Microsoft set for global launch of SaaS Office products - UPDATED

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 03:36

Your IT - Home IT

The 'Deskless Worker' Suite, including Exchange Online Deskless Worker and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker, will also be available to organizations in the 19 countries and will be available for trial and for purchase worldwide in April. It is billed as "a low-cost solution designed for users who don't have access to messaging and collaboration capabilities today..[that] will offer customers an affordable e-mail and collaboration solution for occasional users."

Microsoft says that, by providing a cost-effective subscription rate (currently listed at 2.56 euros ($A6.84) per month per user), the Deskless Worker Suite will make it possible for organizations to give all employees access to the same messaging and collaboration systems. It claims that, today, in organizations that have deployed e-mail, more than 40 percent of employees do not have e-mail.*

Microsoft Online Services were released in the US in the Northern Autumn of 2008 and Microsoft has now announced that pharmaceutical multinational GlaxoSmithKline will deploy the Business Productivity Online Suite, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, Office Live Meeting and the Deskless Worker Suite, to more than 100,000 employees worldwide.

"The move to Microsoft Online Services will help GlaxoSmithKline cut operational costs by an estimated 30 percent and create a variable cost model that will provide increased flexibility in the future," said Ingo Elfering, vice president of information technology strategy, GlaxoSmithKline.