news.microsoft.com/apac/ – p.308

Microsoft and Lufthansa Systems take mobile services airborne at Singapore Airshow 

Asia Pacific, SINGAPORE, Feb 11, 2014 — Tuesday at the Singapore Airshow 2014, Microsoft Corp. and Lufthansa Systems are showcasing the new BoardConnect app for Windows 8. The app allows airlines to create a unique experience for their in-flight passenger entertainment systems. The interactive solution will allow users to watch the latest movies, order food, shop, find information about their destinations and much more. The entertainment platform can be quickly customized for new airline customers and allows them to configure devices to offer a uniquely branded product to their passengers.

“We are making BoardConnect available on Windows 8 to give passengers even more choices to use the platform,” said Norbert Müller, senior vice president of BoardConnect at Lufthansa Systems. “This makes it easy for airlines to give their passengers a superior in-flight entertainment experience that allows them to watch a wide range of movies, look at flight information and shop, all from their seat.”

The mobile era is causing a fundamental disruption in the aviation industry. With the cloud making technology more accessible than ever, businesses in the aviation industry have to shift and increase their technology investments in areas where they haven’t historically focused. Now, technology can be a route to cost savings, growing revenue and staying ahead of the competition.

Lufthansa Systems joins other companies building aviation-focused solutions for Windows. Microsoft and Lufthansa Systems are working to give airlines a mobile advantage by creating an in-flight entertainment experience that delights passengers, moving pilots to electronic flight bags in the cockpit, and providing flight attendants with devices and apps that provide powerful point-of-sale and customer service capabilities.

“Airlines recognize that technological advances are a way to rise above the competition and be seen as innovators in the industry,” said Susan Hauser, Corporate Vice President, Enterprise & Partner Group at Microsoft. “We are excited to work with our partners to create a powerful set of devices and services that will help airlines be more efficient and productive and allow them to give their passengers a much better flying experience.”

In addition to the new BoardConnect app, Lufthansa Systems’ Purser Mobile Device application, mCabin, will also be available on Windows 8 devices in the near future. The mCabin solution provides airline crews with all relevant flight details at a glance. An interactive duty calendar, briefings, crew positioning, and passenger information and reporting help airlines improve their onboard services and, subsequently, customer satisfaction. This marks another area of cooperation between Microsoft and Lufthansa Systems.

For more information, visit the Official Microsoft Blog

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Asia Pacific News Center at https://news.microsoft.com/apac. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed.

The post Microsoft and Lufthansa Systems take mobile services airborne at Singapore Airshow appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft’s 2014 Tech Wishlist survey reveals most consumers in Asia Pacific want a tablet for both work and play 

Asia Pacific, SINGAPORE, February 7, 2014 – Which IT gadgets do Asia Pacific consumers wish to purchase or receive as a gift in 2014? A recent online survey conducted by Microsoft in 10 Asia Pacific countries with over 1,300 respondents revealed that 35% of the respondents desire a tablet for both work and play while 25% are also keen on notebooks and ultrabook devices for the new year.

The survey, conducted in November 2013 to find out more about technology consumption habits and digital lifestyles of consumers in Asia Pacific, showed that respondents are looking for a full-fledged mobile computing device with a rich user experience today as the lines between their professional work and personal lives blur.

[Click here to access an infographic showing the key findings of this survey]

The survey also revealed that it is increasingly common for consumers in Asia Pacific to own multiple devices, with more than 53% of respondents owning at least a desktop PC, notebook and a smartphone. However, the survey showed that 67% of consumers are wishing for a more unified user experience across their multiple devices.

Tablet ownership in Asia Pacific is expected to grow significantly in 2014. Analyst firm Canalys has predicted that tablets will form close to 50% of the total PC market (desktop, notebooks and tablets) globally, with close to 285 million units expected to be shipped globally.

“People have come to expect more from their devices today. It is no longer sufficient for a mobile, touch device to just be able to support apps and social networking functions,” said Jason Lim, General Manager, Windows Business Group, Microsoft Asia Pacific. “Windows devices were designed so that consumers no longer need to choose between the fun and convenience of a tablet, or the power and productivity of a PC.”

Apps and social media at the center of digital lifestyles today
The survey also found that respondents are heavily connected and dependent on various communication and social media apps through their devices. 56% of respondents polled said that they wake up to a social media, email or messaging app first thing in the morning. The top three genre of apps used in their daily commute were social media, messaging and music apps. In fact, 58% of respondents polled said that they logged onto their social media accounts once every three hours!

In terms of paid apps, however, Asia Pacific respondents said that they are more likely to pay for games (32%), books & magazines (24%) and utilities (24%) apps for their devices rather than social media apps (10%) or messaging apps (13%).

“Consumers today are relying on apps more than ever to help them stay connected to the people and information that matter to them most. The survey reveals that they are also more likely to pay for quality content. Games, books, magazines and utility apps are for entertainment and convenience, and are seen as enriching content in their lives. Windows and Windows Phone are designed to put people and their connections first. They come pre-installed with apps such as the People Hub, Mail, and Skype to help users keep their fingers on the pulse of their social and work lives with just a single tap. In addition, the Windows and Windows Phone Stores provide a gateway to hundreds of thousands of high quality apps,” added Lim.

