when it comes to privacy because as technology becomes pervasive in our lives, we have to approach everything with the fundamental assumption that privacy is a human right”, he said.

Nadella emphasised that the IT industry needs a set of “ethical principles” to ensure that technology does not unduly influence real-life events.

“We want to make sure that anything that we do doesn’t amplify bias, doesn’t hijack our attention, and doesn’t sway opinion”, he said.

“The Tech Accord is a fantastic example of that because the world in our time needs a new Geneva Convention. We need to make sure that the most vulnerable populations are protected from these new weapons. And when it comes to AI, we have to have a set of principles that guide the development of AI.”

He did not mention the vendor’s recent acquisition of conversational AI company Semantic Machines, but he emphasised that Microsoft is working to ensure its machine learning will soon have the same conversational capabilities as a human being.

“In the last couple of years, some of the advances – especially as measured by our ability to have human parity in a lot of these perception and language capabilities – is pretty stunning”, Nadella added.

He explained that the “ultimate AI challenge” for Microsoft is to develop a two-way natural conversation between bot and human.

“We’re also trying to push this concept of language understanding or this capability of language understanding to the next level, to have the ability to do full duplex conversations”, he added.

Rimilia signs up for Microsoft’s Scale-up

Posted on June 18, 2018 by - News

satanic pactGlobal intelligent financial automation software provider Rimilia  has teamed up with Microsoft after being accepted onto Vole’s ScaleUp programme.

For those who came in late, the ScaleUp programme is part of the Microsoft for Startups initiative and connects companies with new customers and channel partners and is underpinned by a $500 million investment to drive innovation and growth.

The Rimilia solution automates the complete account receivables process, enabling organisations to control their cash flow and cash collection in real-time, using sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection.

Rimilia already has a number of customers on the Microsoft Azure platform including Interserve, Speedy Hire, Securitas and Rentokil. Rimilia has commenced migrating its global blue chip customer base onto Azure, and recent customer wins are being deployed onto the Microsoft Azure application service, delivering enhanced security, resilience, scalability and responsiveness.

MD Microsoft for Startups, Warwick Hill, said: “We were struck by Rimilia’s solution. We constantly look to drive value for both Microsoft Clients and the companies being supported in our ScaleUp program – Rimilia is a perfect example of that sweet spot. The ability for our clients to leverage Rimilia’s solution to automate and digitally transform their accounts receivable and audit processes will drive the co-sell partnership for years to come. The power of Microsoft Azure and Dynamics365, coupled with Rimilia’s specific industry and software expertise is a powerful combination.”

Steve Richardson, CCO and co-founder of Rimilia, said: “We are delighted to be working on the Microsoft Startups programme. Microsoft has been tremendously supportive and professional throughout the whole onboarding process. Having never lost a customer to a competitor the extra “stickiness” of working with Microsoft will consolidate that position as well as create a base to support our ambitious expansion plans.”

Microsoft looks to AI to make a conversation

Posted on May 22, 2018 by - News

essential-talk-talk-51fd8e90e1476Software king of the world Microsoft has acquired Semantic Machines – a US-based conversational AI company.

David Ku, CVP and CTO of research and AI at Microsoft, said that most bots today, such as Siri and Cortana, can understand basic commands, but nothing more complicated.

“For rich and effective communication, intelligent assistants need to be able to have a natural dialogue instead of just responding to commands”, Ku explained, adding that this was called ‘conversational AI’.

Semantic Machines was founded by Larry Gillick, former chief speech scientist for Siri at Apple. The company claims to enable more natural interactions between humans and computers, and that its developing technology will understand conversational nuances.

Ku stated that this acquisition would integrate conversational AI into Microsoft’s own AI services, such as Cortana and Azure Bot Service. “Combining Semantic Machines’ technology with Microsoft’s own AI advances, we aim to deliver powerful, natural and more productive user experiences that will take conversational computing to a new level”, he said.

Ku said that Semantic Machines’ acquisition furthers the tech giant’s goal of creating computers that can “see, hear, talk and understand” as humans. This will be integrated into the company’s digital assistant Cortana, along with its chatbot XiaoIce, which has conducted over 30 billion conversations with people across Asia and the US.

 

Ryanair to swap Microsoft for AWS

Posted on May 21, 2018 by - News

Software King of the World Microsoft has received a vote of no confidence in its cloud ambitions after Budget airline Ryanair decided to ditch its data centres and shift its infrastructure to Amazon Web Services.

