Author: Microsoft Stories

Nasstar PLC announced that they had achieved the coveted Microsoft Gold Hosting Partner certification for their datacenter hosting operations. Nasstar PLC is now an accredited Microsoft Gold Hosting Partner, certified to deliver solutions that meet Microsoft’s stringent demands within its field of expertise. Nigel Redwood, CEO, Nasstar, said, “Achieving our Microsoft Gold Hosting Certification was an important milestone for Nasstar and our technical team, senior management and board of Directors are all justifiably proud of this fantastic achievement.”

Gears of War 4, the biggest Xbox One exclusive this year, is now available for Xbox One owners. The Xbox Store is the only place users can get their pre-orders and pre-download from as of now. It will let users play a bunch of multiplayer modes including team deathmatch, dodgeball, and co-op team deathmatch that lets the palyer and four others square off against hardcore bots.

The open beta for Gears of War 4 is now available on Xbox One, for Xbox Live Gold members. This beta is for the multiplayer alone and promises some new maps, characters and modes from the closed beta that was going on since April 18th. The open beta will be available until May 1st and if gamers hit level 20, they will receive some exclusive rewards for use in the final game.

Microsoft is bringing its excellent Windows Phone keyboard to the iPhone. The new iOS version will let users tap or swipe to type out words and intelligently predict words for sentences. The company had promised a beta period, but it appears the app is freely available in the US App Store.

Certification Bootcamps are now available for all Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 exams at Training 4 Microsoft CRM. Since Microsoft released the latest exams for Dynamics CRM 2016 in February, there has been a complete absence of Certification Bootcamps and training courses for individuals and organizations looking to skill up. Now, with the release of Training 4 Microsoft CRM’s Certification Bootcamps, all Microsoft Dynamics exams have a matching Certification Bootcamp to help examinees skill up and pass their exams.

Microsoft’s Surface phone has been making headlines for months now and is rumored to be unveiled in “early 2017.” The company recently updated its ‘Minimum hardware requirements’ page for Windows 10 Mobile, and added MSM8998 SoC as a compatible processor with the OS. Notably, Qualcomm is yet to debut the MSM8998 chipset. MSM8998 could be Qualcomm’s next-generation high-end chipset, the Snapdragon 830.

Microsoft announced that Jabil, one of the world’s leading design and manufacturing solution providers, has built its predictive analytics solution on Microsoft Azure Machine Learning. Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure, said, “Jabil’s digital transformation on the factory floor will reshape its industry. As product cycle times shorten and products get smarter, Jabil understands how the intelligent cloud combined with predictive analytics will help it support the needs of its customers.”

Microsoft Corporation announced it is working with the OPC Foundation to enable virtually any industrial Internet of Things scenario through interoperability between the millions of applications and industrial equipment compliant with the OPC UA standard. Sam George, Director, Azure Internet of Things, Microsoft, said, “As Industry 4.0 reaches a tipping point, we believe that openness and interoperability between hardware, software and services will help manufacturers transform how they operate and create solutions that benefit employees’ productivity. Microsoft’s support of OPC UA in Azure IoT and Windows IoT will reduce barriers to industrial IoT adoption and help deliver immediate value.”

Microsoft India announced the winners of the India leg of Imagine Cup 2016, after concluding the National finals. Imagine Cup is a global student technology competition, and an effort to transform skill development, nurture budding technologists and foster innovative spirit. Three teams emerged as the winners under each of the three categories: World Citizenship, Gaming and Innovation after an intense nationwide contest among 27 teams.