The deeply personal, unified Windows experience and a device to suit every need
Windows 8.1 blends the familiar desktop experience with the modern UI experience to deliver a fast, fluid and connected experience for users. With just a single login, users can have their settings follow them across all devices. This enables them to manage their applications, online services and social connections effortlessly. In addition, personal cloud services on Windows devices and Windows Phones like the new OneDrive helps users to instantly save and share their documents, photos and videos in one place, from any device.

Personalizing their device is a big deal for most users. The new Windows is the only OS that lets users start the way they want to, with three options to choose from – direct to Start Screen, Boot to Desktop or into the all-new All Apps View. From changing the sizes of Live Tiles on one’s Start Screen to a vast selection of backgrounds and colors for the desktop, Windows 8.1 is the only OS that supports a myriad of personalization options for a deeply personal experience across devices, including multi-user sign-ins.

For consumers who prefer a tablet device for work and for play, a Windows RT device such as the Surface RT comes equipped with free Office Home & Student RT 2013, which enables users to be productive while on-the-go, making it an ideal choice for consumers who are looking for a full-fledged productivity and entertainment device, in a more portable form factor.

No Windows and Windows Phone device is complete without great apps as they take center stage in our digital lives today. The Windows Store features more than 140,000 apps, while the Windows Phone Store has now over 200,000 apps which feature great quality social, gaming, music and utilities apps for the connected generation. Recent marquee additions include Facebook and Flipboard for Windows, and Instagram, Path, Vine and Waze for Windows Phone, all of which keep users connected on the latest happenings.

Top new game apps such as Asphalt 8: Airborne, Avengers Initiative, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, Frozen Free Fall by Disney, LEGO® Hero Factory Brain Attack and UNO & Friends are also new additions to the Windows Store, bringing hours of endless fun and entertainment for consumers on their portable Windows devices.

In Asia Pacific, AirAsia, music and video app Genie (지니) (Korea), Icon Pop Brand (Indonesia), vMusic (Thailand), Feed Garfield (Singapore) are some of the more popular Made-in-Asia apps in the Stores, providing consumers with more options to keep them connected and entertained.

For more information on Windows and Windows devices, visit www.windows.com and for more information on Windows Phone, visit www.windowsphone.com. A list of our top picks of new Windows and Windows Phone devices for 2014 can be found in Appendix.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

For news about Microsoft in Asia, join the conversation on Twitter. Follow us at @MicrosoftAsia

The post Microsoft’s 2014 Tech Wishlist survey reveals most consumers in Asia Pacific want a tablet for both work and play appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft Open Technologies expands presence to China 

SHANGHAI, January 16, 2014 — Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. (MS Open Tech), a subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. dedicated to bridging Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies, announced today the opening of a subsidiary in China, Microsoft Open Technologies (Shanghai) Company Limited — (MS Open Tech Shanghai).

MS Open Tech Shanghai will have a robust team of engineers, standards professionals and technical evangelists with roots in open source and open standards. The Chinese subsidiary will focus on facilitating interactions between Microsoft proprietary development processes and the company’s open innovation efforts on services and devices by advancing the investments on interoperability, open standards and open source.

A July 26, 2013, Gartner Research report, titled “Global Data Point: Gartner, Hype Cycle for ICT in China, 2013,” states “There is growing interest in China in the evolution of cloud technologies, open-source software, shared services, data center technologies such as the software-defined network, smart cities and green IT/sustainability.”

As interest in cloud computing and open source technologies increases in China, Microsoft is focused on providing local customers with greater choice and opportunity to work successfully in heterogeneous IT environments. Through its operations in Shanghai, MS Open Tech will play a pivotal role by driving investments in interoperability and standards in Microsoft products, contributing to the open source community, and enabling open source software on Microsoft platforms, such as Windows Azure.

Jean Paoli, president of MS Open Tech said, “We are committed to fostering Chinese innovation. Our new subsidiary will offer more flexibility to iterate and release open source software created in China, participate in existing open source and open standards efforts and collaborate with the community of open source developers in China.”

Mr. Zhao Zhuping, Governer of the Minhang District of Shanghai, extended his congratulations to MS Open Tech Shanghai and said, “The development of open source software and the open source community requires long-term commitment. We are delighted to see the investments and efforts that Microsoft has made to advance the local open source ecosystem, which will enhance interactions between the local and global open source communities and help cultivate local talents.”

Dr. Qiu Shanqin, Chairman of China Open Source Software Promotion Union (COPU) said, ”Microsoft Open Tech China will enhance the collaboration between Microsoft and China technology companies in the area of open technologies. It will elevate technology innovation, promote the development of software industry in China, and become a driver of economic development. Microsoft Open Tech will also help attract more talents, which is the foundation of any community. I hope Microsoft Open Tech will participate in and become an active member of the open source community in China, and cultivate the Chinese open source community into a leading community in the world.”

Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang, Corporate Vice President and Chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific Research and Development Group, said, “China is a strategic market for Microsoft. Over the past few years, Microsoft has significantly expanded the scope of R&D in China to not only help build global products but also help address the needs of China customers, partners and government. The establishment of Microsoft Open Technologies Shanghai is another key milestone in this journey, providing more choices for customers and developers, and more technology innovation for businesses, governments, and consumers, in particular in the era of cloud, big data, mobility and social.”

MS Open Tech works globally with many Microsoft product groups to ensure that open source technologies work well with Microsoft products, and open standards are supported. MS Open Tech is helping developers reach more people in more ways across multiple devices by engaging with a variety of standards organizations such as: DMTF, ECMA, IETF, OASIS, W3C, ISO/IEC and open source communities including: Apache Cordova, Apache, Qpid, Cocos2D, Doctrine, JQuery, MongoDB, Node.js, Ogre3D, Outercurve, Redis, Symfony, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and WebKit, Blink and Mozilla.

MS Open Tech plays an active role among standards-setting organizations, including initiatives for interoperable cloud services and the future of the open web. In many cases, the subsidiary submits open source prototypes to test a potential standard’s use and interoperability.

For more information and updates about MS Open Tech Shanghai, subscribe to the MS Open Tech Blog or visit the MS Open Tech Chinese subsidiary website.

About Microsoft Open Technologies
Microsoft Open Technologies Inc. (MS Open Tech), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation dedicated to advancing the company’s investment in openness including interoperability, open standards and open source. MS Open Tech is focused on providing our customers with even greater choice and opportunity to bridge Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies together in heterogeneous environments, because we’re convinced that openness is good for our customers, good for the community and good for our business. For additional information on MS Open Tech, visit www.msopentech.com.

The post Microsoft Open Technologies expands presence to China appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Leading cloud service providers in Asia Pacific bet on Microsoft 

Asia Pacific, SINGAPORE, Dec 12, 2013 – On Thursday, Microsoft Corp. introduced the Cloud OS Network, a worldwide consortium of more than 25 cloud service providers delivering services built on the Microsoft Cloud Platform: Windows Server with Hyper-V, System Center and the Windows Azure Pack. These organizations support Microsoft’s Cloud OS vision of a consistent platform that spans customer datacenters, Windows Azure and service provider clouds. Service providers in the Cloud OS Network offer Microsoft-validated, cloud-based infrastructure and application solutions designed to meet customer needs.

“This network of leading service providers will help our customers create datacenters without boundaries for apps, data and device management,” said Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft corporate vice president of Cloud & Enterprise Marketing. “That translates into greater diversity of solutions, more flexibility and lower operational costs for customers, allowing them to focus on their core business rather than managing datacenters.” More comments from Numoto can be found on the Official Microsoft Blog.

“Enterprises in Asia Pacific are adopting the cloud on their own terms. Many have expanded across the region and operate in diverse markets with very different levels of infrastructure maturity and usage requirements. The hybrid cloud arrangements that Asia Pacific service providers offer through the Cloud OS Network enable enterprises in this part of the world to work with established partners which understand their needs from the ground up. Together, we can further corporate goals to improve on agility, cost-efficiency and the ability to deploy innovative next-generation IT services that keep businesses productive, versatile and competitive well into 2014 and beyond,” said Arun Ulag, general manager, Cloud & Enterprise Division, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

Hybrid benefits for customers
Every organization has different needs and different IT requirements for addressing those needs. With the Cloud OS Network, customers now have even more choice in deploying hybrid solutions on the Microsoft Cloud Platform — either in their datacenter, in Windows Azure or, now, through a network of service providers. Customers also benefit from uniquely tailored, fully managed services within their local market, as well as a high degree of technical consistency across environments, which prevents vendor lock-in and enables flexibility. As a result, customers can focus on increasing efficiencies, improving employee productivity and lowering operational costs. Customers interested in the Cloud OS Network and the services offered by these partners can find additional information here.

Cloud service provider opportunity
As cloud adoption accelerates, service providers are focused on delivering value-added services to meet customer demand for hybrid cloud solutions. By joining Microsoft in the Cloud OS Network, leading cloud service providers can quickly and cost-effectively develop new services, attract new customers and increase revenues. With the Microsoft Cloud Platform, service providers have access to the capabilities of and best practices from Windows Azure.

“There are two things in particular that we really like about our Microsoft partnership.  First, analysts like Gartner recognize Microsoft as a visionary in the cloud space.  Secondly, Microsoft truly understands the enterprise.  By working with a global visionary provider, we believe that our Asia-Pacific customers benefit from the speed, the flexibility, and the lower cost that this visionary platform affords them,” said Zia Zaman, Vice President, Emerging Businesses & Strategy, Group Enterprise, SingTel. “Microsoft’s commitment to service providers allows us to combine the best of Microsoft’s enterprise-grade assets with the assurance of the SingTel brand. We believe that the combination of SingTel and Microsoft will be able to offer our customers intelligent choices about how they should adopt the cloud.

