What is Software-plus-Services?

Software-plus-Services is Microsoft's approach for the next generation of

computing. It is a confluence of multiple industry phenomena including SaaS, SOA,
and Web 2.0. This is more compelling than software OR service only approaches,
bringing together the best of cloud-based services and the software that resides on
a world of devices.

What is Cloud?

In simple terms, Cloud could be described as delivering IT services on a subscription

basis that can be accessed from any Internet connection and offering customers the
benefit of economies of scale. There are five key attributes that define Cloud:

1. Offered ‘as a service’—and ready to use;

2. Rapidly scalable—available on demand, with the ability to add or remove
resources as required;
3. Shared—multiple customers sharing the same resources and underlying
infrastructure;
4. Pay-per-use—a metered service that can be provided through different pricing
plans;
5. Web-enabled—provided using Internet-based technologies.

What is Microsoft’s strategy for Software-plus-Services?

Software-plus-Services is Microsoft's approach for the next generation of computing.

Central to our strategy is bringing together the best of cloud-based services and the
software that resides on a world of devices. The power of local client and/or on-
premises server software combined with the reach and always up-to-date nature of
services in the cloud will be more compelling than software OR service only
approaches. A software-plus-services approach provides seamless experiences for
individuals and information workers, and provides the choice and flexibility for
organizations on how and where they deploy and manage their infrastructure and
line of business applications. The Software-plus-Services approach is a confluence of
multiple industry phenomena including SaaS, SOA, and Web 2.0. While different
vendors are evolving their offerings from different starting points, the entire
industry is converging on the Software-plus- Services approach.

What is Business Productivity Online Suite?

Business Productivity Online Suite is a set of enterprise products delivered as a

subscription service, hosted by Microsoft and sold with partners. They are designed
for customers with managed IT needs. The offering is expected to include Exchange
Online, Office SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, Exchange Hosted
Filtering and Office Live Meeting.

How does the Business Productivity Online Suite offering relate to the Software-
plus-Services strategy and Live services?
The Business Productivity Online Suite represents the first of a growing portfolio of
Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Online Services are a component of the broader
Microsoft Software-plus-Services strategy that includes both Live and Online
services. Online services are designed specifically for businesses with managed IT
needs, while Live services are targeted at consumers and small businesses with
little to no IT resources.

What products are Microsoft actually talking about for Software-plus-Services now,
what is available?

Software-plus-Services is a computing model that combines the reach of the

Internet with the power of local software applications. Microsoft is dedicated to
helping its customers - consumer and business – and partners take advantage of
this approach. By bringing together the best of both software and services,
Microsoft maximize capabilities, choice, and flexibility for our customers.
Microsoft is also unique in being able to provide a consistent set of tools and
frameworks for developers and partners to build new applications across all these
experiences and be limited only by their imagination.
Microsoft believes that customers should have a choice in how they consume their
functionality and has recently announced cloud-based alternatives to many of their
popular solutions including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office
Communications Online, CRM Online, Windows Live and Virtual Earth. These join
previously available services such as Exchange Hosted Services and Office Live
Meeting.

What are the delivery options that Microsoft offers to customers and partners as a
part of cloud offering?

Microsoft offers three models for delivering solutions – on-premises, partner-hosted,

and Microsoft-hosted – ensuring exceptional choice and flexibility. Microsoft-hosted
solutions are referred to as Microsoft Online Services, including Microsoft Business
Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).
In summary, the three delivery models are:

• On-premises: Software is installed at the customer location and licensed to the

customer in a traditional manner.
• Partner-hosted: The infrastructure and software is owned and licensed by a
Microsoft partner, purchased through a Service Provider Licensing Agreement
(SPLA).
• Microsoft-hosted: Microsoft owns the infrastructure and provisioning of the
software, which is delivered as a service to customers via the Internet.
Within this introductory guide, which is suitable for transactional partners operating
in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market, you’ll find explanations of
key concepts and advice on how to get started. Now’s the time to consider your
cloud computing future –

What are the service offerings that BPOS provides?

