Microsoft Unveils Windows 365

Microsoft’s annual partner event, Inspire, is typically light on major product releases and it came as a surprise to most partners to see the imminent release of Windows 365 announced.

Think of Windows 365 (W365) as being your traditional physical work computer that is now located in the cloud and accessible from a web browser, app, tablet, or phone. It runs the same Windows 10 (soon 11) operating system as your physical device and will be fully compatible with all your line of business apps. As with most current Microsoft cloud products, W365 follows the same monthly fee subscription model.

It may not be immediately obvious why you would want to spend your hard-earned cash on an expensive laptop or desktop and then be expected to put your hand in your pocket again for a monthly subscription to W365, but consider these scenarios:

You’re on the way to the office and realise you’ve accidentally left your laptop at home. No problem as W365 is fully cloud based and accessible from almost any computer with an internet connection.

Your company has just taken on a new intern, and you don’t want to purchase an expensive laptop until their trial period is finished. In just a few minutes, your intern can be up and running with a dedicated W365 cloud computer.

You’ve just made an acquisition and need to quickly provision new computers configured to your infrastructure for the new staff. W365 gives you the flexibility to quickly deploy (and subsequently decommission) cloud-based computers configured to your corporate infrastructure.

Your CEO loves Apple Macs but needs to run the corporate line of business applications. Using W365, a full Windows 10 experience is available via the Safari browser or the Mac desktop client app.

Your company has concerns about data leakage of confidential information. Deploying W365 to each staff member helps to ring-fence your data and enforce corporate governance.

W365 follows hot on the heels of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) which at first glance, appears to offer a similar end user experience but there are significant differences for your IT department to manage:

If you deploy AVD, your (or your IT partner) manages the underlying servers and infrastructure. With W365, this is fully managed by Microsoft.

AVD runs multiple Windows 10 sessions on a pool of host servers. If a host server crashes or needs a reboot, all connected users are inconvenienced. With W365, each user session is autonomous and can be rebooted without affecting any other users.

Each AVD session shares the host’s RAM, vCPUs, and storage. A single user with a heavy workload therefore has the potential to slow down all the other sessions on the host whereas W365 is autonomous, and each user session is siloed.

In an AVD environment, apps are shared amongst users. New apps or app updates are deployed to a single image simplifying the management for your IT department or technology partner. As each W365 computer is autonomous, app deployment and maintenance is carried out using management software such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

Costs associated with AVD come under your Azure subscription whereas W365 is billed separately as a fixed cost subscription like Office 365. Bandwidth is included with some W365 subscriptions not connected to an existing Azure infrastructure (see below).

W365 is available in either a Business or Enterprise tier. Business computers can be used as standalone or joined to an Azure AD but can’t be made part of an existing Azure infrastructure. If you have a traditional AD, then you’ll need the Enterprise version. Enterprise computers can connect to an existing vNet in Azure but only the network interface of the W365 computer is exposed to Azure, all other resources are managed by Microsoft.

You can save money if you are an existing Windows 10 Pro user and interested in a W365 Business computer by taking advantage of ‘hybrid benefit’. Microsoft kindly deducts the cost of your Windows 10 license from the W365 Business computer.

W365 Enterprise requires that each user be licensed with a Windows 10 Pro subscription, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and Azure Active Directory P1, which is included in Microsoft 365 F3, Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 A3, Microsoft 365 A5, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Education Student Use Benefit subscriptions.

In terms of sizing, the table below gives some indications of the correct specifications based on your users’ anticipated workloads. Note that whilst you can upgrade an existing W365 computer to a higher specification, you can’t currently downgrade.

CPU, RAM, and storage	Example scenarios	Recommended apps
1vCPU/2GB/64GB	Frontline workers, Call centres, Education/training/CRM access.	Office light (web-based), Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, lightweight line-of-business app (e.g., call centre application – web-apps), Defender support.
2vCPU/4GB/256GB 2vCPU/4GB/128GB 2vCPU/4GB/64GB	Mergers and acquisition, Short-term and seasonal, Customer Services, Bring-Your-Own-PC, Work from home	Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft Teams (audio-only), Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Adobe Reader, Edge, Line-of-business app s), Defender support.
2vCPU/8GB/256GB 2vCPU/8GB/128GB	Bring-Your-Own-PC, Work from home, Market Researchers, Government, consultants	Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Adobe Reader, Edge, Line-of-business apps), Defender support.
4vCPU/16GB/512GB 4vCPU/16GB/256GB 4vCPU/16GB/128GB	Finance, Government, consultants, Healthcare services, Bring-Your-Own-PC, Work from home	Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, PowerBi, Dynamics 365, OneDrive, Adobe Reader, Edge, Line-of-business apps), Defender support.
8vCPU/32GB/512GB 8vCPU/32GB/256GB 8vCPU/32GB/128GB	Software developers, engineers, Content Creators, Design and Engineering workstations	Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Access, OneDrive, Adobe Reader, Edge, PowerBi, Visual Studio Code, Line-of-business app s), Defender support.

