State University of New York Moves to Microsoft’s Cloud

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 21, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a new university-wide agreement with the State University of New York (SUNY) to make the Microsoft Live@edu suite of online communications and collaboration tools available to its 64 campuses across the state of New York. SUNY sought to decrease costs while providing its 465,000 students with up-to-date technology necessary for success in college and in today’s workforce. As a result, SUNY students will have access to advanced online software, including hosted e-mail, calendars, online storage, Office Web Apps, instant messaging, document sharing and videoconferencing, among other services.

“SUNY is joining a growing class of higher education institutions that is committed to career readiness and making sure its students are able to enter the work force and hit the ground running,” said Sig Behrens, general manager for U.S. Education at Microsoft. “By using Live@edu to communicate with their friends and professors, submit homework, write reports, prepare presentations, and share online documents for class projects, students are gaining experience and software skills employers are looking for.”

Monroe Community College (MCC), one of the largest colleges in the SUNY system, was one of the first to rollout Live@edu to students three years ago. Today, MCC continues to offer Live@edu to its 19,000 students as its official means of college communications and a key component of classroom management. Its previous on-premises e-mail solution could not keep pace with the innovative features offered by Microsoft as part of the Live@edu suite. By using Live@edu, the college is projecting a savings of $600,000 over the next five years while providing more technology services to students than ever before. The move to the cloud and Live@edu has also contributed to MCC’s sustainability efforts in terms of printing, toner, paper and envelope usage reduction and postage savings.

All campuses are eligible to sign up for Live@edu, including state-operated campuses, community colleges and SUNY affiliates. 70,000 students within SUNY are already taking advantage of Live@edu.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating nearly 465,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with over 2.4 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu

About Microsoft Live@edu

Live@edu is a no-cost hosted platform for student communication and collaboration, providing industry-leading services to the global education market. E-mail and calendars with a 10GB inbox, 25GB of additional file storage, document sharing, instant messaging, video chat and mobile e-mail are just part of the feature set. Live@edu provides students with the professional tools to prepare them for college or work from day one. Live@edu is accessible through popular Web browsers for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems — and easy to set up, administer and manage. More than 10,000 schools in more than 130 countries have enrolled in Live@edu, serving tens of millions of students worldwide. More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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