The day 1 keynote at Microsoft Inspire 2017 led by the company’s CEO – Satya Nadella, saw some major announcements revolving around new products and services driven by digital transformation.
The two-hour keynote session talked about multiple opportunities that a digital world built around Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge offers. Microsoft emphasized the importance of digital technologies and how effective implementation of these can help partners multiply their profits.
Also Read: DHN team at Microsoft Inspire – here’s what partners can expect this year
Announcements that will empower businesses and end customers – the people who are the heart of Microsoft’s digital transformation:
Microsoft 365 – combining the efficiencies of Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security
Microsoft introduced its Microsoft 365 offering to cater to the needs of large and small sized businesses. The offering will be available in two versions – Microsoft 365 Enterprise, which is for large scale organizations and Microsoft 365 Business, which is for small scale organizations.
The large organization version will include Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Enterprise Mobility + Security, offered in two plans – Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5. The plans will be available for purchase on August 1, 2017.
Microsoft business plan for small and medium-sized organizations will include Office 365 Business Premium and a set of various security and management features for Windows 10 devices and Office apps. The business plan will be available for public preview on August 2, 2017 with worldwide general availability expected by the end of 2017.
By selling comprehensive solutions, partners can increase their profit margin and managed services business, as per Microsoft.
New possibilities for Hybrid cloud environments with the general availability of Azure Stack
Microsoft announced orderability of Azure Stack, from their hardware partners Dell EMC, HPE, and Lenovo. With this, partners will get a new business opportunity through ‘One Azure Ecosystem’ allowing them to extend their Azure investment to Azure Stack. The pricing will be on consumption basis and has been released by the firm. The additional ASDK (Azure Stack Development Kit) to support application development and validation has also been made available.
Also Read: Microsoft Azure Stack TP3 – leading the way to hybrid cloud adoption
The other announcements were around the concept of building a modern workplace by connecting with partners; Windows virtualization use rights that will soon be made available to CSPs; Microsoft’s mixed reality (MR) program; Dynamics 365 July update; and many more.
Watch the live day 1 keynote session here.