The bucket shop which often charges you more for your baggage than the actual ticket, already uses the Amazon cloud for sections of its business – such as its website Ryanair.com and Ryanair Rooms – but will now shift the rest of its data into it over the next three years.

Ryanair also plans to set up a data lake on Amazon’s S3 service that will useAmazon Kinesis to gain insights from customers and its broader business. It will ditch Microsoft SQL Server and switch to Amazon Aurora for its European email marketing campaigns.

Ryanair CTO, John Hurley said that it wanted to work with the world’s leading cloud to develop and deliver services that will transform customers’ travel experiences.  This will involve rebuilding core applications, converting data into actionable insights, and creating intelligent applications; we are putting the solutions in place to continue our leadership in the travel industry.

Ryanair will also work with AWS’s ML Solutions Lab to create an application that detects surges in demand for specific flights and predicts changes to flight schedules.

 

Netmetix scores Fantoo cloud project

Posted on April 18, 2018 by - News

cloudbustWorkplace productivity provider Fantoo has recruited cloudy outfit Netmetix to move from a Microsoft direct licence to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) model in a bid to reduce costs.

As a Microsoft tenant, Fantoo was paying the maximum costs for its cloud services and those costs were spiraling. It quickly became apparent that these associated costs were not sustainable for the start-up business and needed to be minimised. After deliberation, the business began the process of looking to move from being a direct Microsoft Tenant to working with a CSP.

After researching various cloud providers, Fantoo finally chose Netmetix as it was the best fit for what the business needed and was also recommended to them through another client. Although the partnership is still in its early stages, Fantoo has so far recorded a cost reduction of 50 percent for its cloud services from changing license types. By only migrating the information the business required, rather than all the information the business had, Netmetix has been able to significantly reduce the cloud costs for the business.

,Netmetix MD Paul Blore said:  “We’re really excited to be working with Fantoo. It’s a great company and the partnership has been a success so far with the business reporting a huge cost saving within a short timeframe. We’re thrilled that we’ve been able to provide the infrastructure and services to meet their needs now, and in the future.”

Fantoo Sales Director Mark Buckley added: “Netmetix were very approachable and no issue was a problem, they were very professional in what they did and very “human” with a personal touch. What I found with our Netmetix engineer, Oana, is that she really listened to our needs and offered valuable advice and alternative approaches to the way we were thinking. She went out of her way to accommodate our needs and our timelines to deliver the project on time and to plan.

“It’s difficult to see how any on-premise server solutions today, or services, can offer any value above what the cloud can offer, today and going forward. Cloud services are more scalable, quicker to deliver, offer more business value than any on-premise server offered today. Our business could not operate in any other way now. We are cloud and we’re cloud through and through.”

 

Microsoft’s reshuffle affects its channel

Posted on April 9, 2018 by - News

reshuffleSoftware King of the World Microsoft has been reshuffling its management deck lately, and some of this will have a knock-on effect for its channel partners who will have to face a new organisational chart.

CEO Satya Nadella has split the former Windows and devices group into two teams meaning that executive vice president of the Windows and devices group Terry Myerson is clearing out his desk.

The new structure will see Rajesh Jha lead a team looking at Experiences & Devices, with the aim of providing a “unified experience” for those using devices at work or in the home.

Panos Panay will serve as chief product officer, leading the devices group, which includes the Surface product line. Windows will be handled by Joe Belfiore as it looks to roll the OS out across more devices.

Kudo Tsunoda will be looking at new experiences and technology, and Brad Anderson gets to oversee enterprise mobility and management.

Nadella indicated that Scott Guthrie would be expanding his responsibilities to lead a team focused on cloud and AI platforms.

That move then leads to other changes with Jason Zander is being promoted to executive vice president Azure. Other fresh appointments include Alex Kipman running the AI perception and mixed reality team, Eric Boyd and friends looking after AI cognitive services and platform and Eric Lockard running the universal store and commerce platform.

“We can’t let any organisational boundaries get in the way of innovation for our customers. This is why a growth mindset culture matters. Each one of us needs to push on what technology can do for people and our world”, Nadella said. Goodness knows what a growth mindset culture is…

 

 

Microsoft invests $5 billion in IoT

Posted on April 6, 2018 by - News

fings-ain-t-wot-they-used-t-be-all-star-studio-cast-recordingSoftware King of the World Microsoft has allocated $5 billion from its cash mountain to expand the internet of things.