Watch what service providers have to say about Microsoft’s new Cloud OS Network here.

Worldwide reach
Organizations within the Cloud OS Network cover more than 90 active markets around the world, serve more than 3 million customers every day and operate over 2.4 million servers in more than 425 datacenters.

Partners in the Cloud OS Network which are offering services for the Asia Pacific region include: SingTel Group in Singapore and Australia, Revera in New Zealand, and VTC Digilink for Vietnam. Other partners in the global initiative include, among others: Alog, Aruba S.p.A, Capgemini, Capita IT Services, CGI, CSC, Dimension Data, DorukNet, Fujitsu Finland Oy., Fujitsu Ltd., iWeb, Lenovo, NTTX, Outsourcery, OVH.com, Sogeti, TeleComputing, Tieto, Triple C Cloud Computing, T-Systems, and Wortmann AG.

More details on today’s announcements can be found at the Microsoft News Center.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The post Leading cloud service providers in Asia Pacific bet on Microsoft appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft Asia Pacific: Our Story 

Microsoft in Asia Pacific

Microsoft’s President for the Asia Pacific region, César Cernuda provides commentary on his priorities for the region and the changing technology landscape.

Insights from Microsoft Asia Pacific Country Leads

Pip Marlow, Jessica Tan and Andreas Diantoro share insights on Microsoft’s activities in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Infographic: Real Impact for a Better Asia Pacific

Driving Social Progress with Technology. Microsoft and its partners work closely with APAC governments, academia, businesses and non-profits to help harness new technologies to meet local needs.

The post Microsoft Asia Pacific: Our Story appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft survey reveals most common misconceptions of cloud services in Asia Pacific 

Asia Pacific, SINGAPORE, Nov 11, 2013 – Microsoft Asia Pacific today revealed the results of a survey of 2,017 Microsoft partners in 11 countries in Asia Pacific who shared the most common misconceptions about cloud services still prevalent among their customers. This new data signals the need for greater awareness of the benefits of cloud services and has driven Microsoft Asia Pacific to step up efforts to reduce barriers to cloud adoption so more companies, especially SMBs, can benefit from increased productivity and agility.

IDC predicts that spending on Public Cloud Services in Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) will grow from US$9.0bn in 2013 to US$19.5bn in 2016. Of this, about 50% is attributed to software-as-a-service solutions like Office 365.

“While there’s no denying that cloud adoption is accelerating amongst some businesses, there is a lack of awareness among other decision makers of how their concerns can be easily addressed. We have seen customers across all industry verticals the world over benefitting greatly from adopting Office 365. These myths prevent organizations from becoming more agile and having a cost-effective way to improve productivity in a new world of work where employees are demanding more flexibility, more mobility and who collaborate better with social tools,” said Alvaro Celis, Vice President, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

Myths can be easily addressed
In the online survey, Microsoft’s partners ranked the misconceptions most commonly brought up by their customers and prospects about the cloud and shared their outlook on the growth of their cloud business.

The top five misconceptions that organizations in Asia Pacific have about the cloud include:

• Lack of privacy
• Lack of security
• Concern that the technology is not yet mature enough for business environments
• Lack of ownership of the software
• The inability to be productive when offline

Other misconceptions that customers had about the cloud were around the cost and reliability of the service, the lack of value-add compared to on-premise versions, that it’s too complicated and the lack of a clear return on investment.

Roger Teo, Business Director of Singapore Microsoft partner Sapientia Holdings, explained that several factors tend to change potential customers’ minds. “We assure them that Microsoft is here to stay. Customers don’t want a cloud service provider which may discontinue their services in the next year. Microsoft’s ‘all in’ effort won’t stop in the next year. There is a roadmap to integrate more services in the future. After customers observe the market, their competitors or subsidiaries which have adopted cloud solutions, they come back and agree that what we are saying is true,” he said.

In response to these insights, Microsoft is working to debunk each of these myths with more education in the market via a webcast and access to resources such as the Office 365 Trust Center website where many of these concerns can be addressed. In addition, more details of the 11 myths and the facts can be found via this interactive infographic here.

Said Mr. Celis: “Acknowledging the need to continue to be productive at all times, Microsoft’s Office 365 was designed to address many of these concerns right from the beginning. In contrast to other cloud solutions, Office 365 takes full advantage of the cloud while still enabling customers to be productive off-line in certain scenarios. It also enables new device and social scenarios and simplifies IT control and management.”

Office 365 is also supported by industry leading security and privacy policies and a financially backed 99.9% uptime guarantee which are shared in further detail at the Office 365 Trust Center website.

Additional insights from Asia Pacific respondents include:

• 46% frequently (daily or at least once a week) encounter decision makers who have relatively little understanding of cloud services
• More than half of the respondents already have more than 10% of their business focused on cloud services
• The majority agreed that Gen-Y decision makers are more knowledgeable of the benefits of cloud than other business decision makers in general
• The top three benefits of adopting Office 365 by customers in Asia Pacific are: Enabling employee mobility, Cost savings on IT infrastructure, Agility and flexibility in business operations.

