By Theresa Miller

If you like Microsoft Exchange and have ever attended Microsoft’s Exchange Conference (MEC), then like me you may have been skeptical about what Microsoft was doing when they brought all Microsoft Technologies together for Microsoft Ignite.  That aside, many great things came out of MEC including the announcement that Microsoft would be leading it’s cloud-based adventure with their Fast Track Deployments of Office 365 and assist their customers more easily try products such as Exchange Online, but support customers through the process.  As a result I wrote a piece that explained how to get started with your Office 365 and Exchange Online Experience which you can find below.

Introducing the Office 365 FastTrack Pilot Option

With Microsoft Office 365, organizations can provide email, word processing, collaboration, web-conferencing, and other capabilities from the cloud. However, doing so might not be the best option for every organization. If you consider the Office 365 requirements and use the Office 365 FastTrack Pilot option, you can more easily assess whether Office 365 would be a viable solution in your organization. But before I discuss the organizational considerations and FastTrack option, let’s first take a quick look at the current scene for Office 365.

The Current Scene

Interestingly, it’s difficult to find public information about how many Office 365 subscriptions are being sold. Although there’s some information available, most of it doesn’t represent the current calendar year. Previous data from the past couple of years indicates that small and mid-sized businesses are moving to the cloud most rapidly. These organizations are making the move for several reasons, including:

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Attending Microsoft Ignite?

While I will miss MEC, we will get to learn more about Ignite soon, as it is next week already in Chicago, IL.  Will it be just a larger version of TechEd, or will it be able to compete with what the more specialized conferences we had grown to enjoy?  That being said, I am looking forward to learning more.  If you will be at Ignite I hope you snagged a pass to the Petri Author Meet and Greet on Tuesday evening.  The event is sold out, but  if you were able to get a pass it will be great to see you there!  If you are attending, there will be a Current Status wine glass giveaways too!

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Current Status

Speaking of Current Status we will be broadcasting a special episode of Current Status Tuesday evening where we will discuss more about Microsoft Ignite.  It will be Tuesday, May 5th Live at 8pm cst!  Follow @currentstatus4u on Twitter for more details to come.

So, ready or not Microsoft Ignite is going be next week and I suspect it will be a great experience for all!