Microsoft has announced new Azure and Office 365 services that are sure to get the business community in frenzy. It is clear that the company is doing everything in its powers to keep up with and to move ahead of Google and Amazon in the cloud space.
One of the key new things Microsoft announced today is called Azure StorSimple, a service that Microsoft claims will help companies manage high data needs at a reasonable cost. With StorSimple, frequently accessed files can be stored locally, while cold files can be stored in the cloud.
Furthermore, StorSimple includes two new arrays known as StorSimple 8100 and StorSimple 8600. We understand that Azure StorSimple Manager and Azure StorSimple Virtual Appliance will join these services. For those who are interested, StorSimple will be available on August 1, 2014.
"Microsoft Azure StorSimple is a hybrid cloud storage solution that dramatically cuts the cost and inefficiency out of managing a company's ever-growing volume of data. Available Aug. 1, the new offering gives system integration partners great opportunity to help their customers deploy the solution for all types of storage," stated Microsoft in a blog post.
The company also took the time amount to announce the Azure Machine Learning service preview. This service was first announced back in June, but now Microsoft is ready to expand the service to partners and customers come July 14 for more than a year in a private preview. This feature should make it easier and quicker for Microsoft partners to create cloud services for their customers.
More Office 365 goodies:
Office 365 is the future Microsoft's popular Office suite, so it makes sense for the company to pour out some love where the software and service is concerned. This time around, Microsoft is focusing on the business aspect of Office 365 with improvements on current plans.
For just $8.25 per month or $99 annually, Office 365 Business customers can get the full Office suite software for installation on up to 5 PCs, and 1TB of OneDrive storage for each user. In addition, for just $5 per month or $60 per year, users can take advantage of what Office 365 Business Essentials has to offer. It is almost the same feature set as Office 365 Business, but without the ability to download and install the full Office suite.
Finally, there's the full experience in Office 365 Business Premium. This package will cost $12.50 per month, or a decent $150 per year. Users will get everything available in the two previously mentioned packages, along with Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online and Yammer.
Microsoft is focusing quite a lot on the cloud services front lately, a move that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone since new CEO, Satya Nadella, was the man behind Microsoft's cloud platform and also the man who is pushing the cloud first and mobile first, company motto.