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) provides reliable, cost-effective,

readily scalable online IT services to support the global customers.
These services include:

• Microsoft Exchange Online for enterprise messaging.

• Microsoft SharePoint® Online for intranets and document sharing.
• Microsoft Office Communications Online for real-time communication and
presence (instant messaging and related capabilities).
• Microsoft Office Live™ Meeting for interactive web conferencing.

What are the combination of services that customers can opt for?

Customers can choose from the following services and associated features:

• Microsoft Exchange Online

• E-mail, shared calendar
• Shared contacts and tasks
• Office Outlook connectivity and Web access
• Message archiving
• Antivirus filtering
• Anti-spam filtering
• Mobility
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Online
• Document collaboration
• Wikis, blogs, surveys
• Integration with Office SharePoint Designer
• Intranet portal
• Site search
• Business document workflow
• Forms libraries, templates, and Web Parts
• Microsoft Office Communications Online
• Instant messaging and presence
• One-to-one audio and video conferencing
• Application sharing (in conjunction with Office Live Meeting)
• Microsoft Office Communicator Web access
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting
• Multi-party two-way Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) audio including public
switched telephone network (PSTN) and VoIP audio integration
• Panoramic video with Microsoft RoundTable communications and archival
system
• Rich media presentations (including Windows Media® technologies and
Flash)
• Office Outlook integration
• Event and class registration
• High-fidelity recordings
• Virtual breakout rooms

What are the benefit of BPOS services?

The benefits of Microsoft Online Services for customers include:
• Better control of IT technology investments: customers can buy what they
need now – and partners can generate additional revenue from their value-
added services and solutions.
• Simplified software subscription: license management for attractive pricing
and a predictable cost ensures better cash flow management for customers.
• A Microsoft commitment to deliver secure, available, and private online
software services, financially backed by a 99.9 per cent availability service-
level agreement (SLA) and certified by third-party audit.
• Increased productivity: robust integration among Microsoft Online Services
and with existing on-premises software, empowers your customers with rich
communication and collaboration.
• Access to the latest business productivity software services: as new versions
of the software are released by Microsoft, your customers can start using
them immediately with no deployment delay.
• Access from Anywhere: Employees can securely access Online Services from
anywhere through an Internet connection, without needing a virtual private
network (VPN). This easy access to information and applications lets users
extend their productivity when away from the office. For example,
salespeople will be able access the latest version of the sales presentation
from SharePoint Online without establishing a VPN connection first.
• Integrated Online Services and On-Premises Software: Online Services do not
require a 100-percent commitment from day one. Designed to coexist with
your on-premises applications, Online Services enable you to migrate
selected services to the online environment, while maintaining
interoperability with those applications you choose to maintain on-site. As
your business grows and changes, you may decide to revisit your decision—
maybe it makes sense to move a different division of your company to an
online deployment, or to gradually increase the percentage of staff using
online services.
• Powerful, Familiar, Mature Office Applications: Your Online Services users get
the full functionality of the Microsoft Office applications that they are
accustomed to. They get the great rich-client experience of Microsoft Office
Outlook®, Office Word, and Office PowerPoint®, and the rich functionality of
Office SharePoint Server—including portal, content management, and
collaboration capabilities. And you can drive down costs by enabling Web
conferencing with Office Live Meeting instead of traveling to meetings. All
this with the server integration you’ve come to expect, such as SharePoint
libraries synchronized with Office Outlook, and full-function document editing
features that are launched from within SharePoint sites.
• People: The simplified administration and offloaded operational maintenance
of Microsoft Online Services enable you to make the most of your IT people
resources—putting them on the most important projects.
• Simplified Administration: Online Services offer simplified administration,
minimizing the requirements for in-house IT expertise. Tools such as Web-
based interfaces and single sign-on to multiple services make it easier for
your users to access and manage their services securely and efficiently.
 • Your end users benefit from simple and secure access to their services
through the single sign-on application, which makes creating and using
strong passwords absolutely straightforward.
• More Efficient IT Operations: IT operations costs are easy to overlook, but can
represent a significant overhead cost for your business. Online Services
reduce or eliminate your operations costs. Online Services also take Microsoft

What is the value proposition that Microsoft cloud and online offerings brings for the
customers?