The cash, which will be spent over the next four years aims to give Volish customers the ability to transform their businesses, and the world at large, with connected solutions.

Writing in the Microsoft bog, Julia White, CVP Microsoft Azure said that the impact of IoT solutions extends well beyond that into our daily lives.

“Our customers are delivering electricity to schools in Africa, creating better patient outcomes with predictive care, improving worker safety on job sites and driver safety on Alaskan roadways”, she said.

White said that Microsoft was seeing the kind of increased adoption and exponential growth that analysts have been forecasting for years and she thinks this effect will be pervasive, from connected homes and cars to manufacturers to smart cities and utilities—and everything in between.

“This increased investment will support continued innovation in our technology platform, as well as supporting programs. We will continue research and development in key areas, including securing IoT, creating development tools and intelligent services for IoT and the edge, and investments to grow our partner ecosystem. Customers and partners can expect new products and services, offerings, resources and programs”, she said.

She cited the case of Johnson Controls which transformed a thermostat into a smart device that can monitor a range of conditions to optimise building temperatures automatically. Schneider Electric has built a solution to harness solar energy in Nigeria and using Microsoft’s IoT platform to do maintenance remotely on the panels, quite literally to keep the lights on. Kohler has created a new line of intelligent kitchen and bath fixtures that are not only luxurious to use but more economical as well. The Alaska Department of Transportation is working with Colorado-based Fathym to build smart roadways that monitor weather conditions and can alert drivers and state officials about treacherous conditions.

“These stories keep rolling in. With each new implementation, we’re witnessing a unique transformation. We’re also getting a look into how both customers and partners overcome the specific challenges of building an IoT solution that harnesses massive amounts of data. Whether they’re building products that transform the home, office or factory floor, one thing remains clear: IoT is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort that spans cloud development, machine learning, AI, security and privacy”, White said.

Well, she would say that. And she did.

 

Microsoft’s pay gap better than average but still pretty terrible

Posted on March 30, 2018 by - News

glass-ceiling_1Microsoft’s female UK staff are paid on average seven percent less than their male counterparts, which is depressingly better than the rest of the overall workforce.

The government’s Gender Pay Gap report legislation, enacted last year, requires all firms with over 250 employees to disclose their pay gaps and Vole revealed that the mean hourly pay of its female staff is 6.55 percent lower than its male staff. The median figure stands at 8.42 per cent.

Although this sounds pretty bad, the overall gap in the UK national workforce is 17 percent. Vole also has significantly lower pay discrepancies than the rest of the UK.

In its gender pay gap report, Microsoft revealed that 26.5 percent of its UK workforce is female.

However, that percentage falls to 18.2 percent for technical roles and 22.9 percent among its leadership team. The bonuses Microsoft gave its female employees last year also trailed those handed to males by 11.22 percent.

Vole said that the reason there is any difference is probably due to having more men in its senior echelons but also highlighted the worrying lack of females choosing to study IT.

“To be successful in reducing the gender pay gap, we need to acknowledge the industry-wide challenge we face for available skills,” the report stated. This year, the number of female IT graduates in the UK dropped from 16 percent in 2016 to 15 percent in 2017, with a similarly disappointing picture of just 14 percent female graduates in Engineering and Technology. In 2017, just 10 percent of the entrants for A-level computing were female.

“This, combined with an industry average of 26 per cent female representation in the technology industry workforce, indicates a clear need to invest further in the future skills, talent and leadership pipeline for our industry.”

Microsoft is running a DigiGirlz programme, which is designed to provide secondary school girls with a better understanding of what a career in technology is all about by inviting them to spend a day at our UK headquarters.

Microsoft’s UK Boss Cindy Rose said that throughout her career, she had been a passionate advocate for women in the workplace.

“This is an issue of critical importance to me and to Microsoft. And, while I’m encouraged by the progress we are making on gender equality and representation, we still have a long way to go. We can always do more, and I feel the urgency to do so.”

AWS, VMware, Microsoft and Symantec are pants vendors

Posted on February 27, 2018 by - News

hqdefaultAWS, APC, Citrix, Huawei, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Veritas and VMware are lowest-scoring vendors in a channel management survey according to research outfit Canalys.