“SMBs are indeed a key growth and innovation engine in most Asian countries. Our mission therefore is to ensure that we step up efforts to educate and help more business leaders gain confidence that the cloud is and has been ready for their business needs,” said Mr. Celis.

Office 365 cloud momentum in Asia Pacific
Launched in mid-2011, Microsoft’s market-leading Office 365 is now the fastest growing business in Microsoft’s history. One in five enterprise business customers are using Office 365 today. In Asia Pacific Office 365 grew three times faster than the overall public cloud services market fuelled by trends such as bring-your-own-device, an increasing need to work anywhere and collaboration through enterprise social tools. Today, Microsoft has over 13, 500 partners across Asia Pacific offering cloud services to companies of all sizes. Examples of Office 365 customers in Asia include the Red Cross in Asia Pacific; Coles, Link Healthcare and V8 Supercars in Australia; MedcoEnergi in Indonesia; MPH Group and KPJ Healthcare in Malaysia; Auckland Transport and Icebreaker from New Zealand; Coca Cola FEMSA in the Philippines, as well as Kah Motor, SATS, and Tiger Airways in Singapore.

On November 8th, Microsoft also announced several product updates that will help even more people get productive:

• Microsoft Office Web Apps. Microsoft has updated Office Web Apps with two highly anticipated features – the introduction of autosave in the Word Web App and real-time co-authoring, a feature that allows multiple people to contribute to and edit documents simultaneously in the Word Web App, PowerPoint Web App or Excel Web App.
• New Sharing Updates to Office 365 Home Premium. Starting next month, Office 365 Home Premium subscribers can now share subscription benefits where users can get an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage, and manage their own installs from their My Account page on office.com
• Yammer. All Microsoft Office 365 plans now ship with Yammer Enterprise, and all existing Office 365 customers will receive Yammer Enterprise licenses. In addition, Office 365 customers no longer have to purchase individual new licenses for external users within their external networks. Microsoft has also created the Yammer Partner Enablement Program, designed to provide deeper insight and best practices for how to sell, implement and integrate a successful enterprise social solution.

In addition, Microsoft Asia Pacific has launched a movement, Get It Done Social Week, in selected Asia Pacific countries to spark action from people who seek to balance life’s demands on their own terms. The contest encourages customers, partners and employees to share how they can get productive work done with Office 365 on Microsoft’s respective Facebook pages.

To find out more about Office 365, please click here.

About the survey
Conducted in October 2013, the online survey received 2,017 responses from Microsoft IT channel partners from 11 Asia Pacific countries including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. More details of the 11 cloud myths and facts for each country can be found here.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

For news about Microsoft in Asia, join the conversation on Twitter. Follow us at @MicrosoftAsia.

The post Microsoft survey reveals most common misconceptions of cloud services in Asia Pacific appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft unleashes major wave of enterprise cloud solutions in Asia Pacific 

SINGAPORE, Asia Pacific, Oct 29, 2013 – Microsoft Asia Pacific today announced a wave of new enterprise products and services to enable companies to seize the opportunities of cloud computing and overcome today’s top IT challenges. Complementing Office 365 and other services, these new offerings deliver on Microsoft’s enterprise cloud strategy.

In his blog “The Enterprise Cloud takes center stage”, Satya Nadella, Cloud and Enterprise executive vice president, Microsoft said, “As enterprises move to the cloud they are going to bet on vendors that have best-in-class software as a service (SaaS) applications, operate a global public cloud that supports a broad ecosystem of third party services, and deliver multi-cloud mobility through true hybrid solutions. If you look across the vendor landscape, you can see that only Microsoft is truly delivering in all of those areas.”

Microsoft’s cloud momentum in Asia Pacific
IDCⁱ predicts that spending on Public Cloud Services in Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) will grow from US$5.3bn in 2013 to US$14.9bn in 2017. In addition, in Asia Pacific (excl. Japan), IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) and PaaS (Platform as a service) are predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25% from 2013 to 2017, according to IDC.

In Asia Pacific, Microsoft Azure has grown at least three times faster than the market growth rate for IaaS and PaaS cloud services while demand for Microsoft’s virtualization solutions, which support private and public cloud infrastructures, has grown 30% year-on-year in Q2 of 2013, outpacing overall market growth of 1%ⁱⁱ. This strong momentum was bolstered by a rich partner ecosystem, datacenter-class solutions with industry-leading cost of ownership.

Microsoft has continuously invested in the Asia Pacific region to strengthen its ability to deliver cloud services to organizations of all sizes. Microsoft recently announced that it is investing several hundred million dollars to expand Windows Azure in the region over the next two years with additional datacenters in Australia, China and Japan. Some of Microsoft’s key customers in Asia Pacific include: Coca-Cola Amatil (Australia), Karya Harmoni (Indonesia), Navcore Nextology (Indonesia) and Cycle & Carriage Industries (Singapore).