When a customer add Microsoft Online Services to your IT investment mix, you gain
potential added value for your business in four main areas:

• Finance: Reduced capital and operating expenses.

• Process: Enterprise-class availability and highly secure operations.
• Technology: Faster deployment of new services with access anywhere for
your staff.
• People: Simplified and more secure user and administrator access to services
so that your staff can focus on the core business.

What are the security standards, Microsoft adheres to in order to protect customer’s
data?

Microsoft Online Services are designed from the ground up to be secure. Microsoft
takes a holistic approach to building in security measures at each stage of service
delivery, ensuring Microsoft Online Services Business that applications and data are
secured to the highest industry standards. End-to-end security involves applying
world-class expertise in all of these areas:

• The data centers that physically host the online services are carrier-class.
Dedicated networks of filters, routers, servers, and data storage devices are,
in turn, duplicated in similar but geographically remote data centers for
redundancy.
• The network connection from your business to the Online Services is secured
by certificates using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. Networks within
the Online Services environment are designed with physical and software
architectures that further protect the integrity and availability of your data.
• The infrastructure, consisting of the software that operates the Online
Services, deploys applications-level security measures such as virus and
spam filtering to help keep your inbound and outbound transactions safe. In
fact, security measures within the Online Services infrastructure are likely to
be more stringent than an enterprise might provide within its own premises.
• The security of the business: Security measures are most effective when they
require little or no intervention by your staff. Online Services provide a secure
online sign-in client application, which provides simple one-step
authentication for your service users. Straightforward Web-based tools
provide a secured environment in which your administrators can manage
your online services.
What about data privacy and EU Safe Harbor legislation?

All Microsoft Online Services allow customers in almost all cases to meet privacy
compliance, depending on the country’s jurisdiction and industry requirements.
Each of these Services has been built to adhere to Microsoft‟s internal privacy
standards, as described in its published document, “Microsoft‟s Privacy Guidelines
for Developing Software Products and Services.” This set of standards helps ensure
that privacy and data protections are systematically incorporated into the
development and deployment of almost all Microsoft products and services.
Additionally, each of these Services has a privacy statement that describes in detail
how your data will be treated, and is enforceable through FTC rules and as
incorporated into the Product Use Rights of your license. Microsoft is a Safe Harbor
company and European customers can safely transfer data between Europe and the
United States on these Services.
What are the modes of licensing for online services model?

What about the licensing that goes with the BPOS offering?

Online Services are always licensed on a per-user basis. Customers who have
purchased a Client Access License (CAL) with Software Assurance do not need to
purchase the full Online Services license to use an Online Service; they pay only a
―step-up‖ fee.
In addition, customers who purchased the Microsoft Online Services User
Subscription License (USL) for a specific Online Service also have license rights to
access the corresponding application as it is deployed on their premises. For
example, SharePoint Online users also have the CAL rights to access sites that are
hosted on a SharePoint server on their own premises.

All new customers to the Microsoft Online Subscription Program will need to agree
to and sign the Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement. The Microsoft Online
Subscription Agreement covers all Online Services sold through the program. Once
signed through a simple „click-to-accept‟ screen on the Microsoft Online Services
Customer Portal at https://mocp.microsoftonline.com. .
Customers with the following existing Microsoft Volume License agreements are
considered „new‟ customers to the Microsoft Online Subscription Program and must
also sign the Online Subscription Agreement:
- Open License
- Open Value
- Open Value Subscription
- Select License
- Select Plus

Like new customers, these customers will also purchase Online Services through the
Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal.
Customers with an Enterprise Agreement or Campus Agreement/School Agreement
are advised to purchase the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite through
their existing VL program. The Suite will be available to purchase through EA Direct
and EA Indirect Government.
All licensing is on a per user basis through a User Subscription License (USL).
User Subscription Licenses (USL)

A USL provides non-perpetual rights to the service provided by Microsoft. Customers

do not need to own Client Access Licenses (CALs) under Microsoft Software
Assurance to purchase this license. A USL provides both non-perpetual rights to the
service, as well as non-perpetual client access rights for on-premise use (for that
same user). The USLs include rights to the latest Microsoft Online Services software
updates and upgrades, as long as the customer is current on their subscription.

