News


2017 Wrap-Up: Top 10 News Headlines of the Year

From product updates, to the Skype-to-Teams transition, to the latest Windows 10 release, here are the headlines that got the most attention from our readers this year.

Oracle To Buy Cloud Platform Aconex for $1.2 Billion

Oracle is expected to acquire Aconex, a provider of cloud-based collaboration solutions for the construction industry, for $1.2 billion U.S. or $7.80 per share.

Study: Organizations Save Less with 'Direct Match' Cloud Migrations

Businesses that migrate their on-premises workloads to the cloud using a "direct match" method are missing out on significant cost savings, according to a recent study by Microsoft Azure migration partner TSO Logic.

Microsoft Axes Live Meeting, Brings Skype Features to Mac Users

Microsoft issued some good news recently to Mac users of its Skype for Business Server 2015 product. However, there's bad news for organizations still using the aging Office Live Meeting unified communications service.

Microsoft Readies Azure VM Migration Tool for First Half of 2018

Microsoft is slated to release a new "Azure Migrate" solution within the next six months, a company executive said in a recent presentation.

Microsoft Brings Skype's Calling Capabilities to Teams

Microsoft's new Office 365 Teams collaboration service is inheriting some of the calling capabilities of Skype for Business, Microsoft announced this week.

Report: Price Hikes Coming with Microsoft Unified Support

Microsoft's new Unified Support plan will result in potentially substantial price increases for organizations when it takes effect in about six months, according to a recent report by Gartner Inc.

Global Server Sales Up 16 Percent on Strength of Cloud Demand

Recent data from Gartner indicates that worldwide server revenue went up by 16 percent in the third quarter of this year.

Microsoft Expands Azure Compute Offerings with Two New VM Types

Microsoft added two new virtual machine (VM) families to its lineup of Azure compute options this month: the lower-cost B-Series and the memory-intensive M-Series.

Microsoft Lights Up 'Hybrid Modern Authentication' for Skype, Exchange

A new "hybrid modern authentication" capability is now generally available for Skype for Business and Exchange, Microsoft announced recently.

Microsoft Spotlights Tools and Partner Solutions for Kubernetes on Azure

Microsoft highlighted its progress on the Kubernetes-on-Azure front this week at the KubeCon event in Austin, Texas.

Microsoft Whiteboard Collaboration App Released to Preview

Microsoft this week released a preview of a new Whiteboard app that lets office teams collaborate on a "digital canvas" that displays hand-written notes, images and drawings.

Microsoft Helps OneDrive End Users Work with Sync Client

Microsoft is offering some help to users of its OneDrive Sync Client in the form of new tutorials.

Microsoft Details SharePoint Coding Nuances in 'Classic' vs. 'Modern'

Microsoft this week showed how SharePoint site customizations differ between the "modern" SharePoint Framework Extensions (SPFx) approach and the "classic" model.

Microsoft Releases NAV 2018, Readies New Dynamics 365 Partner Offering

The next major version of Microsoft's ERP solution for small and midsized businesses is now generally available.

Microsoft Updates Office 365, Brings Office to Chromebooks

Microsoft recently detailed new Office 365 improvements, as well as confirmed that Office Mobile apps will be coming to Google Chromebooks.

The 2017 Security Recap: Equifax Breach Tops Them All

The biggest security incident of the year serves as a reminder for organizations to refocus on and prioritize strong network defenses.

Microsoft Updates Teams with PowerShell Support, Activity Dashboard

A recent Microsoft Teams update brings new management perks and improvements for end users to the Office 365 collaboration solution.

Microsoft Brings Edge Browser to iOS and Android Devices

Microsoft this week announced the general availability of Edge browser apps for Android and iOS devices.

AWS Tweaks Its Partner Program, Adds Marketplace Perks

Cloud giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled some programmatic changes to its partner structure during its AWS re:Invent Global Partner Summit this week in Las Vegas.