Pedro Hernandez

Aiming to beef up Active Directory security, Microsoft has acquired Aorato, a Herzelia, Israel-based security software company. Financial terms were not officially disclosed. However, insiders told The Wall Street Journal that Microsoft parted with approximately $200 million to snap up the hybrid-cloud security specialist. “We are making this acquisition to give customers a new level […]

NEW YORK—Chief financial officers (CFOs) are generally not the types to keep their heads in the clouds, metaphorically or technologically. Today, during Saugatuck Technology’s Cloud Business Summit here, some executives made a strong case for jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon. During a panel discussion at the event, Vinay Mehra, CFO at WGBH, described how […]

NEW YORK—Cloud companies can look forward to doing some heavy lifting in the coming years. The Internet of everything—a “bigger view of the Internet of things”—will not only encompass billions of devices, but will also have a global financial impact measured in trillions of dollars, according to Kit Beall, vice president of Cloud and Managed […]

Microsoft is bundling several of its popular software and service offerings just in time for the holidays. The company has launched a new Work & Play Bundle that includes a 12-month subscription to Office 365 Home, Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Music Pass and Skype Unlimited World + WiFi for $199. Purchased separately, the services cost […]

Skype for Business will replace Lync, Microsoft’s unified communications software platform for enterprises, next year, announced Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of Skype, in a Nov. 11 blog post. “In the first half of 2015, the next version of Lync will become Skype for Business with a new client experience, new server release, and updates […]

“Productivity” no longer defines a software category for Microsoft, according to top executives at the company. It’s the underlying principle that will inform practically every part of Microsoft’s mobile- and cloud-enabled solutions portfolio going forward. CEO Satya Nadella has been making the rounds of late, signaling that his company’s productivity-enhancing efforts will extend beyond its […]

One company wasn’t surprised by the results of last week’s midterm elections in the U.S.: Microsoft. Microsoft’s online voting guide and resource hub, dubbed Bing Elections, performed an admirable job of predicting the outcome of most of the races, the company announced. “We weren’t perfect, but we are proud to report that we got it […]

Azure Search, Microsoft’s cloud-based “search-as-a-service” offering, now understands more languages, the company announced. Currently in preview, the service enables developers to quickly incorporate search into their applications. The free version of the service provides indexing support for up to 10,000 documents and three indexes, whereas the standard plan supports “tens of millions of documents, according […]

Microsoft is staking its claim to a major multiplatform video game property. The Redmond, Wash.-based company completed the acquisition of Mojang, the company best known for its blockbuster Minecraft game, confirmed Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Xbox. On Nov. 6, Spencer (@XboxP3) tweeted: “It’s official, today we welcome Mojang to the Microsoft Studios family. We’re […]

Microsoft’s upcoming customer relationship management (CRM) software release isn’t the only Dynamics-branded product to gain new cloud-based functionality. On the enterprise resource planning (ERP) side of the fence, Microsoft is preparing an update for Dynamics AX that leverages Azure, the company’s cloud computing platform, to enable hybrid cloud scenarios. The update to the flagship ERP […]

Microsoft has removed a major restriction affecting its Office mobile apps. Without an Office 365 subscription, Microsoft’s mobile Office apps (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) are little more than Office file viewers. That changes today, according to John Case, corporate vice president of Microsoft Office. “With Office on nearly every device, it’s incredibly important to us […]

Microsoft has quietly added a new wrinkle to its Windows 8.1 volume licensing program. “Now you can license access to Windows Enterprise on a per-user basis through the new Windows Software Assurance per User and Windows VDA [Virtual Desktop Access] per User licensing options,” reads Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 licensing page for businesses. “These options put […]