“In the Asia Pacific excluding Japan markets, the appetite for cloud computing within enterprise organizations is mainly for private cloud, due to concerns around security, performance and legislation; however, many organizations are realizing that the hybrid cloud model is rapidly becoming a model that many would like to leverage. With their Windows Azure platform, Microsoft is well placed to be one of the leaders in this space due to the prevalence of the Microsoft platform and the ease of adoption of their cloud service offerings,” said Simon Piff, Associate Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure Research, IDC Asia Pacific.

Arun Ulag, General Manager, Cloud & Enterprise Division, Microsoft Asia Pacific said: “The launch of these new cloud products and services in Asia Pacific gives our customers clear options which will better meet their fast changing and varied business demands. This means infrastructure and services which are scalable, secure and which can be better managed than ever before.”

Hybrid infrastructure and modern applications
To help customers build IT infrastructure that delivers continuous services and applications across clouds, Microsoft has released Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2. Together, these new products empower companies to create datacenters without boundaries using Hyper-V for high-scale virtualization; high-performance storage at dramatically lower costs; built-in, software-defined networking; and hybrid business continuity. The new Windows Azure Pack runs on top of Windows Server and System Center, enabling enterprises and service providers to deliver self-service infrastructure and platforms from their datacenters.

Building on these hybrid cloud platforms, customers can use the new Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 to create modern applications for devices and services. As software development becomes pervasive within every company, the new preview Studio 2013 Modern Lifecycle Management solution helps enable development teams, businesspeople and IT managers to build and deliver better applications, faster.

Enabling enterprise cloud adoption
Recognizing that most enterprises will take a hybrid approach to cloud, Microsoft wants to help customers utilize their investments in on-premises software solutions toward the adoption of cloud computing. On Nov. 1, Microsoft will offer Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers access to discounted Windows Azure prices, regardless of upfront commitment, without overuse penalties and with the flexibility of annual payments.

Data platform and insights
As part of its vision to help more people unlock actionable insights from big data, Microsoft has released a second preview of SQL Server 2014. The new version offers industry-leading in-memory technologies at no additional cost, giving customers 10 times to 30 times performance improvements without application rewrites or new hardware. SQL Server 2014 also works with Windows Azure to give customers built-in cloud backup and disaster recovery.

For big data analytics, Microsoft has released Windows Azure HDInsight Service, an Apache Hadoop-based service that works with SQL Server and widely used business intelligence tools, such as Microsoft Excel and Power BI for Office 365. With Power BI, people can combine private and public data in the cloud for rich visualizations and fast insights.

People and devices in the cloud
The proliferation of cloud applications, data and consumer devices is moving many enterprises to a bring-your-own-device model. The new release of Windows Intune combines with System Center Configuration Manager to help IT departments give mobile employees security-enhanced access to the applications and data they need on the Windows, iOS and Android devices of their choice. This unified management environment for PCs and mobile devices complements the new access and information protection capabilities in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Further, with Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft is introducing the Microsoft Remote Desktop app to provide easy access to PCs and virtual desktops on variety of devices and platforms, including Windows, Windows RT, iOS, OS X and Android.

Software as a service business solutions
The next major version of the company’s CRM solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13 is now available, helping make customer interactions more personal via contextual information for deeper insights than the previous version, delivered on a variety of devicesⁱⁱⁱ. The on-premises version is expected to be available later in the fall for deployment either in-house or hosted by a partner. More information is available here. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 is available today, offering small and midsize businesses interoperability with Office 365, full multitenant support, and a range of tools designed to support large-scale hosting of the application on Windows Azure.

More information on these announcements can be found at the Microsoft News Center.

Additional information:
i. Source: IDC Worldwide Cloud Black Book 2013

ii. Source: IDC Worldwide Virtualization Tracker 2013 Q2 – Published Sept 2013

iii. Devices include Windows 8 tablets and iPad tablets with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013; Windows Phone 8, iPhone and Android phone shortly following the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The post Microsoft unleashes major wave of enterprise cloud solutions in Asia Pacific appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Cycle & Carriage Industries streamlines enterprise cloud infrastructure with Microsoft platform 

SINGAPORE, Asia Pacific, Oct 29, 2013 – Microsoft has announced that Cycle & Carriage Industries (C&C), one of the premier automotive groups in Singapore, is the pioneer adopter for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and the Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 suite, both of which are launched today in Asia Pacific. C&C, a member of Singapore-listed Jardine Cycle & Carriage, has seen enhanced productivity, corporate compliance and control with the adoption of new enterprise cloud infrastructure from Microsoft, with improvements of up to 20% in some areas.

C&C, a household name in Singapore as the local distributor for some of the world’s leading car marques, including Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Kia and Citroën, decided this year to improve server and datacenter performance through consolidating its existing VMWare and Citrix virtual environments and introducing a comprehensive management tool that could monitor and manage its server and datacenter operations more effectively.

In the first half of 2013, C&C migrated its virtual machine (VM) workloads onto a mixture of new VMware vSphere hosts and Microsoft Hyper-V hosts. Its Citrix XenServer, hosting XenApp VMs, also received the same treatment. C&C deployed Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and components of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 suite to give it an edge in system management for the cloud.

