On November 17, 2008 Microsoft announce the availability of Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft SharePoint Online for businesses of all sizes in the United States. This adds another product to growing Microsoft’s Software+services list. Microsoft has said that it plans to make available all of its enterprise software products as hosted services. As part of the Microsoft Online Services product family, Exchange Online and SharePoint Online are available separately or as a suite together with Office Live Meeting for conferencing, Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services and Microsoft Office Communications Online for instant messaging and presence.
Currently all of these new hosted services will run on Microsoft data centers, These services may not run on top Microsoft’s latest cloud operating system that is Windows Azure. Microsoft also said Exchange online and SharePoint online hosted can also be hosted in their data center but their is no timeline has been give by Microsoft when customers will be able to host these services in their data centers.
Microsoft also outlined its plans to offer new solutions as a part of Microsoft Online Services in the next year. In addition to Office Communications Online, Microsoft is planning to offer a Microsoft Online Services solution that will provide IT management and security capabilities for businesses, enabling IT managers to secure and manage desktops using a Web-based subscription service. These online services will be based on components from existing systems management, identity and security offerings, and will complement Microsoft’s on-premise solutions, as customers begin to adopt cloud-based computing to address specific needs.
Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, Said
Customers are embracing Microsoft’s software and services strategy en masse because of the choice and flexibility it gives them. Today, we bring business-class communications and collaboration technologies to the cloud, and we are committed to delivering more capabilities in the months ahead. No one has done what we are doing at this scale, and I’m certain that our customers will continue to take on these solutions as our offerings grow.
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I dont think MS can completely cut out intermediates because its SaaS offerings are bare bones, un-integrated and unimplemented. small to mid sized companies will still need someone to implement and manage their solutions. also there is room to build a compelling value-added solution over the basic MS products.
moreover, nor can MS cut out the niche of companies like HyperOffice which offer alternate messaging and collaboration solutions to MS for smaller businesses. these are ready to use, integrated and single console, relatively light weight, and non expert.