Microsoft (MSFT) this morning announced Office 365, a cloud-based productivity suite that includes online version of Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync, the company’s communications server. The service will work with most popular Web browsers, smart phones and desktop applications, the company said.
The company said small companies with under 25 employees can use the service for $6 per user per month. Pricing for larger companies is as low as $2 per user per month. For enterprises, there’s an option to get Office Professonal Plus for $24 per user for month, which includes “e-mail, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, voice conferencing and videoconferencing, web conferencing, 24×7 phone support, on-premises licenses, and more.”
Microsoft said Office 365 will be available worldwide next year. Beta testing starts today.
The company noted that later in 2011, the service will be expanded to include Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, “to provide Microsoft’s complete business productivity experience to organizations of all types and sizes.” Also coming next year is Office 365 for education.
MSFT today is down 67 cents, or 2.6%, to $25.15.
Ironic that Microsoft unveils their big push into the cloud one day after the company announce that its biggest cloud computing advocate, chief software architect Ray Ozzie, is planning to leave the company.
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