UPDATED 10:18 EDT / JULY 18 2011

Microsoft Fast-Tracks the Cloud: Office365, Health & Beyond

With the recent unveiling of Windows Intune for remote management of computers via the internet, the release of their Office 365 with the aim to go beyond typical retailing, and their recent security upgrade, you’d assume that it would take at least a few months before they announce something to top this off.

Nevertheless, Microsoft is relentless in its pursuit of the cloud, social enterprise services and mobile tools.  There will be two more services available in the Office 365: Project and Visio.  Microsoft Project Server is a project-management product, while Microsoft Visio is a commercial diagramming product.  The two services’ release is said to coincide with the release of the Office 15, which will either happen late part of 2013 or early 2013.

Microsoft Business Solutions Corporate Vice President Michael Park and other Microsoft officials reiterated this week that Microsoft is planning to offer a Windows Azure-hosted version of the Dynamics NAV product next year. Microsoft’s plan is to make all future versions of its four ERP products available on the public cloud via Azure, starting with NAV.

Though the release is a long way coming, Microsoft has made Project and Visio already available to some of its partners, including  Project HostsEPM Solutions,VirtualePM, and fpweb.  The reason for doing this is so that they can start engaging their customers and partners in the use of their cloud services, while also helping their partners help their own customers with the use of these applications.

Microsoft is looking to take advantage in another area of the cloud as well.  While Google Health will be discontinued by January 1 of next year,  Google has informed users that they can transfer their data to Microsoft Health Vault, and Google Health users can download various forms of data by January 1, 2013.

“Google has been an important ally in providing customers with access to their data and tools to better manage care online,” said Nate McLemore, general manager, Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “Microsoft continues to advance the HealthVault platform to increase its value to consumers — by adding important features, such as support for mobile devices, and by collaborating with hundreds of health organizations, including the American Cancer Society,American Heart Association and CVS Pharmacy — to deliver robust health and wellness applications that connect to HealthVault.”

The use of the cloud is greatly expanding, especially with widely prevalent companies like Microsoft finding new ways to incorporate its benefits into their existing products and services.  With cloud being the ‘it’ thing, you can only expect more companies to move to the cloud as it becomes a mainstream aspect of our personal and work lives.


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