The Canalys Leadership Matrix was based on more than 2,700 responses from EMEA channel partners who were asked to rate their vendor partners across ten areas of channel management.

Canalys divided the results into four: “Champions”, “Growers”, “Contenders” and “Stragglers”, the survey also judges vendors on how their standing in the Leadership Matrix has changed.

Nine companies were placed in Canalys’ “Stragglers” quadrant, reserved for vendors that “have shown significant weakness in areas of channel management” or “have seen a deterioration in partner relationships, either by choice or mistake”.

AWS, APC, Citrix, Huawei, McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec, Veritas and VMware were all named as channel Stragglers in the survey.

Vole and VMware, two firms which have “highly successful businesses built on sales via partners,” were named and shamed in the report with Canalys saying that there was “a growing wave of channel dissatisfaction with both brands”.

Dell EMC’s appointment as an “official distributor” of VMware licences last year dealt a blow to its resellers and distributors and likely prompted a fall from grace among partners.

Canalys claimed that Microsoft, meanwhile, has been “accused of squeezing channel margins” through its Cloud Solution Provider partner programme.

The top-scoring vendors in the survey included Fujitsu, Cisco, Lenovo, Palo Alto Networks and Veeam. Canalys said that  Cisco’s quality of technical support for partners remains unparalleled when compared with its competitors, while Lenovo’s “Channel 2.0” initiative, which sought to simplify partner incentives, was well received by the channel.

Apple’s  overall rating was still relatively low compared with its peers, and its resellers still suffer from “low margin potential” and “rigid terms and conditions” from the vendor.

 

Microsoft creates a £14 million start-up hub in London

Posted on February 26, 2018 by - News

shutterstock_192614108Microsoft has launched a £14 million start-up hub in London which it says will connect tech start-ups with its UK partner base.

Dubbed The Reactor, the hub was launched by Microsoft UK CEO Cindy Rose and digital minister Margot James.  Rose said: “The reactor is a reflection of the enduring commitment to the UK as a destination for digital innovation, and the importance that we place on nurturing and developing start-up talent in the UK, which we know is Europe’s hotspot for technology innovation.

“This space is designed and located in the heart of Shoreditch to help us connect better with the technology start-up and scale-up community; offer access to Microsoft’s technology, platform and tools; and connect with our enterprise customers and partners.”

The facility, which will see $20 million invested over ten years – will offer free office space for start-ups and give them access to Microsoft’s partners and products.

Microsoft has opened similar schemes in the US, with the London base the first in Europe. Further hubs are planned for Australia and Europe.

Rose also said that Microsoft would sign up to the government’s Tech Talent Charter, which aims to develop skilled IT professionals in the UK, specifically female workers.

MP Margot James said: “Microsoft is an excellent corporate citizen and is doing so much for start-ups. To know Microsoft is backing the charter is just brilliant.

“We have a specific problem attracting  women.] in the technology sector because , you need science qualifications and girls are attracted to science A-Levels in far lower numbers.

“We have to change that, but there’s no quick fix. The charter is designed to get girls to look favourably on careers in technology and have the confidence to go for it, as well as to boost digital awareness in schools in ways that girls will be attracted to.”

Turbonomic strikes co-sell deal with Microsoft

Posted on February 22, 2018 by - News

two-clouds-1385018843_27_contentfullwidthHybrid cloud automation outfit Turbonomic has announced that it has earned Co-Sell Ready status through the Microsoft One Commercial Partner Programme.

Turbonomic’s Co-Sell Ready status from Microsoft will assist the outfit as it supports punters as they accelerate their Microsoft Azure migration and, once in the cloud, optimise the whole lot. Turbonomic will collaborate with Microsoft field sales teams on targeted customer opportunities and related account planning activities.

Turbonomic enables SMART (self-managing and real-time) workloads while maintaining compliance policies across public and private clouds.

The Microsoft Azure Co-Sell Ready program, initiated in 2016, provides comprehensive sales and marketing support for select partners, like Turbonomic. The program aligns Microsoft’s large, global salesforce with partners like Turbonomic to help Azure partners drive new business. To be eligible, companies must submit customer references that demonstrate successful projects, meet a performance commitment, and pass technology and sales assessments.

