UK Live@edu Momentum News and Office 365 for Education Update

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What a year!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since the last BETT show in London – even scarier still to think that it’s just a few weeks until I, and the rest of the team, will be there again for BETT 2012!

Way back in January we published our latest worldwide statistics for Live@edu – over 15 million users taking advantage of the service up from 11 million 3 months prior. Today, over on the Microsoft Blog Anthony Salcito announced that there are now more than 22 million people using Live@edu worldwide – representing a 100% year-on-year increase!

London calling

Here in the UK, we’re exceptionally proud that over 6.5 million teachers and students inthe United Kingdom are on Live@edu ! We’ve grown over 1.5 million users just over the summer. In fact, of the higher education institutions in the UK who use hosted email, nearly 90% do it through Microsoft.

Looking ahead to Office 365 for education, Microsoft UK is proud to say that we’ve got some of the world’s first customers including Dundee University, and East Norfolk Sixth Form College.

Now, I can probably guess what you’re going to ask next: when can I get Office 365 for education for my institution? It’s a great question, and we’ve taken a very deliberate approach to rolling out Office 365 to schools and universities. Academic customers are already able to obtain Exchange Online today, Lync Online later this year and the entire Office 365 for education offering in 2012. This approach is designed around the customer, ensuring they are ready for the transition and can get the most of the significant new capabilities we are introducing.

What Now?

Live@edu is available today, for free, and it takes just a couple of minutes to sign up and start using the service. Every user gets a 10GB Exchange mailbox, as well as access to a 25GB SkyDrive and the Office Web Apps. If you’re interested in getting a free Live@edu Deployment & Marketing Kit for your institution drop us a line at ukeducloud@microsoft.com with your details and we’ll be in touch!

We’ve also got some free materials for download – feel free to share https://aka.ms/LiveAtEdu with your colleagues.

Interested in Office 365 for education? Please work with your partner or reach out to us and we can help you decide which service is right for you.

Already using Live@edu? That’s awesome! Why not leave us a comment below and let us know how Live@edu has helped you!