Sharepoint Online

Just when you thought Sharepoint could not possibly be any more fantastic, Microsoft announce the release of Sharepoint Online!

This is a hosted service, which means customers no longer need to worry about deployment, configuration and management of Sharepoint server farms, but can still make use of the excellent collaboration and information sharing possibilities that Sharepoint provides.

There are two service offerings for Sharepoint Online (and for all other Microsoft Online Services): Standard and Dedicated.

Standard, where many companies will securely use the same architecture, has a minimum requirement of only 5 seats, so Sharepoint Online is available for even the smallest of businesses.

Dedicated, where each company has access to an individual, dedicated architecture, is also available, giving Enterprise level organisations access to more server features.

Troy Hopwood gave an excellent PDC session on Sharepoint Online. Check it out here. It's well worth viewing the whole session, but if you're not too techy, or don't have 75 mins to spare, make sure you watch the first 15 mins for a great overview of Sharepoint Online plus a quick high level demo. Troy also fields some interesting questions from 59 mins onwards. And don't forget to download the PowerPoint presentation that accompanies the session as a reference for the differences between standard and dedicated, as well as a feature comparison of MOSS and Sharepoint Online.

Last but not least, sign up for the beta of Sharepoint Online from www.microsoft.com/online.