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10 reasons why Microsoft Office 365 rocks
By Debra Littlejohn Shinder
November 2, 2010, 1:48 PM PDT
Takeaway: Office 365 is bringing together Microsoft’s various online productivity tools, from email to Web Apps to communications services. Deb Shinder explains why she thinks this suite is a winner.
Microsoft has released a beta of its new and improved online productivity suite, Office 365. Itcomes in two editions, small business and enterprise, and makes it easy and cost effective to go “into the cloud” without giving up the familiar Microsoft server and client applications. Expected to be released in final form in 2011, Office 365 will include email, collaboration, presence/communications (IM and audio/video calls and conferencing), and both Office Web Apps and (in the enterpriseedition) Office 2010 Professional Plus. Here are a few reasons that industry commentators such as Paul Thurrott are saying Microsoft got it right this time.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Security

Starting with one of the most important factors in choosing a cloud service, security has been the big stumbling block for many companies considering moving to the cloud.Microsoft’s online services have been designed with security in mind. Office 365 applications are accessed through 128-bit SSL/TSL encryption so that if a transmission is intercepted by someone without authorization, they won’t be able to read it. Antivirus signatures are kept up to date, and security measures are applied in accordance with the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing initiative. ExchangeOnline uses Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) to protect mail messages from malware, and it uses anti-spam filtering and antivirus with multiple virus engines.

The Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) is applied to Microsoft Online Services development, deployment, and maintenance. Microsoft monitors the systems continuously for suspicious activity and has a robust incidentresponse protocol in place. Microsoft also does regular security audits. You can read more about the security of Microsoft Online Services in this whitepaper.

2: Reliability

After security, the most commonly mentioned area of concern regarding cloud services is reliability. Downtime means lost worker productivity and ultimately costs companies money. Microsoft Online Services provides a servicelevel agreement (SLA) and has a 99.9 percent scheduled uptime. Microsoft has multiple datacenters, located all over the world, hosting redundant network architecture. If there is an outage at one datacenter, another can act as a backup. Customers hosted by the first datacenter are transferred to another, with as little service interruption as possible.


3: Compliance

Compliance withgovernment and industry regulations is a big deal in today’s business world. Microsoft Office 365 services have been certified as compliant with ISO 27001 standards, completed SAS70 Type I and II audits, and achieved the EU Safe Harbor seal. Microsoft has also added controls for helping customers comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rightsand Privacy Act).


4: Compatibility

In today’s economy, many companies can’t upgrade all of their desktop systems to the latest operating system. That’s not necessary to use Office 365. Microsoft Online Services supports not only Windows 7 and Vista (SP2), but also Windows XP SP3. Even XP Home edition or Media Center edition can be used, although it doesn’t support federated identity. Macusers can also access the Office 365 applications, using OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The online Web portal for administration works with Internet Explorer 7 or later, Mozilla Firefox 3.x, or Apple Safari 3.x. The Outlook Web App can also be accessed with any of those browsers or with Google Chrome 3 and later versions.


5: Up-to-date versions

With Office 365, companies...