Why is Microsoft developing hosted business services?

Microsoft is realigning all of its offerings for those customers interested in an

alternative to running their business technologies themselves. The company
developed the suite of online services for a portion of business customer base that
has expressed interest in consuming Microsoft products as a service rather than as
an on-premises product.

Microsoft’s approach enables its businesses customers to continue to use familiar

user interfaces (e.g. Microsoft Office system) and to rebalance their infrastructure
across on-premises offerings for mission critical or “secret sauce” applications and
to offload non-differentiating applications – perhaps collaborative applications and
messaging – to Microsoft and its partners to host and run from the cloud.

How does the Microsoft Online Services offer differ from MMS (Microsoft Managed
Solutions)?

The previous MMS service had four major components: Hosted Exchange, Hosted
SharePoint, Hosted Live Communication Server and Desktop Management Service.
Three of the four components are now referred to as the Dedicated version of
Business Productivity Online Suite. The company will continue to incubate the
Desktop Management Service and will look to add a limited set of customers over
the next 2 years as we bring the service to maturity.

How is Business Productivity Online Suite different from partner delivered HMC
offerings?

The goal for the Business Productivity Online Suite is to deliver a standardized
hosted offering for customers that wish to have direct service relationships with
Microsoft. HMC (Hosted Messaging and Collaboration) is a program primarily
targeted at service provider partners who wish to license the Microsoft hosting
technologies to host their own Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications
offering in their datacenter. Many customers may choose to work with an HMC
partner because they are able to provide a broader solution as well as a more
tailored offering to meet their specific business and industry needs.

Why has Microsoft chosen to offer online versions of Exchange and SharePoint?

For businesses, the Software-plus-Services approach provides significantly greater

levels of flexibility and choice. This enables organizations to access the powerful
capabilities of enterprise software through on-premises servers, as online services,
or a combination of both, depending on specific business requirements. Services
also provide the option to implement complementary capabilities that enhance on-
premises server software and simplify system management and maintenance.

Software-plus-Services will have a profound impact on workplace productivity as it

enables people to instantly access the information and capabilities they need, from
any device and any location. The result will be a new wave of innovation that will
make digital technology more seamless, intuitive, and useful, and will open the door
to a new generation of connected experiences for individuals and businesses.

How does Microsoft Online Services fit into Microsoft’s Software-plus-Services

strategy and Live services?

Microsoft Online Services are designed for business with managed IT requirements,
while Live services are targeted at consumers and small businesses with little to no
IT resources. Both brands are part of Microsoft‟s Software-plus-Services strategy.

What is the difference between Business Productivity Online Suite and Microsoft
Office Live?

Business Productivity Online Suite : Service offerings for organizations with more
advanced IT needs where power and flexibility is critical and the ability to control
access to data, manage users, apply business and compliance policy, and meet high
availability standards may all be important considerations. Business Productivity
Online Suite is designed to provide the performance, scalability, security,
management features, and service level capabilities to support the mission-critical
applications and systems used by organizations that have more rigorous technical
requirements.

Today these services include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office

Communications Online, Office Live Meeting, and Exchange Hosted Services.
Microsoft Office Live : Microsoft Office “Live” will be tailored to users that value
ease-of-use, simple access and flexibility. Live services will be optimal in situations
where users don‟t have access to professional technical expertise and don‟t require
high levels of system management. Broadly speaking, Microsoft Live offerings are
user-managed services, without IT mediation, spanning entertainment,
communication, productivity and more. Users are limited to five seats. Existing Live
Service offerings include, Windows Live, XBOX Live, Dynamics Live CRM and Office
Live.

Do the services provide single sign on capabilities?

Both standard and dedicated versions of the services have single sign on
capabilities but are implemented differently. In the standard version, end users will
be able to use their Active Directory login but a separate password is required to
authenticate across all the Online Services. In the dedicated case, end users will be
able to use the same login and password as it is in their existing active directory.
Will I be able to integrate or build custom solutions around Exchange Online?
SharePoint Online?

