REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 22, 2007 — Today at a symposium with more than 400 of its higher education customers at its Redmond, Wash., campus, Microsoft Corp. introduced the integration of Microsoft Office Live Workspace into its Microsoft Live@edu suite of services for universities. Office Live Workspace, a new Web-based feature of Microsoft Office that lets people access and share their documents in a familiar online environment, will enable each Live@edu user to upload Microsoft Office documents and grant collaboration permission to other students and educators, allowing universities to give their students and educators a new, free option for organizing research or class assignments or working with classmates or colleagues.
“Our continued aim is to offer education institutions the best choices of tools to meet the evolving needs of their organization, educators and increasingly tech-savvy students,” said Alan Yates, general manager for the Worldwide Public Sector Education at Microsoft. “Tools such as the expanded e-mail, calendaring and IM functionality of Live@edu and the Microsoft Office capabilities of Office Live Workspace give students a rich ‘connected learning’ experience, putting them at the center of a vibrant, collaborative teaching and learning community.”
Office Live Workspace Functionality Leads to Its Early Adoption
Office Live Workspace is among the first entries in the new wave of Office Live services and is already experiencing a tremendous reception with higher education institutions. Several colleges and universities have signed up for the Office Live Workspace University Early Adopter Program, including Ball State University, DeVry University, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Indiana University, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Michigan State University, University of Illinois, the University of Pennsylvania, Rio Salado College of the Maricopa Community Colleges, University of Washington and Vanderbilt University.
“Office Live Workspace provides storage in the cloud, cross-browser access and tight integration with desktop clients,” said Scott Barker, director IT, University of Washington Information School. “This combination of architecture and features offers a great solution for faculty and students where collaboration on group projects is critical and necessary.”
More information about Office Live Workspace features and how to pre-register now for the English language beta is available at http://www.officelive.com.
Microsoft Live@edu: Now More Storage and More Efficiency for Users
In addition to the integration of Office Live Workspace, the new Live@edu program offers increased e-mail storage space, from 2 GB to 5 GB, up to 1 GB of password-protected online storage space, automatic e-mail reply, and IP address whitelisting, which keeps e-mail messages sent from university mail servers from getting caught in spam filters.
Since Microsoft Live@edu launched in March 2005, more than 400 schools from more than 30 countries have chosen the Live@edu suite, including Bryant University, San Jose State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and William Carey University. The most recent school system to “go Live” is City University of New York (CUNY).
“Microsoft Live@edu is an ideal opportunity for us to provide enhanced communication and collaboration tools for our students,” said Brian Cohen, associate vice chancellor and chief information officer at CUNY. “Having worked with Microsoft on the Live@edu collaboration and messaging solution, I am confident that Microsoft understands the university needs in providing this important service and will continue to enhance its offerings.”
More information about Microsoft Live@edu and comments from other participating schools can be found at http://get.live.com/edu.
Other Microsoft Solutions for Higher Education
Microsoft Live@edu and Office Live Workspace are just two of the many solutions Microsoft offers to higher education institutions to foster connected learning opportunities. Higher education customers also have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Microsoft through its Higher Education Consortium, a community of more than 100 university representatives and technologists looking at ways to use Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in transformative and innovative ways. More information about the consortium can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/education/hec.mspx. Those wanting to learn more about Microsoft solutions, online services and on-premise products for higher education can visit http://www.microsoft.com/education.
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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