SaaS: Microsoft hits back with consumer and enterprise offerings

Stuart Corner
Monday, 01 October 2007 18:16

Business IT - Technology

Microsoft has moved to counter Google's (and others') growing software as a service (SaaS) business with the launch of its strategy to offer the consumer, professional and enterprise markets a wide range of hosted applications.

Microsoft says it plans to deliver a wide variety of new solutions during the coming months under two key families of service offerings: 'Live" and 'Online. 'Live' services are designed primarily for individuals, business end-users and virtual work groups. 'Online' services are for organisations with more advanced IT needs where power and flexibility are critical.

'Live' services will span entertainment, communication and productivity, with an emphasis on ease of use, simplicity of access and flexibility. Microsoft says they will be "ideally suited for situations where people either don't have access to professional technical expertise or don't require high levels of system management."

With 'Online' services, businesses will have the ability to control access to data, manage users, apply business and compliance policy, and meet high availability standards. They will provide performance, scalability, enhanced security, management features and service-level capabilities to support mission-critical applications and systems.

Specific new 'Live' services are:
- Microsoft Office Live Workspace, a new Web-based feature of Microsoft Office that enables users access their documents online and share their work with others;

- Microsoft Exchange Labs, a new R&D program for testing next-generation messaging and unified communications capabilities in high-scale environments;