There are limited opportunities for customer solution integration with Exchange
Online today. For SharePoint Online, Microsoft will be able to support customization
that does not require code definitions. Using the SharePoint terminology, the
service will be able to support “site templates” but not “site definitions” because
site definitions requires deployment of custom code in the online environment and
Microsoft does not support this today. If a customer is looking for a more custom
solution, a partner hosted solution could be his best option.

Are there any prerequisites for the client software? E.g. Office 2003/2007?

Exchange Online requires Outlook 2007 for offline client access. Online web-based
email access is available using the included Outlook Web Access client. For the
Dedicated service, a customer can have Outlook 2003 and above. Office
Communications Online requires Office Communicator 2007, which is available to
Volume Licensing customers as a standalone product, and is included in the Office
Professional Plus 2007 and Office Enterprise 2007 suites. A 180-day free trial
version of Office Communicator 2007 is also available for Business Productivity
Online Suite and Office Communications Online subscribers.

Can Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online work with the Business Productivity Online
Suite offer?

Not for the initial offering. However, the goal is to bring all of Microsoft’s online
services together with an integrated sales and customer experience.

Is it possible to provision users in batch mode?

Yes, in the Standard version of Business Productivity Online Suite, a tool will be
available for customer to synchronize a batch set of Active Directory users into the
Business Productivity Online Suite environment.

If you choose to provision users in batch mode, will this sync from your local
directory as a federation or a sync? If it is a sync, are passwords sent to Microsoft?
In the Standard version, the passwords are not sent to Microsoft. In the Dedicated
version, the passwords are sent.

Is Active Directory required?

Active Directory is not required for the Standard service but customer can sync with
the existing Active Directory information to the service using standard tool. Active
Directory is required for the Dedicated service.

Can a customer migrate from the Business Productivity Online Suite over to an on-
premises environment and transfer over set-up and data?

Yes, customers can migrate their data to and from on-premises and online
solutions.
Will there be an ability (future) to extend the Microsoft-hosted subscription model /
products with the partners so that the partners can host their own solutions for
customers to extend the Microsoft offering?

Microsoft will continue to support partner hosted solutions (like hosted messaging &
collaboration), where partners can extend and customize the Microsoft offering.

In addition, the company’s roadmap includes a syndication model in which partners

can deliver a Microsoft hosted solution to their customers, while performing billing &
management tasks on their end through integration with MS systems.

What is the notification process to customers and partners for Business Productivity
Online Suite upgrades?

Email notifications will be sent to the administrator on record.

Will the platform work with competitive technologies - e.g. Java?

Developer interfaces are limited to the SharePoint Online web services interfaces,
which are the same as the web services interfaces for SharePoint Server.

What tools are available to migrate from previous versions of Exchange or

competitive platforms?

Microsoft will provide tools to migrate user information and e-mail from Exchange
Server to Exchange Online. Microsoft will also provide a directory synchronization
tool to keep the Microsoft Online user list in synch with your on-premises Active
Directory.

Why did Microsoft create a deskless worker SKU and what does it include?

Microsoft defines a deskless worker as a worker who spends less than 5 percent of
work hours using a company supplied PC. Typically the deskless worker does not
have an assigned or dedicated PC in the workplace and might share a kiosk or
access company information remotely.

Low cost, streamlined versions of Exchange Online and SharePoint Online offer
companies a compelling reason to provide deskless workers access to messaging
and collaboration software. Providing a simple, yet intuitive interface, at the lowest
possible price is the key to connecting workers who may have been underserved by
technology.

Deskless worker services (expected availability in December) include Exchange

Basic and SharePoint Basic. Microsoft included both applications because they are
most useful to workers who spend less than five percent of their workday at a
computer. Features like instant messaging, presence and other collaborative
applications are of less use to workers who are rarely at a computer.