Following the launch of W365 on the 2nd August, demand has exceeded Microsoft’s expectations. The free 2 months trial was so popular in the first few days of launch that they have now had to temporarily suspend this offer until they can deploy some additional resources.

Prices start from £17 + VAT per month for the most basic specification. Please contact your Utilize representative if you would like prices and further details click here

Contact Utilize

Boost your Business with Microsoft Teams

We can be contacted in countless ways – by phone, mobile, text message, email and in person – to agree deadlines or set up meetings. It takes time to go to your calendar to input reminders or meeting dates and it’s all too easy to forget to do it or overlook an invitation from a team member to a critical meeting.

With the introduction of Microsoft Teams comes a number of solutions to help combat business communication, organisation and administrative issues. Automation of your calendar can pick out key dates from every communication tool, including chat, documents and video/voice calls, and create calendar reminders.

You no longer need to do this manually! Not only do these important dates appear in your calendar, they are automatically shared with all relevant stakeholders – saving time and increasing productivity. Everyone knows what is expected and by when.

Microsoft Teams breaks down silos and brings people together from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Not only does this improve collaboration, it increases job satisfaction by reducing stressful encounters and increasing a sense of achievement. It’s also fun to use – which means users are inclined to use it more frequently and consequently work more productively!

“Successful businesses understand the need to continuously improve their business processes and supporting tools: to become more efficient and productive, and to respond to market changes faster while providing better service to customers.” -Entrepreneur

To put this into context, take a look at just a few examples of how Microsoft Teams can help overcome the business challenges you face on a daily basis.

A fun feature within Microsoft Teams is the “like” emoji that quickly acknowledges that an email or chat message has been received and the information within it is acceptable. That’s one less email to read, and it’s a fast and fun way of agreeing to a suggestion or idea. We do this in text messages – how useful that we can use it at work too!

OUT OF TOUCH WITH COLLEAGUES, UNSURE WHO IS AVAILABLE?
Microsoft Teams puts all of the communication tools you need in one place. You have total visibility on who is available for a quick instant message, a chat, video or voice call.

WASTING TIME PICKING OUT KEY INFORMATION FROM THE FLOOD OF DAILY EMAILS AND MESSAGES?

Whether it is in a chat, file or threaded conversation, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in one place – your relevant Microsoft Teams channel. You can also bookmark a conversation or even save specific parts of one. Microsoft Teams makes it quick and easy to track down the important project specific information you need.

LOSING VALUABLE TIME SWITCHING BETWEEN DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS AND TABS?

Microsoft Teams allows you to access all your files, apps, conversations and important business processes from with a single secure space.

MEETINGS ROOMS BOOKED, CAN’T FIND A PLACE TO CARRY OUT YOUR CONFERENCE CALL?

With Microsoft Teams you can meet from almost anywhere with full audio, video and chat. With blur my background, you can even eliminate distractions from the periphery so you can ensure that your team or clients remain focused on you.

STRUGGLING TO WADE THROUGH TOO MANY MESSAGES, JUST IDENTIFY THE ONES IMPORTANT TO YOU?

With Microsoft Teams you can filter your messages to easily identify the most critical to you. Just go to the Microsoft Teams Activity feed, select the funnel icon and filter for @mentions or responses to a message you sent.

Yes, businesses can (and do) collaborate without Microsoft Teams. They use emails, meetings, file sharing services – even Post-it Notes! The problem with these traditional methods is that even though they can offer instantaneous communication, they aren’t always visible to all stakeholders – it’s easy to forget to add someone to a distribution list or miss out on valuable input because a person is out of the office. Meeting space, travel and video facilities are additional costs and it takes time to physically move between offices for a meeting or to track down the person you need and, on the way, there is the potential for distraction. Digital collaboration is vastly different as it can securely connect internal users and external partners – allowing them to accomplish much more, in a more timely manner.

Discover how the introduction of Microsoft Teams can improve communication and productivity in your business.

Download our FREE Guide Here.

View our Communication offerings