As a result, C&C has seen better productivity and performance in the cloud. Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 has provided C&C with new in-depth visibility into its cloud infrastructure. The company can now monitor its datacenter end-to-end, with single-pane-of-glass management for VMware, Citrix and Hyper-V infrastructure, and receive proactive alerts and reports on server performance, allowing potential problems to be identified before they escalate. The hours spent on server administration have been cut by 20% through such streamlining.

“Our team is able to manage servers (both physical and virtual) across roles remotely from a single user interface. We can also track, report and assess the amount of resources used per IP address or VM,” said Jimmy Lim, IT Manager, C&C.

Resource utilization has also improved through the implementation of server virtualization using Microsoft Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2, while datacenter service delivery has been optimized through deployment of high availability (HA) servers, cluster-level rebalancing and intelligent power management.

“Windows Server 2012 R2 offers excellent economics by integrating a multi-server platform on industry-standard hardware. As a result, we have achieved our target of substantially increasing our virtual machine density,” said Raymond Johnsun, Chief Information Officer of C&C. “We have packed 15% more VM workloads onto each physical server after implementing Hyper-V, while the storage management features in Windows Server 2012 R2 reduced the need for new storage by 10%.”

These benefits have encouraged C&C to include Windows 2012 R2 with Hyper-V and System Center 2012 R2 as part of its roadmap to consolidate its virtual server infrastructure onto a single virtualization platform and deploy complete, integrated management tools. In addition, the major advantage of adopting the Hyper-V virtualization platform is that C&C is now well placed to deploy hybrid cloud scenarios where workloads can seamlessly move between on-premise and the Windows Azure public cloud.

“We have made great progress in productivity, corporate compliance and control, while effectively managing our physical, virtual and mobile client environments,” concluded Johnsun. “We will not only have a complete platform for building our own datacenter and private cloud, but also estimate that we can save 3% on future infrastructure spend as a result of the Microsoft deployment.”

Arun Ulag, General Manager, Cloud & Enterprise Division, Microsoft Asia Pacific said, “We have a unique perspective into the enterprise cloud as the only cloud provider delivering best-in-class first-party software-as-a-service applications, a global public cloud platform, as well as a hybrid approach that spans infrastructure, application development, data platform and device management. As a company living and learning at cloud scale, and engineering on cloud time, we’re here to help enterprises in Asia Pacific like Cycle & Carriage Industries realize the promise of the cloud.”

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The post Cycle & Carriage Industries streamlines enterprise cloud infrastructure with Microsoft platform appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

Microsoft and UID Partner to build centre to cultivate creative economy 

Indonesia, BALI, Oct 7, 2013 – The United in Diversity (UID) Forum and Microsoft Indonesia today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop a Technology and Innovation Center on the newly announced UID Creative Campus in Bali, Indonesia.

Through the MoU, both UID and Microsoft will join forces to enhance learning, creativity, entrepreneurship and employability in the country. The campus will empower its graduates with training, skills and resources to unleash their creativity and help them innovate for real economic impact in Indonesia.

“From a national competitiveness standpoint, Indonesia has made great strides in recent years, thanks to extensive infrastructure development. However, I believe that technology, innovation, and creative thinking are the catalysts that will thrust the country into becoming a developed economy. This partnership is a big step forward in making that a reality and I commend Microsoft’s continued investments in developing Indonesia’s human capital,” said Mari Pangestu, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy.

The MOU contemplates an initial five-year commitment by Microsoft to the UID Creative Campus to include contributions of cutting edge technology, devices and software, as well as other in-kind support from Microsoft employees who are industry leaders in their respective fields.

UID is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2003 to serve as an education platform and to act as a catalyst for trust-building and cooperation among business, the public sector, and civil society for the betterment of Indonesia.

“Indonesia is at the cusp of a great leap towards becoming a knowledge economy, and we believe that public-private sector collaboration on the country’s top priority—education—will further propel the country’s competitiveness in the region,” said Andreas Diantoro, President-Director of Microsoft Indonesia.

In the Global Competitiveness Report released by the World Economic Forum in September, Indonesia jumped 12 places to 38th, mainly due to infrastructure improvements. The country’s technological readiness also improved by 10 positions, but the use of technology by the population at large remains comparatively low.

“Microsoft is committed to education and human capital development, and we are very excited to collaborate on a project that will help create a more innovative workforce in Indonesia” added Diantoro.

By building on Indonesia’s rich culture, heritage and traditions, the UID Creative Campus will help local and foreign students build real skills for innovation, entrepreneurship and employment. It will train students in retail and services, technology, culinary arts, advertising, fashion, music, product design, media, leadership, language and other areas of study. The campus will also cultivate a startup culture, and push students to go from creative ideas to commercialization and scaling.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Pangestu has underlined that activity in the creative fields already accounts for about 7 percent of Indonesia’s economy, and she wants to boost that to over 11 percent of GDP.

