Hosted SharePoint Info
August 7, 2008
Network World’s Mitchell Ashley scooped most Microsoft watchers with “Microsoft Spills the Beans on Hosted Exchange / SharePoint”. Mr. Ashley tracked down Microsoft’s John Betz, Director Product Management for Microsoft Business Online Services. The conversation–available as a podcast here–provides useful information about hosted SharePoint. Mr. Ashley tossed some high, soft, easy to field questions, but several points jumped out at me. These were:
- The cloud play is “Hosted by Microsoft and sold by partners”. Infrastructure is going to be one important key ingredient in this new service stew.
- Pricing has a ceiling of $15 per user. Most folks will pay less. These prices strike me as “pulled from the clouds.”
- Microsoft “will make it all work together. Active Directory will communicate with hosted Exchange and SharePoint. A “new tool will be provided”.
- Trade off for hosted Exchange and SharePoint–give up some control. “We make assumptions and settings on your behalf…. If you want customization, you need on premises Exchange and SharePoint.”
- The Service Level Agreement is for uptime, not transit time or any other network function.
- “We absolutely rely on partners. This is a great opportunity to sell an online service today and get paid forever.” Reason: Support comes from partner or local information technology group. Online services are for organizations that have an IT person on staff. “We’re delivering meat and potatoes. Our partners can put an embellishment upon these services.”
This is a very interesting chunk of information. A happy quack to Mr. Ashley.
Stephen Arnold, August 6, 2008
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