SharePoint Online Basic: Provides easy access to the SharePoint portal site and
search functionality, giving deskless workers access to important information like
company policies, training and benefits.
Exchange Online Basic: Gives deskless workers access to Outlook Web Access Light,
providing an easy way to remotely access company email. This basic version of
Exchange includes features such as calendar, contacts, global address list access,
anti-virus and anti-spam filters and 100Mb storage.

What is the difference between Exchange Online and Exchange Hosted Services?

Exchange Online is essentially hosted e-mail. The “Exchange Hosted Services” are
not hosted e-mail. “EHS” are „attached‟ services that provide Filtering, Archiving,
Continuity and Encryption services in support of customers that operate their own
mail servers or customers that use hosted Exchange mailboxes delivered either by
Microsoft via Exchange Online or by hosted providers.

“Exchange Hosted Services” (EHS) (formerly FrontBridge Technologies) offer a cost-

effective way for businesses to actively enhance the security and availability of their
messaging environment, while instilling confidence that their messaging processes
are managed effectively to help them comply with internal policy and regulatory
compliance requirements. EHS operates over the Internet as a set of services and
offer the following:

• Filtering for spam and viruses

• Archiving to help satisfy compliance requirements and internal policies
• Encryption to help preserve email confidentiality
• Continuity for ongoing access to email during and after disasters

Does Exchange Online work for customers who have purchased or plan to purchase
Exchange Hosted Services filtering, secure email, archiving, business continuity
services?

The Exchange Online standard service will include EHS filtering and built in business
continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. The service can also integrate into the
EHS secure email capabilities as an optional service. Finally, Exchange Online
standard will also support archiving with EHA, although it is not a fully integrated
solution at this time. Full integration with EHA is planned in a subsequent release.
Exchange Online Dedicated customers will have the option of using EHS filtering but
other EHS services are currently not available with Exchange Online dedicated.

Does the service include Domain Registration?

No, every customer is required to register their own domain.

What if a user exceeds the storage allocated to him/her? Is there a usage charge?
How do I get billed information for this?

In the standard offering, the customer will have the opportunity to set usage limit
policies and allocate additional storage to an individual mailbox. Once pooled
storage is exceeded, the customer can purchase additional storage.
Can you access Exchange Online without the client (at the library, kiosk, etc)? Is it
available via Windows Mobile?

Yes, end users will be able to access Exchange Online via Windows Mobile devices
and also through Outlook Web Access.

Do customers need to purchase licenses for every user?

Customers must purchase a license for every user using the service, as well as for
every external user who will be using the service. Customers in Committed
programs such as EA or CASA do not have to buy a license for every user in their
organization, there are no seat minimums for EA and CASA purchases.

Do Microsoft Online Services qualify as enterprise products compatible with the

Platform EA (EA Direct only)?

Microsoft Online Services are currently not classified as Enterprise Products. This
means that they do not qualify for the server piece of the Platform Enterprise
Agreement. In order to qualify for a Platform EA, a customer must continue to
purchase either the Core CAL Suite w/SA or the Enterprise CAL Suite w/SA. If a
customer wants to purchase the Business Productivity Online Suite in addition to
this, the customer will have the ability to purchase the Step-Up USL (discounted
SKU) to get the service.

Do I need to purchase Software Assurance for my Service Licenses?

No. Unlike on-premises licenses where customers need to buy software assurance
to cover maintenance and upgrades, the user subscription licenses include rights to
the “latest and greatest” as long as the customer continues to pay their
subscription service fees.

Can a customer purchase a combination of licenses?

Absolutely. Customers can purchase any combination of licenses that they feel will
reflect the usage of services within their company.

Will the stand-alone subscription offerings be offered under any other VL

agreements besides EA?

Individual Business Productivity Online Services components such as Exchange

Online or SharePoint Online are available for purchase in the Microsoft Online
Subscription Program (MOSP) and Campus Agreement/School Agreement (CASA)
programs. In the Enterprise Agreement program, only the full Business Productivity
Online Standard Suite is offered.

Can a customer add users to their existing subscription at any time?

Customers who purchase through the Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP)
will be able to add users to their existing subscription at any time through the
Microsoft Online Customer Portal. EA and CASA customers are also able to add seats
through their existing VL purchase processes.
Can my customer purchase Business Productivity Online through standard licensing
programs?

The Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite offering is available to

most customers only through the Microsoft Online Subscription Program, through
their Enterprise Agreement, or through the Campus Agreement/School Agreement
programs. At launch, the Business Productivity Online Suite will not be offered
under any other license program.

As an end customer, when I place an order that takes me to a better discount level,
is that discount level honored for all seats billed the next month?

Yes, when quantity for the subscription moves into the next tier, the pricing tier is
applicable for the entire quantity.

What discounts are available other than volume?

At the launch of the new program; pricing will be determined by quantity ordered.

I currently have an Open Value agreement. Do I have to sign another agreement? Is

a new agreement needed every year?

Yes, all customers will be required to agree to the Microsoft Online Subscription
Agreement when purchasing Online Services on the Microsoft Online Customer
Portal.

If Microsoft changes the Terms and Conditions will I have to sign a new agreement?
If so, does that mean that I can cancel the service?

An agreement only needs to be resigned if the terms and conditions are updated.
The current service still abides to the existing terms and conditions signed prior. For
additional quantity orders under the same subscription term, customers will NOT be
required to sign new agreement terms. If a customer would like to add seats for a
new subscription after the agreement is updated but has not signed the new
agreement then they cannot add seats.

Outline a fact based comparison between Exchange Hosted services and Google
Apps?

Outlook Feature In Exchange In Google Apps Comments

Supported Online
E-mail (messages with Yes Yes
read state)
Mail folders and Yes No Folders are labels
Categories in Gmail.
Categories are not
supported.
Attachments and Yes Partial Executable
rich formatting attachments
(including self-
extracting .zip
files) are not
supported in
Gmail. Rich
formatting layout
is altered when
sending to non-
Gmail users.
Flags, reminders, Yes No Flags are stars in
and importance Gmail and can’t be
sent to others.
Follow-up
reminders and
priority are not
supported.
Inbox rules Yes Yes
Signatures Yes Partial One signature
only
Delegations and Yes Partial Full access to
sharing mailbox only:
“work on behalf”
Calendar Items Yes Yes Multi-calendar
support
Free or busy Yes Partial No Tentative or
status Out of Office
status; only
“busy” or “free.”
Attendees and Yes Partial No “Optional”
responses attendees, no
“Tentative”
responses. No
verbose responses
to invitations in e-
mail.
Event reminders Yes Yes
Attachments and Yes No No attachments or
rich formatting rich formatting in
calendar events
Sharing and delegation Yes Yes
Personal Contacts Yes Yes
Contact folders Yes No One group for all
and categories contacts
Personal groups and D/Ls Yes Yes
Flags, dates, and Yes No Not for contacts
reminders
Rich formatting Yes Partial No rich formatting.
and notes field Notes field must
 be smaller than
16k.
Contact sharing Yes No
Global Contacts Yes Partial Groups and
(Global Address Distribution Lists
List) are not supported
for lookup; the
only contact fields
are Name, E-mail,
and Address
Notes, Tasks, Yes Partial Tasks are
Journal supported with a
very basic user
interface. Notes
and Journal are
not supported.

Content or Moved to Moved to Comments

Feature That Exchange Google Apps
Can Migrate Online
E-mail (messages with Yes Yes
read state)
Mail folders and Yes Partial Folders become
Categories labels in Gmail.
Categories are not
supported in
Gmail.
Attachments and Yes Partial Executable
rich formatting attachments
(including self-
extracting .zip
files) are not
copied to Gmail.
Rich formatting
layout is altered.

Compare email data migration from lotus notes to Exchange Online or to GAPE

Content or To Exchange To Google Apps Comments

Feature that can Online
Migrate
E-mail Yes Yes Mail messages are
(messages with automatically
read state) combined into
threads based on
subject line.
Mail folders Yes Partial Folders become
labels in Gmail.
Names are
 truncated after if
over the 40
character limit.
Attachments and Yes Partial Executable
rich formatting attachments
(including self-
extracting .zip
files) are not
copied to Gmail.
Rich formatting
layout is altered in
the conversion to
HTML.
Flags, reminders, Yes No Flags become
and importance stars in Gmail.
Follow-up
reminders are
lost.

