Recent News

As cloud computing enters the mainstream, 451 Research asked 1,700 customers of hosting and cloud service providers across 10 countries what they wanted to get out of their cloud resources, and what vendors, and their affiliated solution providers, were they likely to buy services from. The survey, “Beyond Infrastructure: Cloud 2.0 Signifies New Opportunities for Cloud Service Providers”, was commissioned by Microsoft.

Microsoft, after releasing its Project Spartan browser as a part of the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview build, has now previewed new versions of its Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps for Windows 10 – called Music and Video. The new Music and Video preview apps are available to download from the Windows Store Beta for Windows Insiders running the latest build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President, Skype, talks about net neutrality, Skype’s plans for India, and about the recently launched Skype Translator, which translates call conversations in real time.

Azure App Service from Microsoft helps developers deliver cross-platform, cloud-connected apps. App Service allows developers to easily build employee, partner and customer-facing apps for any platform or device. This solution integrates the Microsoft Azure Websites, Mobile Services and Biztalk Services into a single service with a common app hosting, runtime and extensibility model, enabling simplified integration with popular consumer and commercial services and on-premises systems, all for one low price.

Microsoft’s latest undertaking, its new web browser Project Spartan, has been rolled out for testing. The new web browser will be available across the Windows 10 device family. Since it briefly shared details about the new browser in January this year, Microsoft has recently, for the first time, announced the availability of Project Spartan for Windows Insiders as part of the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview build for PCs.

Microsoft made good on a promise from last year, adding several basic mobile device management (MDM) tools to all commercial Office 365 subscriptions. “With MDM for Office 365, you can manage access to Office 365 data across a diverse range of phones and tablets, including iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices,” said Shobhit Sahay, Technical Product Manager with the Office 365 group.

Microsoft Ventures will host Pivot – a platform where startup enthusiasts get to meet some of the hottest startups and explore an opportunity to work with them – on April 3rd & 4th. The two-day ‘Hire-a-thon’ will see 23 startups from the Microsoft Ventures portfolio looking for passionate and like-minded team members for more than 60 positions – in technology, marketing, design and sales.

It’s a big year for Microsoft, with the local launches of Microsoft’s key Cloud products Azure, Office365 and CRMOnline, as well as Windows 10. Microsoft’s Director of Partner Business and Development, Phil Goldie, has been a key figure in Microsoft’s channel sales operations since 2009. He sat down with ARN Editor, Allan Swann, to discuss the company’s big 2015 plans, changes to its channel partner programs and his wine collection.

Microsoft looks set to introduce more exclusive titles to Xbox One. With Forza 6 and Rise of the Tomb Raider already announced, next on the roster is Halo 5: Guardians. While two collector’s editions have been announced for international markets, one expects at least one of them to make it to India via Microsoft’s exclusive Xbox One partner, Amazon India.

Tech giant Microsoft is all set to roll out their affordable Lumia 640 and 640 XL smartphones in India in April. The Lumia 640 features a 5-inch HD display with an 8MP rear snapper, while the Lumia 640 XL features a 5.7-inch HD display and a 13MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Both the handsets carry 8 GB inbuilt storage expandable to 128GB.