In the News

Tech Data is running a promotion that aims to support partners in driving sales of Microsoft devices in the run-up to the vendors 30 June year-end. Mark Whittle, Microsoft Business Manager at Tech Data, said, “The idea is to drive add-on business and get partners to attach the different product categories of Surface, Lumia and cloud-based services like Office 365 and EMS, selling them together as one solution. All Microsoft Cloud solutions business will be transacted via the Cloud Solution Provider program, which continues to gather momentum.”

Just a week ahead of E3, Microsoft has shared a short teaser video for what to expect from their keynote conference. The video includes new games, features, and services. This video, however, doesn’t confirm if there will be any new Xbox hardware at E3 this year.

Bot, derived from robot, is a software that automates the tasks one would usually do on their own. These include booking a cab, making a dinner reservation, fixing an appointment, fetching information, or talking to a customer centre executive. The most common of all bots is the chatbot, which mimics or simulates conversation using artificial intelligence. The article speaks about the Indian startups that are leading in chatbots.

Microsoft is offering free licenses to SQL Server 2016 till the end of this month. Microsoft announced on its site that customers moving Oracle databases to SQL server will receive the necessary licenses of SQL Server free with software assurance. Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Director, Srikanth Karnakota said, “We are confident of bringing Oracle customers on board, we are almost 1/10th the price of Oracle. We have pre-built analytics, predictive analytics, data warehousing, business intelligence, ETL capabilities built into the database that significantly cuts the TCO for the customer.”

Bengaluru-based startup Yellow Messenger is just one of the startups in India that’s making use of Microsoft’s Cognitive Services. Cognitive Services were one of the tools that was demonstrated at Microsoft Build 2016 tour event in Pune. Microsoft’s Cognitive Services work on services such as Skype, Web, Slack, Facebook Messenger, and more. Jeffrey Burtoft, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft, said, “When developers want to do machine learning, when they want to use bots, we want them to think about us.”

OneSoft Solutions Inc. announced that its subsidiary, OneBridge Solutions Inc. will present its company vision, software technology and products to potential customers, investors, press and the interested public at the windup event of the Microsoft Ventures Seattle Accelerator program on June 2, 2016. The company is a North American developer of cloud business solutions.

Microsoft has made several announcements at Computex in Taipei. The company showcased its mixed reality Windows Holographic platform, and Windows Hello framework to third parties. Furthermore, Microsoft VP Nick Parker showed off a new 13.3-inch Windows 10 convertible created by Porsche Design, and another undisclosed OEM. It comes with Windows Hello 2.0 (facial recognition), voice assistant Cortana, and the new Inking features scheduled to come with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update in July. It will be powered by an Intel processor, and made available in winter.

Attunity Ltd., a leading provider of Big Data management software solutions, announced a collaboration with Microsoft. Tiffany Wissner, Senior Director, Data Platform Marketing at Microsoft, said, “Customers who want a simplified migration of on-premises data from Oracle and other traditional database management systems will benefit from Attunity Replicate support for SQL Server 2016. Attunity Replicate’s change data capture technology complements our Break Free from Oracle migration program because it enables customers to scale large migrations and hybrid deployments seamlessly.”

Microsoft announced the winners and finalists of the Microsoft 2016 Partner of the Year Awards. Gavriella Schuster, General Manager, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft, said, “The 2016 Partner of the Year Award winners and finalists represent the most innovative and transformative work being done across our partner community. It is important to recognize and celebrate the value and opportunity these solutions create for our mutual customers. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and finalists on this tremendous achievement.”

Microsoft is out to use Windows software make altered reality a commonplace phenomenon. The US technology giant announced that Windows software is already powering a wide range of devices including HoloLens augmented reality headgear. It is being opened to partners interested in building devices for “mixed reality” experiences.