A Fact-Based Yes No Not migrated to

Comparison of Gmail
Hosted Services |
Google vs.
Microsoft 18
Inbox rules
Signatures Yes No Not migrated to
Gmail
Delegations and Yes No Delegations and
sharing sharing settings
don’t import to
Gmail.
Encrypted mail Yes No Users must
decrypt all mail
before the
migration.
Calendar (all Yes Yes
calendars)
Free and busy status Yes Yes
Attendees and Yes Yes
responses
Event reminders Yes Yes
Attachments and Yes No Attachments are
formatting stripped from
calendar events.
Rich formatting in
calendar events
do not import to
Gmail.
Sharing and delegation Yes No
Personal Yes Yes Users must
Contacts synchronize their
personal address
books prior to the
migration.
Personal groups and Yes Yes
D/Ls
Attachments, Yes No Attachments are
notes, and links stripped. Links
are no longer
clickable. Notes
larger than 16k
are truncated.
Global Contacts Yes Partial Global Groups
(GAL) and Distribution
Lists do not copy,
and any fields
other than Name,
E-mail, and
Address do not
copy.
Tasks Yes No Do not migrate

Compare service capabilities of Microsoft BPOS and GAPE

The Microsoft BPOS offers organizations the familiar and easy-to-use e-mail
interface and personal information management of Microsoft Office Outlook®.
Microsoft BPOS offers unified communications capabilities that provide integrated
presence and instant messaging (IM). Users can take advantage of rich productivity
applications to edit documents offline, and to perform simple editing on their mobile
devices. In contrast, for corporate users, the Google offering does not provide the
full feature set of calendaring and e-mail capabilities, such as effective offline
features (especially on mobile devices) rich document formatting, or a
comprehensive collaboration solution.

What is the support strategy that Microsoft and GAPE provides?

Microsoft offers a financially-backed service-level agreement (SLA) of 99.9 percent

—with no downtime restrictions and around-the-clock multilingual support every
day of the year—which will help mitigate an organization‘s downtime and reduce
support costs. Google‘s version of a financially backed SLA does not cover
downtime lasting fewer than 10 minutes and provides outage refunds only in the
form of service credits. In addition, the GAPE service offers phone support from
Sunday at 5:00 P.M. PST through Friday at 5:00 P.M. PST.
Analyze cost incorporated in the BPO While the upfront cost of GAPE appears to
undercut that of BPOS, this perspective can be deceiving. GAPE lacks a financially
backed SLA, rights-based document protection, and other security features. It also
forces customers to retain their own Blackberry BES servers on-premises, pay for
Online conferencing services such as LiveMeeting, WebEx, et al and does not
provide full transition and migration capabilities. BPOS provides seamless
integration with customers existing Microsoft Office applications and Microsoft
SharePoint® environment to provide enhanced collaboration capabilities that are
unavailable with GAPE.
By moving to Google‘s hosted services, organizations may encounter additional IT
support complexity, reduced user productivity, and greater expenses than initially
anticipated. That is, organizations may get less functionality and end up paying
more.
By contrast, the Microsoft BPOS offering helps maintain user productivity with
security and compliance technolgies as part of the offering . In addition,
organizations can choose to transition to BPOS in a hybrid model while retaining
some services locally. As you will discover throughout this white paper, not all cloud
based offerings are created equal. S and GAPE offerings.

What is a transition and migration story behind BPOS and GAPE?

To transition to its hosted services as seamlessly as possible, Microsoft provides

effective migration tools. Users can work with these tools when moving from current
Microsoft Exchange environments as well as when switching from Novell, IBM Lotus
Notes, and other systems.

By comparison, Google provides only simplified, IT-driven data transfer capabilities

for moving e-mail and some contact and calendar data to Google‘s hosted
environment. For Exchange customers, this procedure ignores archived mail,
encrypted and rights-managed e-mail, global distribution lists, tasks, and shared
folders; the end user must install the Google Apps Synch application and move
much of the data manually.