Recent News

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today launched the ‘Smart Classroom’ project as part of the country-wide ‘Digital India Week,’ becoming the first state in the north-east and second in the country to have a smart classroom. The ‘Smart Classroom’ project was undertaken by the state government in partnership with Microsoft India to effectively implement technology in education and create an environment where students and teachers communicate, collaborate, create, access and consume content, officials said.

Software major Microsoft has agreed to support ‘digital villages’ in Maharashtra and develop a ‘smart MIDC’ apart from setting up a cyber-security centre in Pune. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Microsoft’s office in Seattle, the Microsoft Cyber-crime Center, and met Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and appreciated the contribution of data centres for ‘Make in Maharashtra.’

M Narendra Modi, who released his vision for a Digital India yesterday, has also managed to charm IT conglomerates at home and abroad. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, wrote, “Microsoft is proud to be a part of Digital India launch and believes that technology can uniquely support the government’s initiatives in key areas including: rural Internet connectivity, digital cloud services and communications and productivity services for the Government.”

Starting Aug.1, Microsoft’s volume licensing customers — typically enterprises and other large organizations — can download Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), according to Terry Myerson, Executive vice president of the recently formed Windows and Devices Group (WDG). Myerson said Microsoft plans to ship Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Home on July 29.

Bio-tech procurement company Amici Procurement has chosen Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider iomart to help it move to Office 365. Caroline Briggs, Owner of Amici Procurement, says, “Office 365 is a natural progression for us. We already hosted our IT platform with iomart and we knew they had the expertise as a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider to take us to Office 365.”

Microsoft has announced availability of the technical previews that form a part of Skype for Business. The users can now register for access to Skype Meeting Broadcast, which is a largely device-agnostic video conferencing tool for meetings with up to 10,000 participants.The preview features include the ability to take feedback from attendees via Yammer integration and Bing Pulse sentiment tracking.

A new R Consortium of major vendors launched aimed at strengthening both the technical and user communities. Founding members include Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, along with well-known R players such as RStudio, Tibco Software and Mango Solutions (Revolution Analytics is a member under the Microsoft umbrella). Alteryx and Ketchum Trading are also founding members.

Skype will roll out new products that will let companies replace their phone networks and broadcast meetings to thousands of people at once. The new features are part of Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud products and will be available later this year, said Zig Serafin, Vice President of Skype for Business.