If you're focused on WinHEC, which starts this week, you're probably missing a lot. Take, for example, one of Microsoft's biggest events of the year: its annual enterprise user conference, Convergence 2015.
In Atlanta, GA, Microsoft is holding Convergence 2015 these days, a conference that's primarily geared toward the enterprise market and partners, but also has a ton of content that's relevant to the average user.
At Convergence2015, Microsoft's announcements are a thorough demonstration of its commitment to delivering productivity, and it's also revealing its ambitions to cover the full range of platforms.
Microsoft's CEO Satya said in his speech at Convergence2015 that the demand for productivity in the market, both for businesses and individuals, has never been stronger, and that Microsoft will continue to provide productivity and platforms to help more people make the most of their abilities, under the strategy of "mobile first, cloud first". More people will be able to give full play to their abilities.
At the same time, he also made special mention of the use of Microsoft technology to give power to the masses, such as the use of Surface in the NFL, and the role of Microsoft's applications, services and products in people's daily lives.
"Organizations are eager to get more out of emerging technologies such as machine learning and big data predictions, and we strongly believe that increased personal productivity will empower every employee with data analytics and data insights to help transform organizations."
Sayta's reference to transforming personal productivity at work and in life through Microsoft technologies, in addition to the platforms that Microsoft currently has in place, refers to the brand new products that Microsoft announced at Convergence 2015.
First, industry tools:
Microsoft is combining Windows Azure with the Internet of Things, leveraging the cloud service properties of Windows Azure to help more devices connect and have a unified experience. That's why Microsoft announced two new products: the Microsoft Azure IoT suite and a version of Windows 10 IOT.
Microsoft Azure IoT Suite:
The Microsoft Azure IoT Suite is an integrated product. It combines all the relevant benefits of Azure available, including price, flexibility, and more.
Last year Microsoft has announced a preview version of the Azure IoT suite, capable of providing organizations with applications such as remote monitoring, asset management, and predictive maintenance. In addition Microsoft will officially commercialize the AzureStreamAnalytics feature next month, which is part of the Azure IoT suite that helps organizations with large-scale data generated by IoT devices, supports real-time data import, and provides trend forecasting.
Windows 10IOT:
Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will offer multiple versions of Windows for IOT devices, uniformly called WindowsIOT.
WindowsIOT will offer support for UWA applications in the driver's Windows platform support, thus enabling users to achieve cross-platform operation, will support low-end devices such as gateways, to high-end devices such as robots. At the same time, with Microsoft cloud services, will be able to ensure cross-platform experience and security of IoT devices.
Next up are the enterprise tools:
PowerBI:
A well-known Microsoft service, PowerBI is now commercially available within 140 markets around the world, including the US. Its visual interface helps customers to better analyze data and better grasp market dynamics, as well as perform visual data manipulation.
In the updated PowerBI, Microsoft will also publish some popular data to help companies better analyze. This data will come from: Google Analytics, DynamicsMarketing, Zuora, Acumatica, and Twilio.
DynamicsCRM2015:
Microsoft will be unveiling DynamicsCRM 2015, at which time Microsoft will announce major updates to the product and interactions with Office 365. In addition with updated collaborative working tools, and new knowledge management enhancements, it will be able to directly help organizations and employees to be more productive.
Also updated is Microsoft MicrosoftSocialEngagement, the latest version of Microsoft's social monitoring tool, which helps users detect their DynamicsCRM and Office apps, a solution that helps organizations access information on social channels.
Next up in the section of personal tools that are directly relevant to consumers:
OfficeDelve:
Now available in the global marketplace, it utilizes machine learning to help people find files quickly while being able to interact with Office 365. The tool will be able to get content support from ExchangeOnline and Yammer when it is updated.
Office 2016:
This one Microsoft has announced before, and the point of this announcement is that Office 2016 will be commercially available later this year. Office2016 is currently in IT Professional and Developer Preview status, and Microsoft also hopes that more people will join the preview program to help Microsoft improve the product.
SkypeforBusiness:
This is what used to be known as Microsoft Lync, and the name change will replace the past application.The technical preview of SkypeforBusiness has been updated, and the new SkypeforBusiness client, server, and Office 365 built-in Skype service will be announced in April. The general functionality is the same as Lync used to be, but the difference is a UI tweak.
Looking in this direction, Microsoft is now making a sincere effort to make platform and service content, and is bringing more opportunities for other businesses to work together by providing productivity, such as Office and IOT content. It is also thoroughly helping partners to start the transition to the cloud, to services and solutions.