“Partnerships with industry leaders such as Microsoft are critical in ensuring that the Creative Campus is a key driver in the development of a creative economy. Not only does Microsoft have the technological expertise and industry experience, its unparalleled partner ecosystem also offers the opportunity for our students to connect with businesses directly, “said Jatna Supriatna, CEO of UID.

Under the agreement signed today at the International Conference on Sustainable Development 2013 in Bali, Microsoft will bring to the table its extensive experience on developing programs in the areas of skills and workforce development, innovation, and industry partnerships.

BizSpark, one of those programs, provides free software and tools to startups and already counts 162 Indonesian startups as members. A Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) is also envisioned at the Creative Campus—it would be the sixth such center in Indonesia, joining 13 other centers in Asia and more than 100 worldwide. Microsoft Innovation Centers are state of the art technology facilities for collaboration on innovative research, technology or software solutions, offering a comprehensive set of programs and services to foster innovation and grow sustainable local software economies.

In addition, Microsoft also plans to equip the Creative Campus with the latest software and hardware, including Windows 8.1 tablets, Office 365, Windows Azure, as well as state-of-the-art development software.

Astrid Tuminez, Regional Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Southeast Asia at Microsoft said “It is my hope that the campus in Bali will serve as a shining beacon for other countries in ASEAN, demonstrating that the right partnerships between government, NGOs and the private sector can be a catalyst for homegrown innovation.”

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The post Microsoft and UID Partner to build centre to cultivate creative economy appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.

CITYNET and Microsoft CityNext collaborate to build better cities 

SINGAPORE, Nov 12, 2013 — CITYNET (The Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements), and Microsoft CityNext today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see both parties collaborate to help cities across Asia tackle many of their biggest challenges such as; urban migration and decreased budgetary resources. As a result, CITYNET members will benefit from Microsoft CityNext’s approach to innovation empowering government, businesses and citizens to shape the future of their city.

Microsoft will provide tools and training resources to build the capabilities of CITYNET members in cybersecurity, disaster management and recovery. Microsoft will also help CITYNET members leverage the power of cloud-based computing technologies to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, provide a comprehensive needs assessment and support members by providing guidance to develop innovative solutions that support a people-centric approach to engage citizens and enable sustainable cycles of innovation, opportunity and progress for cities.

“Microsoft is unique in its ability to enable CITYNET’s people-first approach, and we look forward to moving forward. It offers a broad portfolio of consumer to business devices and services, vast network of global partners, or history of successful education and social programs,” said Mary Jane Ortega, Secretary General of CITYNET.

Founded in 1987, CITYNET is an international organisation with more than 100 members in more than 20 countries, most of which are cities and local governments in Asia Pacific. The organisation connects local governments, civil society and the private sector to exchange knowledge and best practices aimed at building people-centred, sustainable and resilient cities across the region.

“With 100,000 people migrating to cities in Asia each day, the pressure is mounting as city administrators look to Microsoft to provide better, more cost-effective infrastructure and services,” said Stefan Sjöström, Vice President of Asia Public Sector at Microsoft. “Through this partnership with CITYNET, we hope to engage with mayors on how to do new with less by transforming operations and infrastructure, engaging citizens and businesses, as well as accelerating innovation and opportunity.”

Around the world, cities are transforming through Microsoft CityNext and one example in Asia Pacific is in New Zealand, where Auckland Transport built solutions based on Microsoft’s data center, desktop and cloud-based software. These solutions are empowering citizens with a wealth of new transportation services – such as filling bus cards online and reporting potholes from a smartphone, as well as empowering employees to work more productively. Through Microsoft CityNext, Auckland Transport has been able to boost efficiency, increase the use of public transportation and ultimately made Auckland a better place to live.

“Governments and city administrators in Asia are recognising that technology, partnerships and knowledge-sharing are key in building an innovative city model that works for today and sustains tomorrow. However, working with cities should go beyond building technology solutions, as the private sector must also help in fostering innovation which builds a vibrant economy and helps cities raise their competitiveness,” said Ortega.

Microsoft and partners offer a variety of skills-based programs that educate students and teachers, foster business development, and empower citizens to join a competitive workforce. “CityNext goes beyond building technology capacity to supporting human capacity. Programs such as Partners in Learning has benefitted more than 40 million students and 2 million teachers throughout Asia Pacific, while BizSpark has helped nurture than 7,000 startups and entrepreneurs in the region with resources and support,” said Sjöström.

More information about CityNext is available at https://news.microsoft.com/apac/presskits/citynext-asia-pacific-news-room/.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About CITYNET
For over 20 years, CITYNET (The Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements) has committed itself to helping local governments improve the sustainability of human settlements. Starting with 26 members in 1987, CITYNET has grown to become an international organisation of more than 100 members in more than 20 countries, most of which are cities and local governments in the Asia-Pacific region. CITYNET relocated from Yokohama, Japan to Seoul, South Korea in early 2013. For more information, please visit www.citynet-ap.org or email info@citynet-ap.org.

The post CITYNET and Microsoft CityNext collaborate to build better cities appeared first on Microsoft Stories Asia.