Jennifer Heard, Senior Vice President, Cloud Partnerships at Turbonomic said: “Microsoft Azure is a trusted partner in the enterprise, and we are thrilled to align Turbonomic’s go-to-market with Microsoft through our new Co-Sell Ready status. Turbonomic is helping organisations achieve their IT transformation goals by safely accelerating and optimising their Azure public cloud migration and ongoing investment.”

Cheryl Miller, Vole’s General Manager, Worldwide One Commercial Partner Go-to-Market said, “Microsoft’s sales and marketing investment in the Co-Sell Ready program demonstrates our commitment to supporting partners’ go-to-market efforts and success, like Turbonomic. We are happy to welcome Turbonomic as one of our new ISV partners, and for the company to leverage Microsoft programs and tools to help our joint customers accelerate their migration to, and optimise their deployment of, Microsoft Azure.”

Microsoft helps cloudy upstarts

Posted on February 20, 2018 by - News

56f884651f7b35416b9b4ca955d350b3--pom-pom-mobile-cloud-mobileSoftware king of the world Microsoft has launched a new programme to help UK startups grow.

Vole is spending  $500 million to support Microsoft for Startups globally, with part of that money being used to help early stage firms in this country.

Microsoft UK scheme helps with sales, access to new community spaces, Office 365 and Dynamics 365  and includes development tools, technical support and a share of $120,000 in free Azure credits.

Writing in the company blog, Volish corporate vice-president of Growth and Ecosystems Charlotte Yarkoni said that she was jolly excited to announce Microsoft for Startups which will deliver access to technology, go-to-market and community benefits that helps startups grow their customer and revenue base.

“We are committing $500 million over the next two years to offer joint sales engagements with startups, along with access to our technology, and new community spaces that promote collaboration across local and global ecosystems. Startups are an indisputable innovation engine, and Microsoft is partnering with founders and investors to help propel their growth.”

Microsoft’s global network of 40,000 sales representatives and hundreds of thousands of partners will also help startups in the programme.

Their goal is to “drive adoption of Microsoft cloud solutions into companies of all sizes and industries worldwide. The programme provides dedicated resources to prepare startup marketing and sales teams to effectively sell their cloud solutions to enterprise organisations in partnership with Microsoft’s global sales organisation and partner ecosystem”,  she said,

Microsoft creates the UK’s most powerful cloud service

Posted on February 12, 2018 by - News, Products

PAY-Lion-King-cloud-MAINSoftware king of the world Microsoft thinks that it has created the UK’s most powerful cloud.

The M-Series virtual machines (VMs) in Azure can handle large workloads that involve a lot of data and Vole claims to be the only outfit offering this level of cloud computing power in this country.

The M-series supports up to 128 virtual central processing units (vCPU) and between one and 3.8 tebibytes of RAM – a tebibyte is equal to 1,024 gigabytes – on a single VM. It also offers up to 20 terabytes of memory which is huge for a public cloud.

Data can also be transferred between VMs at up to 30 gigabytes per second, making it easy for companies to back up files or replicate their databases.

The VMs are the only ones in the UK able to handle large workloads on the SAP HANA platform. Microsoft has also announced Dv3 VMs in UK data centres. These are built using new technology, so can perform better and more efficiently, enabling Microsoft to pass these savings on to customers who store data and run apps in the cloud for their businesses.

Microsoft Principle Programme Manager Jon Beck said that ny unlocking more power from the underlying hardware, Vole could harness better performance and efficiency, resulting in cost savings. They will cost up to 28 per cent less than the previous VMs – Dv2.

The Dv3 VMs use “hyper-threading technology” on Intel processors, which allows users to run several processes at once. Along with the new Ev3 VMs, they are some of the first to run on Windows Server 2016 hosts, and also boast nested virtualization – the ability to run a VM inside another VM.

The Dv3s offer up to 64 vCPUs and 256 gigabytes of RAM, while Ev3s offer 432GB of RAM, giving customers more computer memory to run larger workloads.

Vole has announced B-series VMs, a new low-cost range that offers customers flexibility in how much Azure computer power they use.

UK data centres will get a Notification Hub service which lets users send push notifications (information in a pop-up box) to their customers regardless of which platform they are using – Windows, iOS, Android, Kindle or Baidu.

Notification Hubs can send messages to millions of mobile devices with one single process, and can be tailored to specific customers or everyone in a group, in their language.