What is Microsoft BPOS?
Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite is a set of Microsoft hosted messaging and collaboration solutions including Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Office Communications Online.
These online services are designed to give your business streamlined communication with high availability, comprehensive security, and simplified IT management.
Scale with Web-based Services
When your company subscribes to one or more of the services, it connects to the rich interactivity of on-premises client and server applications with the flexibility and scalability of Web-based services.
Because Microsoft hosts the services, it reduces your company's need to maintain IT services on site.
Software + Services
Many organizations today are moving to this "software-plus-services" model, because it decreases the need to manage hardware and software.
Features of the Business Productivity Online Suite
E-mail and calendar functions - Exchange Online delivers e-mail services including spam filtering, anti-virus protection, and synchronization of mobile devices. Through Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, you can use the advanced e-mail, calendar, contact, and task management features of Exchange Online. Office Outlook Web Access enables users to access their e-mail messages from almost any browser-whether the user is in the office or on the road.- E-mail coexistence and migration tools - The Business Productivity Online Suite includes e-mail coexistence and migration tools. If you have Active Directory directory services and Microsoft Exchange Server, the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool synchronizes your user accounts, contacts, and groups from your local environment to Microsoft Online Services. This tool also makes your Microsoft Exchange Global Address List (GAL) available in Exchange Online. Use the Microsoft Online Services Migration Tools to forward copies of your Exchange Server mail to your Exchange Online mailboxes. You can also use the Migration Tools to copy content from your Exchange Server, POP3, or IMAP4 e-mail server mailboxes to your Exchange Online mailboxes.
Document collaboration and workspaces - SharePoint Online allows you to share and work together on documents, maintain version control for shared documents, create intranet sites to manage projects and project workflows, post calendar information, and set up wikis and blogs.- Web conferencing -
Office Live Meeting allows you to hold online meetings with colleagues, customers, and partners in real time. Office Live Meeting participants can convene online to share documents, ask questions, work on a virtual "whiteboard," and talk to each other during the meeting.
- Microsoft Online Services Administration Center - The Administration Center gives you an online management portal to manage your services and users. From the Administration Center, service administrators can import multiple user accounts, use e-mail migration tools, create distribution lists, create SharePoint site collections, and submit service requests to Microsoft Online Services Technical Support.
- Microsoft Online Services Sign In application - The Sign In application is a tool that automatically sets up services and allows users to access all of their services with no need to sign in each time they use them. The Sign In application is available from both the Administration Center and My Company Portal.