Microsoft Updates Dynamics Roadmap at Convergence
Microsoft used the kick-off of its Convergence conference today to update the Dynamics roadmap. The upshot: Cloud is still key but Redmond intends to keep using the hybrid cloud/on-premise story as a differentiator.
In a keynote, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner reiterated Microsoft's bullish view on the cloud market by extrapolating on some Forrester Research projections.
"Forrester [said cloud is] going to go from a $40 billion industry to a $240 billion industry just by 2020. We actually think that number is light, maybe even by two, at the speed that we're seeing the cloud take hold," Turner said.
Against that backdrop, Microsoft Business Solutions President Kirill Tatarinov said the broad plans Microsoft laid out at Convergence a year ago to deliver cloud solutions with robust on-premise options are still in place.
"We made some significant statements at Convergence last year, and this year we're essentially telling you how we're continuing to deliver in Microsoft Dynamics on a cloud-based approach," Tatarinov said in his keynote.
"The world of business solutions as it relates to cloud is notoriously complex. And as we've worked with many hundreds and thousands of customers around the world to understand what their needs are that are related to the cloud, we're finding that most people really want to see mixed scenarios, and mixed workloads," he said. "And that is precisely where we're uniquely positioned, and enable people to deliver mixed workloads, some of which are running into the cloud."
Specifically, Microsoft provided five Dynamics roadmap updates:
- Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 will be available worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012. Planned enhancements include multichannel retail capabilities with Web storefronts and "RoleTailored, in-context business intelligence" based on SQL Server technologies.
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 will be generally available in the fourth quarter of 2012. Both products will be cloud-enabled for Windows Azure and optimized for small and midsize businesses.
- A beta release of Dynamics NAV 2013 is planned for May.
- The next Microsoft Dynamics CRM service update will come in the fourth quarter.
The company also provided some new Dynamics CRM momentum numbers. The product is up to 33,000 customers and 2.25 million users. Microsoft did not break out online versus on-premises customers or users.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on March 19, 2012